Quality Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Quality Management - Essay Example (ISO, 2008) Total Quality Management is one approach which can be used to improve an enhance product quality. Dr. Edwards Demming came up with the idea of total quality management, and this idea was first adopted and implemented by the Japanese. Total Quality Management is continuously improving products and processes by focusing on quality at each stage of production. It tries to get it right the first time and not have any defects. There is an emphasis on ensuring that the customer is always satisfied as total quality management has a consumer comes first orientation and in this context the customer can be other people/departments in the same business that the task is being completed for, not just the final customer. (Stark, 1998) Enhancing efficiency eventually adds to quality products in terms of lower costs either in the form of less wastage or higher output per input. The business should keep a constant check of efficiency levels with the help of either factor productivity or labor productivity ratios.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy Essay Example for Free

John Fitzgerald Kennedy Essay John Fitzgerald Kennedy was elected the president of the United States of America in 1960 at a young age. At that time, the General Eisenhower was ageing. He was known for his frequent heart attacks and his love for golf than he was, for his opposition to the military industrial complex especially among the young people. At the same period, the young generation had a sense of optimism, that nothing was impossible and that no problem could go unresolved. The time had come for the older generation who had made mistakes to move over and let the new comers find solutions to the problems that faced Americans. They did not want to repeat the mistakes that the older generation had done, like the wars and the crusades against the ‘red menace’. These ideas motivated their white supporters and the black students from the South who were fed up with the policies that ruled them before. As a young catholic politician, JFK, together with a young black Baptist minister, Martin Luther King, expressed their high hopes and the dreams for the era of the young generation to rule. William Terence says that it was this young generation that had loyally pledged allegiance to the flag each morning in school, and it was in the schools across the nation that they were told of the unique promise of America. While the adults were concerned with leisure, the young generation, who had been constantly reminded in high school of their fortunate status as citizens of the wealthiest democratic society in the world, was determined to make the American dream become a reality. (William T. M. R. , 1997, pgs 57-58) President Kennedy’s cause on civil rights According Garth E. Pauley in the book, â€Å"The modern presidency and civil rights†, President Kennedy was known as the champion of civil rights and the leader of a ‘second reconstruction’. His attitude towards the civil rights has been considered irrational. It is said that he was not knowledgeable on the civil rights because they were alien to most of his experience. He was from a privileged lifestyle that did not provide him with a deep knowledge or feelings about the racial prejudices that his fellow citizens possessed. He also had little interaction with black people in Boston or in Hyanisport except as servants. However, meetings with the African Americans leaders seemed to advance the president a little in his own commitment to human rights. He was sympathetic of the many problems confronting the blacks, and therefore worked to ensure the passage of the housing, employment, tax and education measures to help improve the circumstances for the black people. (Pauley Garth E. , 2001, pgs 105-112) In 1963, Kennedy ultimately took strong action on civil rights and spoke about the moral imperative of racial inequality. In doing so, he needed to satisfy the score of Americans, who protested against prolonged federal inaction, reduction in the potential for racial violence and attempt to maintain the shred of confidence that the African Americans still had in the federal government. President Kennedy also wanted to aid the moderate civil rights leaders like Roy Wilkins, Martin Luther King, Jr. and James Farmer in securing their objectives lest the movement be taken over by radicals. He also led the fight for civil right in order to prevent the isolation of black leadership and the embitterment of the African American people. (Pauley Garth E. , 2001, pgs 105-112) JFK’s core beliefs President Kennedy was a man with core beliefs concerning certain issues surrounding humanity. An example of such beliefs is his stand on war and the Cuban missile crisis in 1943. His aversion to war was more pronounced during the first decades of the nuclear era. As early as 1947, the 29 year old freshman and congressman was gripped by the escalating suspicions of the cold war, which drove him to warn of the nuclear apocalypse publicly. In his own words, he said that, â€Å"The greatest danger is a war which would be waged by the conscious decision of the leaders of Russia some 25 or 35 years from now. She will have the atomic bomb, the planes, the ports, and the ships to wage aggressive war outside her boarders. Such conflict would truly mean the end of the world and all our diplomacy and prayers must be exerted to avoid it. † His words show his core belief on war, that it is immoral and inhuman. Stern Sheldon M. , 2003, pg 40) In the book Averting the ‘final failure’, Sheldon says that in all of president Kennedy’s life, he had a high regard for personal courage and toughness, but at the same time, he loathed the brutality and the carnage of war. He also had a profound historical paradox; that human beings had never been capable of building a peaceful and stable world, but at the same time, war, especially between nations possessing nuclear weapons, was no longer a rational option. The president was also an anti-communist just like his missile crisis advisers, but he understood that once military conflict was unleashed between the nuclear superpowers, all bets were off. (Stern Sheldon M. , 2003, pg 41) The Cuban missile crisis provided the supreme test of President Kennedy’s capacity to have an open mind and, at the same time, to hold fast his core beliefs about war in the face of unyielding pressure from the experts around him. (Stern Sheldon M. , 2003, pgs 41) The president also believed in liberty and in doing what one wanted to do. He was an athlete, a family man, and the Pulitzer Prize- winning author. He did anything he wanted to do, and hence his decision to engage himself in politics at such a young age. (Gramm Kent, 2001, pg 183) Effect of Catholic background to JFK’s rule Religion is one of the critical elements emphasized especially by the Democrats in presidency, who confess that they must retain the trust of God fearing Americans. In 1960, The Democratic Party appointed John. F. Kennedy as their presidential candidate, despite him being a catholic, but most of his supporters Protestants. He was the second catholic to receive the presidential nomination after Alfred E. Smith of New York, thirty two years earlier. Smith suffered a devastating defeat after a campaign that was marred by vicious religious bigotry. Given this history, JFK addressed a speech before hundreds of Southern Baptist religious leaders in Houston, Texas, on September 12, 1960. In his speech, he expressed his regrets in the necessity of religion to the American presidential candidates. He said that there were other more important issues that could be considered to help decide who the president should be, like hunger, disease and inequality. (North David, 2004, pgs 97-99) He added that issues like war, hunger, ignorance and despair knew no religious barriers. But since his catholic background had had made religion an issue in the campaign, Kennedy said that, â€Å"it is apparently necessary for me to state once again- not what kind of church I believe in for that should be important only to me, but what kind of America I believe in. † He also said, â€Å"I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be a catholic) how to act and no protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote†¦. † He further stated that his conception of America was one in which â€Å"no public official either requests or accepts instruction on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source† and â€Å"where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials. † President Kennedy believed that religion should be a president’s own affair and should not affect American policies or the way he rules. (North David, 2004, pgs 97-99) JFK’s death and its effect on the civil right movements On November 22nd, 1963, the civil right movement received a crushing blow of JFK’s death. The president was solidly behind the civil right efforts and was actively pushing Congress for the passage of a major rights bill. This bill would make possible full equality among the African Americans and the Whites. On a visit to Dallas, as President Kennedy rode with his wife Jackie in a convertible in a parade, three shots rang out, hitting Kennedy in the head and neck. The president died shortly after. The death of the president made the future of the civil rights legislation uncertain. It was however ironical that the death of the president strengthened the proposed civil right bill, an advantage to the civil rights movements. Prior to his death, any civil rights legislation would have required significant compromise to pass both houses of congress. After his death, President Johnson (his successor) refused to compromise. The civil right Acts were also boosted by the fact that the presidential election was upcoming, and Johnson strongly endorsed the Civil Rights Act. With key Republicans emerging as allies and other law makers less inclined to squabble over a bill an assassinated president supported, the bill passed both houses of Congress with no significant changes. Later on, President Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act into law. Effect of John. F. Kennedy’s presidency in the 21st century Today, the values of John F. Kennedy are evident, an example being the election of President Barack Obama. President John, F. Kennedy fought for equality among the African Americans and the Whites. In the 1960, it was impossible for a black man to become the president. All this started to change when President Kennedy pushed for the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. His assassination was a boost to passing of the bill, signaling the beginning of equality among all. The election of president Obama was definitely a reaping of fruits from the seeds sown by President JFK. The policies of President John F. Kennedy are seen in effect today, where equality reigns among all Americans, regardless of their cultural background, race or color. The fact that President Obama became president at 47 years could also be an inspiration by President Kennedy. In 1960, when John Kennedy was elected president, he received a lot of support from the young people. The old leadership had failed; the policies used then were fair. John F. Kennedy’s era was the start of the young leadership’s rule. He gave hope to the young and to the black African Americans, and was determined to attain the American dream. This was the case with the recent election. Most people preferred a young president to being ruled by an elderly person. President Obama gave America a hope, and promised to push America to achieve the American dream. Just as the youths supporting President John F. Kennedy believed, that nothing was impossible, so did the election of president Obama prove. The election of Obama’s election was also boosted by the fact that the Americans were fed up with Bush’s policies, which were also similar to those of John McCain. (Curtis Mark, etal, 2009, pgs 107-108) References 1) Curtis Mark, Owens Ronn, Age of Obama: A Reporters Journey with Clinton, McCain and Obama in the Making of the President, 2008, Nimble Books LLC, 2009, pgs 107-108 2) Gramm Kent, November: Lincolns elegy at Gettysburg, Indiana University Press, 2001, pg 183 3) North David, The crisis of American democracy: the presidential elections of 2000 and 2004, Mehring Books, 2004, pgs 97-99 4) Pauley Garth E. , The modern presidency civil rights: rhetoric on race from Roosevelt to Nixon, Texas A M University Press, 2001, pgs 105-112 5) Penrice Ronda Racha, African American History for Dummies, For Dummies, 2007, pg 169 6) Stern Sheldon M. , Averting ‘the final failure’: John F. Kennedy and the secret Cuban Missile Crisis meetings, Stanford University Press, 2003, pgs 40-41 7) William Terence Martin Riches, The civil rights movement: struggle and resistance, Palgrave Macmillan, 1997, pgs 57-58

McDonalds Future Policies and Strategies

McDonalds Future Policies and Strategies Introduction In this assignment we will discuss the business, its environment, factors affecting the environment, current market conditions and the affect of the current market on the the business. Identify the stakeholders of the company, strategy, policies used by the business that helps them to gain competitive edge over its customers. Strategic Review Strategic review helps to analyse and review the strategies used by the business for survival and sustainability. It helps us to understand the decisions taken by the management to increase the sales, market share and hence maximising profit. The Company I have chosen for this assignment is McDonalds which market leader in fast food industry is. In this assignment we will discuss McDonalds stakeholder and their current market position of McDonalds. We will also discuss the environment, strengths and the weaknesses along with the strategies used by McDonalds which affected the position of McDonalds either to increase market share or maximising profit. Task 1.1 Identify the importance of environmental factors affecting the organization or sector. We will discuss the factors affecting McDonalds. I have chosen Mcdonalds as a company having worked for McDonalds for about Four years make me understand the culture, structure and the environmental factors that affect the organisation directly and indirectly.Mcdonlads follow the plan to Win and being the Market Leader in the fast food industry with having restaurant in more than 119 countries with more than 31,000 restaurants in operation. The factors that affect the organisation are the political, social, economic, technological and legal .Apart from those Factors like Globalisation, Diversity and Ethics affect the organisation. Globalisation: Globalisation helps in developing a closer contact between different parts of the world, and have increased the possibility of personal exchange, mutual understanding and friendship among world citizens. Corporations are expanding their businesses to world market. Corporations go global for the Survival and sustainabilty.Mcdonalds are operating in more than 119 countries with over 31,000 restaurants in operation. Diversity : McDonalds s follow diversity by employing local people and having local suppliers for the restaurants. It also have the different menu for different countries and follow the culture of the countries. Like not serving beef products in India and having different Entries for ladies in Arab Countries respecting the cultural and religious beliefs of people. Global marketing decisions are no different than those made domestically but the decisions are unique to each country (Sister Sister, 2005). McDonalds realises diversity as an asset that enhances in the profitability of organisation. Diversity directly reflects the interpersonal relationships. Ethics: McDonalds Promote the RMHC(Ronald McDonald House Charity ) which provide room and board, food and sibling support at a cost of only $10 a day for families with children needing extensive hospital care. McDonalds sponsor Olympic athletes. Ronald McDonalds Houses are located in more than 259 communities worldwide and support Mobile care programs which offer cost effective medical,dental and educational services to children.In addition to their community involvement, McDonalds has a long-standing commitment to environmental protection. Restaurants around the world have innovative programs for recycling, resource conservation, and waste reduction. Mcdonalds also help the African farmers by buying fairtrade coffee beans and also the Rainforest Alliances. Task 1.2 Analyze the needs and expectations of all stakeholders involved. McDonalds is a people business-Ray Kroc Person, group, or organization that has direct or indirect stake in an organization because it can affect or be affected by the organizations actions, objectives, and policies. (Businessdictionary, 2010) Customers: McDonalds provide its customer with the nutritional value of the food and tend to innovate new food for its customers and have loyalty options of drink to retain its customers .It also provide healthy food options like salads, water,delli roll and fruits . Franchise holders (franchisees) Franchisees are crucial to McDonalds success; they deliver its brand promise straight to the customer. Nationwide, approximately 85percent of their restaurants are franchised. The sites for the restaurants and either own or leases the land and buildings. The franchisee then, in turn, leases the building from McDonalds by paying a percentage of sales. The franchisee also purchases the cooking equipment, furniture, play land and signage to complete the fit out of the restaurant. Shared investment and shared risk helps to achieve sustainable growth. Employees: Employees are the internal stakeholders and directly affect the working of organisation. McDonalds provide national qualification to its employees and helps to gain work experience. Mcdonalds follow equal opportunities for its employees. Suppliers: McDonalds supply chain benefits the countries economy. As Mcdonalds lay emphasize on the local suppliers. But the suppliers have to maintain the promise of quality for the customer, the ation, including rigorous quality control in all areas of operations-including animal welfare, health and safety, handling procedures and cleanliness. By providing local supplies Mcdonalds generate employment in the countries and supporting economies of thes to be company. This also enhances the growth perspectives of the countries as New Zealand exports beef to United States for beef patties. Community groups: RMHC(Ronald McDonald House Charity ) which provide room and board, food and sibling support at a cost of only $10 a day for families with children needing extensive hospital care. McDonalds sponsor Olympic athletes. Ronald McDonald Houses are located in more than 259 communities worldwide and support Mobile care programs which offer cost effective medical, dental and educational services to children. In addition to their community involvement, McDonalds has a long-standing commitment to environmental protection. Restaurants around the world have innovative programs for recycling, resource conservation, and waste reduction. Mcdonalds also help the African farmers by buying fair-trade coffee beans and also the rainforest alliances. It also is promoting the national Olympics in 2012 . Shareholders: According to the Annual report 2010 Mcdonalds have increased it growth 3.8% and the earning per share of the shareholders have increased by 9% and also the total dividend distributed to shareholders between 2007 -2009 amounted to 16.6 million dollars. Task 1.3 Conclude the major changes taking place in the environment that will affect the strategy. Economy is going through the downturn .It is very tough for companies to survive and sustain in the market. Every organisation follow the internal and external environment to plan any strategy .Profit Maximisation is the main aim of the organisation apart from organisations do plan for the environmental and the social factors that help in achieving the objectives and goals of the organisation. PESTLE Analysis: Political factors: Company is controlled by the policies and regulation of operations .Specific market focus on different areas of concern such as health, worker protection, and environment .McDonalds while operating in India will follow the rules and regulations of India relating to the tax, trade laws and the rights. For example selling of the meat is said to be offensive relating to Hindu community particularly that of beef. Economic factors:- Economic factors are those factors where in the economy of the business is affected it has a major impact on the business these factors such as interest rate , exchange rates could have a devastating effect on the business special when it a multinational business. McDonalds will have to charge customer in the local currency than the standard currency and the price should be within the purchasing power of individual. Social Factors: Social factors are factors originated generally due to the internal stakeholders in the organization, their health and safety. The culture in the organization can have varied effects on the output of the business and the cost of the company is lot more affected due social factors. Technological factors: McDonalds use television advert for the for the marketing purpose. Celebrities and animated depictions are used as an endorsement for I m loving it campaign. McDonalds use inventory system and the management of the value chain allow the easy payment foe their suppliers and other vendor which an individual stores in respective markets deal with. Legal Factors: McDonalds is proving nutritional information of the food on the packaging and the website of McDonalds. McDonalds is using fruits, oatmeal, salad, water and orange juice to promote healthy food habits and fight the obesity. In the Muslim countries McDonalds is using the concept of Halal Food for the target Customers. Other legal concepts like tax obligations, employment standards, and quality requirements are only a few of important elements on which the company has to take into consideration. Otherwise, smooth operations shall be hard to achieve. Environment: McDonalds is using the bin it logo to promote clean society so that the rubbish packaging should not be dumped by the roadside. It is also promoting going green to save energy and reducing wastage to save the environment and showing their responsibilities towards society. Through careful planning and working with The carbon rust we ensure that we use the most efficient equipment for our restaurants according to the technology available(Katie Saunders ,Environmental Manager, McDonalds UK) Mcdonalds is also using contributing in the environmental impact by reducing the energy consumption in restaurants, miniming the use of water in restaurants like using waterless urinals in the restaurants. Mcdonalds is trying to save the environment by reducing waste and reducing the size of the trayliners by 10cm which results in 84 tonnes of paper saving. It is also recycling the used cooking oil for the bio diesel. (McDonalds, 2010) Balance Scorecard Approach: The Balance Scorecard method was given by Kaplan and Norton .It is a strategic approach and the performance management system that enables organisations to translate companys vision and strategy into implementation and take into consideration four perspectives: Financial Perspectives: From the Financial Perspectives Mcdonalds like to focus on the Profitability and sales. For Increasing the sales employees are trained to sell large meals. For the Profitability emphases is laid on the waste reduction and drive thru which is having trained staff to do the job properly. Hand held are used to less the queues on the drive thru as it lessen customer order processing times. Customer Perspectives: Mcdonalds relate to Quality ,Service and value to customers. It target to serve front counter customer in 90 secs and the drive thru customers in 180 sec.Speed and quality is of utmost important to customers. Therefore, customers, like to friendly,fast and quality service every time.New Product like snack wrap, tasty and Great Taste of America is been brought to menu after sometime to retain the customers. Business Process Perspective: From the Business processes Mcdonalds is getting to expand its business by getting global. Also Mcdonalds is adding new product line to its business by opening McCaffes to expand its business. Learning and Growth Perspective: Employee Commitment is very important in the fast food industry. Employee turnover affect the business as retaining the employees is cost effective as recruiting and training is costly. McDonalds provide qualification to its managers from the hamburger university.(maxipedia,2010) Value chain Analysis: Firm Infrastructure: Brand Recognition: Mcdonalds is globally recognised brand. No.1 in Retail food industry. McDonalds is the market leader and exists at number no. 1 in fast food industry. Franchising: About 85% of the restaurants are franchised. Company Image: Company hold a strong image in the community because of the fresh and universal taste. Financial strength: Inspite of the economic downturn Mcdonalds annual sales increased by 3.8 % in 2009. Human Resources: Job Applications: Mcdonalds follow the online application system for recruitment. 2nd largest U.S employer Technology: Just in time order Delivery: Mcdonalds use the refrigerated trucks for delivery as the temperature of the frozen meat patties should not be less than -18 to -22 degrees to be served when cooking. Procurement: Sustainable packaging: Mcdonalds have reduced the size of tray liner and also use the packaging that can be recycled in their concern to protect environment. Renewable resources: 82% of the packing material is from renewable resources. Oil recycling for the bio diesel. Quality Control: For delivery freight truck inspections are inspected and random audits take place for quality control. Inbound Logistics: Operations: Corp. Guidelines for franchisees. Outbound Logistics: Distributor agreement Marketing and Sales: Product: Health and wellness campaign and product offering Price: Providing value to customer e.g. Pound menu, party pack for kids. Promotion: Coca cola endorsement Sponsor of Olympics and feeding the athletes .Mcdonalds is sponsoring Olympics 2012 along with coca cola and Cadbury. Service : Friendly customer service. Clean Environment for customers. Fast food service target to serve front counter customer in 90 sec and drive thru customer in 180 seconds. { Adopted from Harbott.com,2010} Task 2.2 Summarize the position of the organization in its current market. According to The Times In spite of the economy downturn McDonalds is still pushing ahead with the discounting menu. Figures shown by The Times state that McDonald position in the current market is unaffected by the economy downturn .It is following the strategy of the discounting  £or $ 1 menu making it to increase its profit. It has reported the increased sale as 4.2% of the global rise McDonalds share rose from.38 % in early trading of 1950 to  £70.61 in 2010.Mcdonalds is following a low prices strategies on fries,burgers.drinks and the sale of McCafe drinks.(Frean,2010) Mcdonalds is holding strong position in market as it holds more than 32,000 restaurant in operation in more than 117 countries and it has also added to the new product line McCaffes in 2008 providing cappuccinos and frappacinos. And other drinks. Working towards the environments and Children welfare and the organic food and also feeding the Olympics allows them to fulfil their responibilty towards society. Mcdonalds have planned to open around 1,000 more store in 2010 and invest in $2.4 billion to enhance the brand. Mcdonalds have planned to Reimage the exterior and interior of the existing stores to improve seating, lighting and dà ©cor and by doubling drive thru stations to improve speed and convenience.(Yousuf,2009) Task 2.3 Evaluate the competitive strengths and weaknesses of the organizations current strategies. Strengths Weaknesses Opportunity Threats 1) Glo Globalization: 32,000 restaurants serving in more than 117 countr117 countries. 1) Advertisement techniques that target children 1) Innovation: Continued adaptation such as adding on new menu such as snack wrap and great taste of Amaerica to retain the existing customers. 1) Current world economic standing: the companys revenue streams are diversified, but depending on the the length of this recession, they will inevitably be negatively impacted by the trickle down effect. 2) Active Childrens Charity: The Ronald McDonald House helping families with children in hospital. 2) Consumers use disposable income to purchase fast food meals so when the budget it treatened, consumers redirect these funds 2) Conservation: Researching green energies and green packaging solutions Recycling of the waste oil to form Biodiesel.. Using Water less urinals in store to save water consumption. 2) More Casual Dining Restaurants increasing their burger offering and decreasing the price. 3) Adjusted Ingredients and product offerings to comply with upgraded health standards deemed necessary by the USDA:Mcdonalds provide the universal taste in its menu. 3) Public perception: McDonalds has been impacted by negative press like the documentary Supersize Me by Morgan Spurlock in which he contributed our societies obesity to McDonalds and other fast food chains. 3) Exploration: Create new product offerings. Continue to use technology to influence revenue strategy: possibly use text messages to deliver specials offers to individuals who sign up for such services. 3) Public Health Crisis.: people are more foccussed on the dietry needs. 4) Earns revenue not merely by fast food sales, but also as a property investor, a franchiser of restaurants.: More than 85% of the restaurants are franchised throughout the world. Mcdonalds using low price strategy Or the  £1 menu which led t increase in sales by 4.2 % globally in 2010. Task 3.1 Use a range of tools and models to develop strategic options. Turnaround Strategy: Turn around Strategy is used by underperforming companies to normal in terms of acceptance levels of profitability, solvency, liquidity and cash flow. Therefore turnaround strategy is used to manage, stabilise, fund and fix the underperforming and distressed companies. The components of the Turnaround strategies are: Managing the turnaround: Managing in terms of leadership, stakeholder management. Stabilising by ensuring the short term future of the business through cash management. Funding and Recaptilising the company. Fixing the company in strategic, operational and organisational term. Mcdonalds adopted the turnaround strategy in 2003 when the sales declined, ,Measures for the service and quality of the chain continued to fall behind its rivals.To fight back the Company started to follow a turnaround from the corporate level by bringing back the James R Cantalupo former vice president under who the company bloomed from 1990 to 2000 and gained 32,000 franchisees. With the coming back of Cantalupo he started the redesigning by emphasizing more on the quality , friendliness and speedy service of staff and laid emphasis on the increased sales and expanding the more on business. The Mexican Grill and The Boston which was acquired by the Mcdonalds were let out .McDonalds set out new Product line to its Menu By opening McCaffes around the world as expansion in 2003. Breakfast new menu was added as pancakes with the combination of bacon, sausage and egg which was a great success along with the breakfast coffee drinks. It also added healthy food as salads, drinks. Company also added new logo I m loving it in the TV Adverts using Justin Timberlake to target teenagers instead of the kids to endorse Mcdonalds which turnaround a great success for the company and company started to increase its sales following the strategy.(scribd,2010) The changes in the external environment of the business can also be determined by the Porter five force model which exactly shows the real picture of the competition in the market. The model of the Five Competitive Forces was developed by Michael E. Porter in his book à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors in 1980. Since that time it has become an important tool for analyzing an organizations industry structure in strategic processes. Porters model is based on the insight that a corporate strategy should meet the opportunities and threats in the organizations external environment. Especially, competitive strategy should base on and understanding of industry structures and the way they change. Competition: Since the time Mcdonalds started in 1940 it is providing excellence service to its customer. Market is tough and tight for fast food industry. Opening up of cafe to the product line and serving breakfast has provided tight competition with Starbuck and other breakfast serving restaurant. Burger king and KFC are the two great competitors for Mcdonalds. Ease of entry: it is hard for new entrants to enter the market because of the high cost of entry and research and development cost. Established brand names like Mcdonalds make it even harder and new entrants have to face price competition. Substitutes: there are many products available in the market for substites.People can go to Burger King And KFC and Starbucks looking for substitutes. Power of suppliers: products are not readily available from suppliers so the power of suppliers is relatively low. Power of Buyers :Power of buyer is low. {Adopted from: marketing teacher,2010} Task 3.2 Develop a comparative understanding of activity from organizations in the market. Mcdonalds is the market leader in the fast food industry .Fast food business fluctuates with the economy rise and doom, customer taste, cultural differences, climatic conditions and the buying behaviour of customers. Mcdonalds is a customer oriented business focuses on the service, quality, processes and the accuracy of the service delivered to customer. McDonalds tends to provide universal taste of food to customers despite of their regional differences. It promotes diversity among its employees and believes in equal opportunities to its employees. Regular Training and development of the staff at the operational and management level gives it a stand out position in the market. Innovation and the TV Endorsement and its target market and motto I m Loving it makes it a standalone brand among the customers. To retain Customers Mcdonalds is regularly adding new menu its list and to adapt to cultural differences it follows the culture of the country Like having separate entrances for la dies in the Muslim Countries., to respect religious beliefs of the people it is adapting religious beliefs of the community as serving Halal food in the Arab Countries and Not serving Beef in India. To reduce Carbon Emission promoting Recycling, to save water use recycled water in toilets, to save trees reduce the packaging paper and tray liners and also recycle paper for packaging. For survival and sustainability it follows the local wage rate, local suppliers, local legal and taxation system, and local ethics. Task 3.3. Create a range of feasible options as the basis of future organizational strategy. Mcdonalds strategy is about the fresh and quality food to customer with friendly service. Mcdonalds plan to win and target customer with the universal taste respecting the religious and cultural beliefs. With the environmental issues Mcdonalds is helping to promote cleaner streets by sponsoring bins in conjunction with the council and also initiating people to get the Rubbish in Bin By Using Bin it motto. McDonalds is also getting in recycling revolution by using the waste oil to get bio diesel .In its motive to Save energy and water it is getting waterless urinals in the washrooms to save water and are trying to use the recycled water. For the packaging of the food it is using more than 82% of the recyclable material and trying to cut the 10 cm of the trayliners used to serve customer which eventually is saving about 84 tonnes of paper every year. McDonalds is also working for the animal welfare so that that animals are given the free field to roam around and is using free range eg g for its breakfast menu. ,it is also using the organic food to promote healthy food and also using fair trade coffee beans to help the farmers of Africa.Last but not the least Mcdonalds is sponsoring the london 2010 along with the coca cola and cadb ury. Mcdonalds will still follow the strategy of plan to win and keep on improving its quality, service , speed and accuracy .along with the training and development of employees . Conclusion :In the above assignment discussion has been made over Mcdonalds and its policies and strategies over the future which will them to sustain in the future. Though it is a market leader but by showing its concern over the carbon emissions and the work ethics it is showing the great deal of responsibility towards to society . The moral duty is fulfilled by employing diversity and proper training and development. It believes in the equal oppurtunities to everybody And require great commitment from its people to maintain the standards of service ,quality and friendliness so that people can say I m loving it!!!!!!!!!

Essays --

Oedipus the King Oedipus Rex is believed to be one of the best classical examples of the Greek classical order and what tragedy represents. Many Greek tragedies include a central character that is known to be the â€Å"tragic hero†. In Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, Oedipus the main character plays this role. This paper will give a brief summary of some of the characteristics of a tragic hero, while also analyzing all the major events that lead to Oedipus rise and downfall. Oedipus, the king of Thebe’s tragedy modelled Aristotle’s theorizing’s of what tragedy is in his book the Poetics. The play has a very well-constructed plot that follows Greek classical order. Aristotle and subsequent critics have labeled Oedipus the ideal tragic hero. A brief summary of the play: Oedipus is the son of the King and the Queen of Thebes. The king Laius learns from an oracle that his son will grow up to murder him and marry his wife. Horrified at the prophecy Laius sends his son to be killed to avoid the prophecy from becoming true. The servant pity’s the baby and gives the child to someone else who then gives it to their king and queen who were unable to have children. Oedipus grows up and goes to the oracle who then tells him about the prophecy. Afraid of what might happen he leaves the kingdom trying to avoid the prophecy as well. While on the road he crosses paths with a group of males and get into a confrontation, the fight escalates and Oedipus kills them not knowing that one of them is Laius his father. He continues and arrives at Thebes and sees that a sphinx has taken the city hostage. He resolved the riddle of the sphinx, which had been killing the young men of Thebes. By solving the riddle he became highly praised b y the city of Thebes. As... ... parents. His initial intention was to relieve Oedipus from his fears of the prophecy; instead the results prove to be contradictory to his initial intent. The messenger provides him with critical information that immediately reveals to Oedipus that he was not successful in preventing the prophecy his actions lead him right into it. As Aristotle recommends, this is directly connected to the anagnorisis, for the messenger and the herdsman are the missing link to Oedipus true story. The messenger enables him to â€Å"recognize† his true identity, he gains the initial knowledge he lacked. The peripeteia and anagnorisis changes Oedipus fortune. His good fortune turns out to be a catastrophe that leads to suffering. His actions will be considered a setback of his intentions, and each of them will give him more insight of the truth that will eventually lead to his downfall.

Police Discretion and the Use of Force Essay -- Socia Issues, Discrimi

Discretion is defined as the authority to make a decision between two or more choices (Pollock, 2010). More specifically, it is defined as â€Å"the capacity to identify and to document criminal and noncriminal events† (Boivin & Cordeau, 2011). Every police officer has a great deal of discretion concerning when to use their authority, power, persuasion, or force. Depending on how an officer sees their duty to society will determine an officer’s discretion. Discretion leads to selective enforcement practices and may result in discrimination against certain groups of people or select individuals (Young, 2011). Most police officer discretion is exercised in situations with individuals (Sherman, 1984). Discrimination can lead to legal problems for an officer of the law. If discrimination due to an officer’s use of discretion results in a violation of due process it is a violation of the law (Young, 2010). Due process is the constitutionally mandated procedural steps designed to eliminate error in any governmental deprivation of liberty, life, or property (Pollock, 2010). One of the main concerns with using discretion is the possibility of it leading to a violation of due process by racial profiling. Types of Negative Police Discretion Racial profiling occurs when a police officer uses a â€Å"profile† as reasonable suspicion to stop a person with the intent to obtain consent to search their belongings (Pollock, 2010). These stops are usually traffic stops and the officer is looking to obtain consent to search the individual’s automobile. The â€Å"profile† used is based on race. In these cases, an officer is using their discretion to target minority groups because they believe they are involved in criminal activities... ...rsation among researchers. The problem I see with the topic of conversation is there is not a lot of research done on the actual affects of the individual discretion of each officer compared to a department that has been educated in following policies more than personal discretion. In fact, from what I saw there is not much research on the effects of discretion at all. It seems like it is a topic that is overlooked when researching the effectiveness of a department. I feel like before more solutions are found on how to correct the problem of discretion, more research needs to be done on how discretion plays a role in every day policing. Until this research is conducted, all the articles published are on theories of discretion causing problems, and all of the solutions mentioned are methods to correct a problem that has not even been proven to be an issue yet.

Knowledge M Essay -- essays research papers

Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In today’s economy, corporations are constantly seeking was to achieve faster decision making, higher levels of product, better service, and process innovation to gain competitive advantage over other corporations. Various information technologies have been adapted in to corporation’s business plans in order to optimize competitive advantage. However, with the increase in competition, information technology’s applications in business no longer serve as a great advantage. The need for new business strategies arises along with the emergence of the knowledge society (Styhre, 2003) having information is no longer a source of competitive advantage. In today’s business environment, organizational knowledge is recognized as a significant source of competitive advantage, how quickly organizations determines knowledge and creates value out of it determines its competitiveness. (Shukla) In an economy where the only certainty is uncertainty, the one sure source of competitive advantage is knowledge. When markets shift, technologies proliferate, competitors multiply, and products become obsolete almost overnight, successful companies are those that consistently create new knowledge, disseminate it widely throughout the organization, and quickly embody it in new technologies and products. -Harvard Business Review (1998) Knowledge management is a business strategy that identifies, organizes and shares information essential to the company so it can be applied to optimize business performance. The content of this paper provides the fundamental concepts to the practice of Knowledge Management and how it should be applied. Explanation of the technology, its application in business, benefits, and the essentials of designing a knowledge management program are introduced and explained in further details. Knowledge Management: Technology and Trends   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The practice of knowledge management is often confused with information management. So what is knowledge management? And exactly how should it work? B. Begeron (2003) defines knowledge management as â€Å"the ability to selectively capture, archive, and access the best practices of work-related knowledge and decision making from employees and managers for both individual and group behaviors.† Knowledge management is still a relatively new practice in business organi... ...pplications. (Santosus, 2002) Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Knowledge management, being a relevantly new practice in business organizations, requires a great deal of planning and setting systematic knowledge management program according to the organization’s business goals. Several factors must be applied to building a successful knowledge management program: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Leadership is essential. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Training and reeducating of knowledge workers is the key to increasing the organization’s assets 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Business goal must be set and expectations must be managed. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Knowledge management depends on information technology. 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Knowledge management is a constantly evolving process. If a knowledge management program is designed and applied accordingly, beneficial results would occur. We can conclude that knowledge management, instead of being applied as a technology based concept, it should be applied as a daily business practice of sharing information among employees and departments in order to properly import knowledge in to use when it is needed

Net Neutrality Research Essay

The Internet has historically been considered an â€Å"open and free† medium. Currently, Internet users get access to any Web site on an equal basis. Foreign and domestic sites, big corporate home pages and low-traffic blogs all show up on a user’s screen in the same way when their addresses are typed into a browser. (NY Times 2010) Having its beginnings in military and research facilities in the late 1960’s, ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) slowly evolved into what is now known as the Internet in the 1990’s. Since then is has become the backbone of American and world culture and economics. There is almost no limit to the content available today. Any person with an idea and access to the Internet can share that idea with the world more quickly than in any other time in human history. (Hunter, 2010) Today there are deep battle lines that have been drawn. The ones on the side of the broadband companies argue that they need financial incentives to lay the cables and build the networks that will be necessary to handle surging amounts of digital traffic. USA Today, 2011) They emphatically reject any government oversight or regulations stating that government interference will smother internet growth. This is despite that fact the original architecture of the Internet was created by government and universities. Its usefulness was greatly enhanced over the years by companies such as Intel, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Apple and Google, much more so than by service providers such as AT&T, Verizon and Comcast. Yet it is the service providers that are demanding to become its gatekeepers. (USA Today, 2011) The division (with some exceptions) goes down the party lines. Democrats, who are in favor of net-neutrality rules, insist regulation is needed to prevent network operators discriminating in favor of their own services. A cable-TV firm that sells both broadband internet access and television services over its cables might, for example, try to block internet-based video that competes with its own television packages. Republicans worry, that net neutrality will be used to justify a takeover of the internet by government bureaucrats, stifling innovation (that the internet’s origins lie in a overnment-funded project is quietly passed over. ) (The Economist, 2010) To begin to grasp what has transpired since the advent on the Internet, one must know that the Internet will continue along its phenomenal growth path, despite the current global economic crisis. What’s different is that the Internet will become increasingly mobile and social. By 2012, more people will access the Internet via cell phones than PCs. Their favorite activities will be downloading music, videos and ringtones rather than searching the Web or sending e-mail. PC World, 2009). What is net neutrality? Net neutrality is the concept that states that every person should have the same open access to the internet. In other words, internet service providers should not discriminate against people based on the amount of internet bandwidth they use. Individuals who have paid for internet access should be able to visit all websites at competitive speeds. If the internet was to become non-neutral, then people would have to individually buy access to different websites. Currently, no restrictions are being imposed, save parental control, on the information we are able to gather, and there are no restrictions on communication via the internet nor uploading and downloading. (Boswell) All of this is to change if the ISP’s have it their way. One of the greatest aspects of net neutrality is the options you have to choose from when trying to obtain content via the internet. One of the biggest fears is if net neutrality is gone, certain websites may be exclusive to a certain ISP that other ISP’s will not be able to provide to you. Another vantage point of net neutrality is the options make the websites in question more competitive to bring you the best they can offer to get your count. If certain websites are limited to certain ISP’s, not only would you be restricted from the competitor’s websites, but the websites would have less power to sell their product to the people and there would be less incentive to bring their best. (Naik) In an era where technology is all about the progression every day, this would seem counterintuitive. It’s been said that if the ISP’s aren’t regulated by the FCC, customers who use more would pay more, thus decreasing in congestion. Bieberle, 2010) But the ISP’s already provide different packages that provide a maximum bandwidth. Regardless, it’s just more money for them, and it’s already being feared that this would slow economic growth. Most websites seem to be in favor of network neutrality as it is. (Naik, 2010) The principle states that if a given user pays for a certain level of Internet access, and another user pays for the same level of access, then the two users should be able to connect to each other at the subscribed level of access. The basic concept sounds simple enough: that the internet’s pipes should show no favors and blindly deliver packets of data from one place to another regardless of their origin, destination or contents. (The Economist, 2010) The growing problem with the Internet is that as broadband use expands; the amount of traffic dedicated to media use and downloading increases. This causes a disproportionate drag on the overall system. Imagine a scenario where 95 percent of the users on a particular network are simply browsing a variety of websites for information, and the remaining 5 percent are streaming videos. If those 5 percent are demanding equal prioritization of traffic, 95 percent of the users could experience a noticeable delay in their browsing for the duration of the streaming video. Conversely, if prioritization of traffic allows the low-bandwidth browsing through first, only 5 percent of users would experience a delay, and that delay will be negligible when compared with the experience of viewing the video, especially as most software-driven video players buffer many of the packets in the stream anyhow. (Hunter, 2010) Given the ambiguity about whether mandating network neutrality would promote or impede economic welfare, the more technologically humble course would be for policymakers to embrace a principle of network diversity, which would permit individual network owners to explore alternative business arrangements until concrete harm to competition can be demonstrated. (Yoo, 2006) According to the FCC, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can’t resist engaging in such bad behaviors as slowing a competitor’s sites to direct traffic to their own profit centers. Though they cannot cite a single case where federal intervention was needed to avert this behavior, the FCC proposes to take over the very Internet architecture that ISPs invest 60 billion job-creating dollars a year developing. It will insist that no information can be prioritized by the ISPs, transferring that power to federal authorities instead. ISPs are left asking obvious questions. Why invest in making a network more efficient, why collaborate to build new technologies, if ISPs will not be allowed to profit from them? In rushing to defend a consumer who has no need of its help, the FCC threatens to cripple the greatest platform for the expansion of freedom and prosperity since Jefferson put quill to parchment. (Blackburn, 2011) The net neutrality debate has brought attention to the larger concerns related to the boundaries between the FCC and antitrust authorities. The shaping of net neutrality regulatory policy’ â€Å"has operated under the assumption that the FCC has the authority, by virtue of its ancillary jurisdiction, to regulate Internet transmission providers. This confidence in the FCC’s scope of authority proved misplaced in Comcast Corp. vs. FCC, decided by the U. S. Court of Appeals for the D. C. Circuit in 2010. Finding no relation between the FCC’s net neutrality policies and the agency’s legislative mandate, the court clarified that the FCC may use its ancillary jurisdiction only when the proposed action is specifically related to the agency’s mandated responsibilities as Congress delineated in the Communications Act of 1934 (Communications Act). Boliek, 2010) The Obama administration says the â€Å"net neutrality† rules, which were scheduled to take effect in November, are necessary to prevent Internet Service Providers from prioritizing data, or blocking services offered by competitors. (Suderman, 2012) Some of the pros and cons of â€Å"Net Neutrality† The foremost advantage of net neutrality is that it is helpful in adding competitiveness to the market, as the users are given more option s to choose from. The competition between service providers will make each of them come up with their best, and this will directly benefit the end user as he won’t just get options to choose from but also get quality service. Those in support of net neutrality are of the opinion that government control of the Internet would eliminate monopoly, thus ensuring that the big websites do not dominate the market. It will also help in curbing the numerous illegal activities and frauds which can be attributed to the web. Interestingly, most of the websites out there are in support of the concept of net neutrality. Naik, 2010) Those who oppose net neutrality argue that it is an absolutely futile exercise as none of the service providers would go about sabotaging their rivals by blocking their content or degrading network performance. They also cite the example of other networks which are functioning properly even with the major contributors being in charge of them. As far as government control of the Internet is concerned, these people argue that it would result in increased Internet censorship and invasion of privacy, both of which wouldn’t go down well with the users. Naik, 2010) The Internet has evolved beautifully on its own up to this point. To interfere â€Å"proactively† could be a mistake. Despite acknowledging that there exists â€Å"data hogs†, I feel it would be a mistake to begin to tweak with an issue before it became. Granted it would seem prudent to lean to caution but the Internet is too critical a medium to tamper with. If any â€Å"interference is necessary, I would suggest a two prong attack. First would be a plan to foster more competition among ISP’s. Second would be is to offer a monthly data limit and charge by the megabyte beyond it. There’s no evidence of systemic problems in the broadband market, so new rules are unnecessary. (PC World, 2010) Conclusion Google’s original network neutrality defense can only be found today in the historical archives of the Internet. Network neutrality is there defined as â€Å"the principle that users should be in control of what content they view and what applications they use on the Internet. †Interestingly, though the eeming kindheartedness towards users, the only mentioned means to achieve the said effects is reflected in the following precept: â€Å"broadband carriers should not be permitted to ‘use their market power’ to discriminate against competing applications or content. †(Thompson, 2011) It was only in the FCC’s September 2010 call for additional comment in its Open Internet proceeding that the FCC finally recognized the reality that a carrier’s decisions on Internet services are only part of a broader decision on how to use its infrastructure more generally. That is, a carrier chooses how much bandwidth to devote to Internet service and how much to devote to video channels, and this choice can affect consumers’ ability to trade off between the two types of service. (Speta, 2011) Although the FCC has a broad scope of operation (â€Å"all interstate and foreign communication by wire or radio†), and is charged with making available â€Å"to all the people of the United States . . . a rapid, efficient, Nation-wide, and world-wide wire and radio communication service . . at reasonable charges,† as well as the duty to â€Å"encourage the deployment on a reasonable and timely basis of advanced telecommunications communications capability,† the Commission’s power to require cable operators to build out to hard-to-reach areas, open their expensive high up-front-cost facilities to competitors, and charge reasonable rates for high-speed Internet access is unclear. (Crawford, 2010) There is nothing wrong with charg ing for a service. The policy problem comes when there is one â€Å"delivery â€Å"actor (or one category of actors) in a position to work closely with a small stable of content/service providers. The problem is exacerbated when that same delivery actor is in a position to use its technical control over the delivery conduit to privilege its commercial relationships, and to have all of it appear to be â€Å"free† to consumers as long as they are paying a monthly subscription for content. Adding in the technical ability to charge for and deliver ads based on all of this activity, the single delivery actor becomes very powerful. From a policy perspective, is it appropriate to have a conduit able to exert leverage over and exact tribute from all possible high-speed interactive communications? Should everything we do online trigger a payment to the pipe? (Crawford, 2010) Therefore, my opinion is that the internet should remain neutral. All businesses are capitalist entities in the pursuit of a fat bottom line, and their main objective is to please their clients (with the most money). Besides we already pay for access to the internet through ISPs, how much more would we have to pay for data transmission rates and or bandwidth?