View of the soldier during ww

Do you agree with the view that the British soldier's life in the trenches of the Western Front during the First World War was one of unbroken horror? Trench conditions varied widely between different theatres of war, different sectors within a theatre, and with the time of year and weather. Trench life was however always one of considerable squalor, with so many men living In a very constrained space. Source 7 supports this by saying â€Å"troops fell prey to dysentery and trench fever as a result of filthy conditions and exposure†.However source 8 disagrees where it depicts how the roofs where only in the trenches for a â€Å"short time†, furthermore source 9 continues to support source 8 by saying â€Å"casualties where low†. The trenches clearly were not a nice place to be and their would much nicer places the troops would of rather been. However Source 9 tells â€Å"casualties were low simply because men were in trenches. † This gives the impression t hat life in trenches was not so bad after all. It explains how the trenches saved the lives of the troops and clearly were an asset to the soldiers.However from my own knowledge I see the trenches to have; scraps of scarred food, empty tins and other waste, the nearby presence of the latrine, the general dirt of living half underground and being unable to wash or change for days or weeks at a time created conditions of severe health risk (and that Is not counting the military risks). Vermin Including rats and lice were very numerous; disease was spread both by them, and by the maggots and flies that thrived on the nearby remains of decomposing human and animal corpses.This is supported in source 7 where it illustrates the troops â€Å"suffered from typhoid caused by lice and were liable o get fungal infection known as trench foot in the frequently wet, muddy conditions. † This supports the view that the British soldier's life in the trenches of the Western Front during the Fi rst World War was one of unbroken horror. Troops in the trenches were also subjected to the weather: the winter of 1916-1917 in France and Flanders was the coldest in living memory; the trenches flooded In the wet, sometimes to waist height, whenever It rained.Men suffered from exposure, frostbite, trench foot (a wasting disease of the flesh caused by the foot being wet and cold, constrained Into tots and puttees, for days on end, that would cripple a man), and many diseases brought on or made worse by living in such a way. This is supported in source 7 where it states the men were in â€Å"wet, muddy conditions†. This surprisingly backed up by Source 9 (Argues the trenches were safe, â€Å"constructed for protection†) where it says â€Å"the mud that exists in our mental depictions of the Front was most common in Flanders†. However Source 9 contradicts its self by saying â€Å"the land tended to drain properly'.This gives a complete different perspective, but goes on to explain why. The reason is due to the† trenches passing through many kinds of terrain†. This explains the a cause for completely different accounts about the lives for the soldiers in the trenches and shows how the vast length of the trench line meant different areas had completely different weather and terrains. Indeed, the Great War, a phrase coined even before It had begun, was expected to be a relatively short affair and, as with most wars, one of great movement. The First exemplified on the Western Front from autumn 1914 until spring 1918.Source 8 helps to portray this as well where it says â€Å"the idea that was not stopping in the trenches for long†. The word â€Å"idea† in this quote implies the fact that this is what the generals wanted to happen but may have not actually happened. Source 8 goes on to say, â€Å"the result, in the long term, meant that we lived a mean and impoverished sort of existence in lousy scratch holes. † T his shows, due to expectation of continues moving towards the Germans, the trenches were not well made or fortified and therefore not giving the men enough protection or comfortable living spaces.This however, is contradicted by Source 9 where it says how â€Å"casualties were low simply because men were in trenches. † And where it also quotes the trenches â€Å"were instructed for protection†. Not that there wasn't movement at all on the Western Front during 1914-18; the war began dramatically with sweeping advances by the Germans through Belgium and France heading for Paris. However stalemate and trench warfare soon set in, and the expected war of movement wasn't restored until towards the close of the war, although the line rippled as successes were achieved at a small level.Finally, no overview of trench life can avoid the aspect that instantly struck visitors to the lines: the appalling reek given off by numerous conflicting sources. Rotting carcasses lay around i n their thousands. For example, approximately 200,000 men were killed on the Some battlefields, many of which lay in shallow graves. Overflowing latrines would similarly give off a most offensive stench. Men who had not been afforded the luxury of a bath in weeks or months would offer the pervading dour of dried sweat.The feet were generally accepted to give off the worst dour. Trenches would also smell of cresol or chloride of lime, used to stave off the constant threat of disease and infection. To add to this the smell of cordite, the lingering dour of poison gas, rotting sandbags, stagnant mud, cigarette smoke ND cooking food. This is supported by Source 7, describing how the soldiers â€Å"had to share their dugouts and their food with disease ridden rats fattened on a plentiful supply of rotting corpses†.This portrays that the life in trenches was one of unbroken horror. It can be said that the trenches were clearly better than nothing, offering small amounts of protecti on at the least. However they clearly were not something they looked forward to with its â€Å"filthy conditions† stated in source 7. I feel the main difference between the sources which create the argument, is likely to be that the counts are taken from different locations along the British front line as well the time of the year.As stated previously, the winter of 1916-1917 in France and Flanders was the coldest in living memory, where as other times of the year and different areas were not so bad. Moreover the trenches were a place of hell. AH though they offered protection for the troops, the conditions and living standards were terrible. Therefore, agreeing that the British soldier's life in the trenches of the Western Front during the First World War was one of unbroken horror. Charlie Runoff

Glass Menagerie Essay

An Escape from Confinement The Wingfield family in Tennessee Williams â€Å"The Glass Menagerie† is one that is held together by the bonds of illusion, dysfunction, and entrapment. Amanda Wingfield lives in a lower middle-class apartment that Williams tells us is â€Å"symptomatic of the impulse of this largest and fundamentally enslaved section of American society to avoid fluidity and differentiation and to function as one interfused mass of automatism† (Williams, 1945, 400). Amanda and her two children, Laura and Tom, are enslaved in different ways. Amanda is a slave to a past when the bloom was not off the rose, so-to-speak. Tom is enslaved by pity for his mother and sister that keeps him working in a warehouse job he hates as he is a poet. Laura is enslaved by her illusions. There is a constant struggle between reality and illusion in this play, something ironic in light of the fact that Williams attempted to avoid realism. As Downer (1960) notes: â€Å"As a writer he is basically a poet, and he has done much to develop the possibilities of poetic expression in a theater that was created as a home for relentless realism† (222). Laura’s development through the play influences the evolution of the idea, that one must escape enslavement to have the chance for a fulfilling existence. The truly dysfunctional family of the play didn’t manage to escape their confined existence. At first it could seem as if their lives are anything but normal, but Amanda’s â€Å"impulse to preserve her single-parent family seems as familiar as the morning newspaper† (Presley 53). The Wingfields are a typical family just struggling to get by. Their problems, however, stem from their inability to effectively communicate with each other. Instead of talking out their differences, they resort to desperate acts. The desperation that the Wingfields embrace has led them to create illusions in their minds and in turn become deceptive. Amanda, Tom, and Laura are caught up in a web of desperation, denial, and deception, and it is this entrapment that prevents them, as it would any family, from living productive and  emotionally fulfilled life. All of the play’s characters make attempts at escape. The father is the ultimate symbol of escape because of his desertion. Laura continually escapes into a world of fantasy through the glass menagerie and the old phonograph records. Amanda tries to escape her current life by retelling stories of when she was young and life had limitless possibilities. Tom escapes his life and his mind-numbing job by going to the movies and sometimes getting drunk. Even the apartment where they live is something from which they would like to escape. â€Å"The Wingfield apartment is in the rear of the building, one of those vast hive-like conglomerations of cellular living-units that flower as warty growths in overcrowded urban centers of lower middle-class populations and are symptomatic of the impulse of this largest and fundamentally enslaved section of American society to avoid fluidity and differentiation and to exist and function as one interfused mass of automatism† (stage directions, 1.1, Williams 1175). Williams uses a description of the setting to establish the prison-like feel .The play takes an ambiguous attitude toward the moral implications and even the effectiveness of Tom’s escape. As far as he might wander from home, something still pursues him. Like a jailbreak, Tom’s escape leads him not to freedom but to the life of a fugitive. In their attempts to escape reality, all of the characters retreat into some kind of fantasy, whether it is films or glass animals. They find a source of comfort and contentment in these fantasy realms that they do not seem to find in reality. Each member of the Wingfield family is unable to overcome this difficulty, and each, as a result, withdraws into a private world of illusion where he or she finds the comfort and meaning that the real world does not seem to offer. Of the three Wingfields, reality has by far the weakest grasp on Laura. The private world in which she lives is populated by glass animals that, like Laura’s inner life, are incredibly delicate. Unlike his sister, Tom is capable of functioning in the real world. But, in the end, he has no more motivation than Laura does to pursue professional success, romantic relationships, and he prefers to retreat into the fantasies. Amanda’s relationship to reality is the most complicated in the play. Unlike her children, she is partial to real-world values and longs for social and financial success. Living in the past is Amanda’s way of escaping her pitiful present reality (Knorr). She never forgets to tell Laura and Tom  about her receiving seventeen gentlemen callers in Blue Mountain when she was young: â€Å"One Sunday afternoon-your mother received-seventeen!-gentlemen callers! Why, sometimes there weren’t enough chairs enough to accommodate them all† (Williams 26). Amanda’s retreat into illusion is in many ways more pathetic than her children’s, because it is a distortion of reality. In The Glass Menagerie, memory plays an important part, both thematically and in terms of the play’s presentation. Thematically, a reader sees the detrimental effects of memory in the form of Amanda’s living in the past. As far as the play’s presentation is concerned, the entire story is told from the memory of Tom, the narrator .When he begins to speak in Scene 1 of The Glass Menagerie, one of the first things he tells the audience is, â€Å"The play is memory. Being a memory play, it is dimly lighted, it is sentimental, it is not realistic.† The influence and power of memory is an important theme in the play and influences all the characters, which are trapped by memory. Tom is haunted by the memory of deserting his sister. Amanda can’t move past the memory of living a better life in Blue Mountain. â€Å"A blown-up photograph of the father hangs on the wall of the living room, to the left of the archway. It is the face of a very handsome young man in a doughboy’s First World War cap. He is gallantly smiling, ineluctably smiling, as if to say â€Å"I will be smiling forever.† (Stage directions, scene One, Williams 1178). Just as the portrait of Amanda’s husband hangs in the house, so does the past hover over the present of the play. Laura allows herself to become lost in phonograph records left by their father, the records themselves holding memories of the past. Even Jim is entangled by the memories of his days as a high school hero instead of just another guy working at a factory. The play examines the conflict between one’s obligations and one’s real desires, suggesting that being true to one may necessitate abandonment of the other. In the â€Å"Glass Menagerie† the characters have failed to escape enslavement, thus, losing the chance for a fulfilling existence. The quotation from Thoreau, â€Å"The mass of men lead lives of the quiet desperation,† applies directly to the characters, as they were all unhappy, but took no action to improve their situation in any significant way. Breaking down the chain of a vicious circle is an ongoing issue that can be found in a work life, personal relationships, and even in relationships with oneself resulting in addictions. â€Å"The Glass Menagerie† gives a reader an incentive to act up on  the stigmas, bias, and prejudices that one might have. It’s impossible to become a fulfilled and harmoniously accomplished individual without facing the dichotomy of one’s character. One has to get out of the world of fragile illusions and face the reality in order to be a happy person, as illusions create nothing but desperation.?

Business Report_ Informative report Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business Report_ Informative report - Case Study Example For purposes of clarity, these have ultimately been broken down into 3 key areas: Cleanliness, Quality of Food, and Quality of Service. As such, the proceeding sections will target each of these areas and relate how the sampling of employees felt with relation to each one of these. A 90% response rate was achieved with over 500 employees originally sampled. As a means of understanding the core components of dissatisfaction, the study itself was of a somewhat limited scope as a means to seek to answer the most pressing issues that currently face the cafeteria and those within the firm that make use of its offerings. From this sampling the following key information has been determined with regards to the proceeding determinants that have been weighed: 98% of respondents indicated that the level of cleanliness within the cafeteria was unsatisfactory; key concerns centered around dirty floors, unsanitary condiment sections, and unclean floors and eating utensils. Additional concerns with relation to cleanliness consisted of concerns relating to the personal cleanliness of the food preparation process and the kitchen/cafeteria workers themselves. Similarly, fully 80% of employees felt that the quality of the food that the cafeteria offered was of a poor nature. Key concerns that were stated revolved around food being greasy, too salty, poorly cooked, improperly seasoned, tasting old, and/or being stale. Of the responses, it is interesting to note that none of these were concentric around the lack of choice or lack of diversity in the offerings that are made. Instead, they were almost wholly concerned with the level to which the food represents poor preparation, seasoning, or care. Finally, 76% of the employees sampled noted that the overall quality of the service that they received within the cafeteria was poor or substandard. Prime reasons were concentric upon surly staff and poor attention to detail with regards to refills and condiments

Reflection on semester 2 ( task) 4 manaement skills Essay

Reflection on semester 2 ( task) 4 manaement skills - Essay Example My grades were satisfactory. Apart from preparing myself for business courses, I had for several years been undertaking English classes at several institutions. Now, I am studying business management level 1 at university of surrey. Although my progress in surrey university is not what I am seeking to, I believe that I have the ability to improve my performance in my higher-level classes. Regarding my progress in the university was not because of my ability, it was a result of negligence. I have passed all the courses for last semester with fine grades. I have no doubt that I can improve my performance this semester. I was born in Qatar and I have lived in Doha city. After completing high school, I had taken some English courses in USA in different places as an employee in the Arabian International petroleum Corporation. Then I have worked as Public Relations Officer for three years in same company. In addition, I have worked as Marketing Coordinator for three years but in last year, I joined their subsidiary company, ITAG in Celle Germany. Since I am taking management skills in semester 2 I have taken a self-audit using the different standards, which are given in learning skills profile of pebblebad. This evaluation of my self-audit clarifies many things that help me to improve my learning skills by figuring out my S&W. In addition, give me chance to compare my level between semester one and two. This comparison leads me to keep my strengths and develop my weakness throughout e-learning recourses. During semester 1, my performance was not satisfied enough. I did not contribute very well with my group and I missed one meeting. Although, I can use ulearn quite good I never participated on discussion board. I have the ability to read academic books but I do not read much. However, sometimes I find it difficult to understand some text in specific subject. I am good at researching but what I am

Socrates vs Confucius Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Socrates vs Confucius - Essay Example The difference in the attitude towards the means of solving the issues disturbing society came out of the peculiarities if historical preconditions and the period they lived in. Both Socrates and Confucius at the time of significant social changes accompanied by frequent wars, as well as society demoralization and political perturbations. Socrates witnessed florescence of Greece as Pericles was in reign, as well as did he see its overwhelming defeat in the Peloponnesian wars and severe rule of the Thirty Tyrants. Confucius lived at the time when the traditional slave-owning system was on the verge of decline while various political powers were fighting for power. All these factors lead to crises, and the philosophers tried to find a way to understand them and their origins and tackle them mending the social structure. Basically, this was the main common aim of Socrates and Confucius.The principal difference between them lay in the way they chose to treat the issue. The view on human nature and morality is considered to be theoretical basis of their teachings. Socrates shifted focus from speculations about the afterlife, the gods and the nature to meditation on how to live in this world. He saw the solution of a problem in reason. Reason is what can open the essence of a â€Å"paragon† for order; what we wish to create should be first developed in our mind. Socrates’ famous admonition â€Å"Know thyself† implies the importance of knowledge in human affairs.

Creative Exercise Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Creative Exercise - Essay Example Instead, the government will rely on the business license renewals, sales taxes, real estate taxes, and other non-individual tax revenues for its operation. I will lead them into a world where education is of the utmost importance and yet costs the parent very little to spend on. It wont be hard to do this because the child will be home schooled by their parents, using the internet as the basis of their classroom setting. Standardized testing of the child will be done by the Department of Education thus, only the testing fees shall be charged as additional government revenue. The test will be the prerequisite to moving on to the next level of education just as in a regular school. The world that I envision is one where people will not want nor lack for anything because all the taxes collected shall go towards providing with public with as much free services as possible. This will include free medical services with nominal fees charged for major operations and procedures. Mine shall be a world with a government that is down-scaled because only the most necessary government offices shall be in place. Redundancy will not exist because government agencies will know how to multitask in the service of the people. The Utopian world that I shall lead the people to will take them back to the simpler times when people grew their own food and farming was the proud way of life that people used to sustain themselves. It is a world where sharing is the key to survival , not money. Of course I shall lead them towards this type of world and lifestyle to the best of my abilities. Whether I successfully lead them or not will depend upon whether they are willing to make sacrifices in order to achieve the utopian society that I will strive to create for everyone

Monopoly and Oligopoly Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Monopoly and Oligopoly - Essay Example Another feature of oligopoly is that the actions of another firm largely affect the other firms. It means that the success of another firm depends on the action of another firm. Oligopolies would want to know what other firms have availed in the market. For example, McDonalds will keep monitoring what Wendy’s have made available in the market. Oligopolistic market also has a bit of a barrier for entry to the market but not like monopoly market structure. Conversely, monopoly is characterized by the products differentiation. This means that the firm produces a product that is unique. This means that there is no close substitute for the product. Monopoly operates as a single seller in the market; it is a firm that provides most of the supplies in the market. Bookstores in campuses are some examples of monopolies. Unlike perfect competition, the kind of market that monopoly operates is not easy to enter due to quite a number of barriers for entry such as legal barriers (Tucker, 2010). A natural monopoly is where by one firm stands out as a primary supplier despite the presence of other firms. In this industry, it is advantageous for production to be concentrated on this major firm rather than contested competitively. Natural monopolies are mostly public utilities. The legality of these natural monopolies is based on the fact that it is economically sensible to have them. That is the cost of production of goods and services, for example power, by these monopolies, are very high such that it is economically sufficient if only one company produces it. The government however regulates the operation of the two monopolies. This information shows why ‘natural’ monopolies are legal and other monopolies illegal (Hirschey, 2008). Laissez-faire is seen as an economic-policy doctrine. This doctrine opposes government interference in business other than the minimum functions of ensuring peace,

Corporate social responsibility as tool for risk management Dissertation

Corporate social responsibility as tool for risk management - Dissertation Example 3. How does the level of corporate social responsibility practices taken in the company happen to impact the profitability position of the company? 4. What are the best possible practices in terms of corporate social responsibility dimension which are practiced in J Sainsbury Plc? Findings and Analysis The findings and analysis portion would first endeavor to identify potential relationships between the parameters of corporate social responsibility and the activities to mitigate the level of business risks. Through the findings the potential of corporate social responsibility parameter would be analyzed in regards to the appropriation of business profits to help create and sustain effective relationship with the external and internal stakeholders of the company. The use of corporate social responsibility models can be used by the company in countering the level of social risks involved through the gaining of valuable information from the stakeholder’s end (Kytle & Ruggie, 2005 ,p.5-8). Further findings show that though the act of rendering social responsibility tends to reflect that profits of the company are generally used for rendering social activities. However it is observed that in the long run such social responsibility activities of the company happens to enhance the goodwill of the concern and hence also augments its social value (Parkinson, 1995, p.261). In this respect the case of J Sainsbury Plc also shows that increased commitment rendered in sustaining both the natural environment and in establishing enhanced relationships with the community at large has helped the company to gain wider market coverage. Again the level of social responsibility practices also helps the company in enhancing the recruitment possibilities in the company through the opening up of more number of retail outlets in the region (J Sainsbury Plc, 2011, p.64-65). The senior management has realized the importance of CSR guidelines as a tool for the company to position its elf in the competitive climate. Proper CSR guidelines not only reflect the expectations of the stakeholders from the company but also monitor the behavior of the company in whichever place it operates. Although these guidelines are not legally binding, yet they reflect the government’s expectations of the company on corporate social responsibility (UNICE, 2001, p.3). The most challenging part of the corporate social responsibility is that they act as benchmark against which they are evaluated by governments and stakeholders. They do not replace the sectoral code of conduct or the individual companies (Mullerat, 2010, p.39). A response of the senior management also throws light on the fact that CSR is viewed as an important management tool in the organization. Corporate social responsibility has both an internal and an external dimension. Human resource management, health and safety factors associated with the occupation, business restructuring, management of natural resources and the environmental impacts are some of the internal dimensions of CSR.

Hog case study Essay Example for Free

Hog case study Essay Product Life Cycle: Late Growth / Early Maturity I. Uncertainties that may affect industry structure II. The plausible assumptions about each important causal factor The uncertainties that exist for the Motorcycle Industry are fluctuations in the following categories: government regulations, price of supplies, Fuel Cost, Global Demand for motorcycles, Product innovation, customer loyalty value (CLV), target market, and market share. The casual factors that drive these uncertainties are an important factor when forecasting the future of the Motorcycle Industry. The most likely scenario for government regulations will push the industry towards going â€Å"Green† and becoming more environmentally friendly by requiring lower emissions. They will require the industry to improve these emissions standards. Currently the average motorcycle averages 40 MPG (miles per gallon) in the city and 50 MPG on highway but they still emit smog into the environment. The industry will most likely use the fuel consumption statistics to their advantage by relating to the current price of gasoline and the fact that the average car gets 20 MPG and SUV’s get even less at about 16 MPG. Price will be a major uncertainty for the industry. The industry relies on other companies to provide them with materials so that they could assemble the bike. The increasing cost of transporting these materials from the manufacturers to the motorcycle assembly plants are going to increase and therefore lead to increase in the operating cost for the industry and lead to higher price for the finished product resulting in no value added. The price of the finished product is a very important factor for the industry because all the players in the industry are trying to attract the younger target market and are competing on price. The Japanese manufacturers have a mindset that they are willing to incur short-term loss so that they could gain market share. This strategy is bad for the industry because every company will try to reduce its prices and will eventually not be able to make significant profit. This fact needs to be carefully monitored so that no one player tries to influence the overall industry. Economic conditions in the U. S. significantly affect the firm’s performance from year to year. During an economic recession, Harley-Davidson will feel its effects since consumers tend to tighten up discretionary spending during rough times resulting in no value added to the company. This is what is currently happening in the economy. Global demand fluctuation also is an important factor to the overall success of the industry. The global demand for the heavy weight motorcycles grows at an average core rate of 7% to 9% per year and has averaged 8. 6% since 1991 for Harley Davidson. This trend will most likely continue because of the Baby-Boomers who previously purchased these bikes will continue to do so as they live more active and adventurous lives then previous generations. The baby boomers are more affluent then previous generations. The global demand will rise because of this fact. It will also rise because they are not only catering to the older consumers but also towards the younger generation and women. The industry is creating bikes that are cheaper and faster that appeal to the younger consumer. This trend will spread globally because of the Blue Ocean created by Harley Davidson because of the Rental Programs, and the Riders Edge programs that will be emulated by the other players in the industry. This will lead to the Red Ocean scenario again and companies will compete at the same level within the industry. We also believe that players in the industry will make strategic alliances with other industries to cross sell their products such as Harley currently produces clothing and accessories to increase and diversify its revenue sources. The industry will continue to compete on all aspects such as price, quality, and functionality. This intense competition will lead to a Red Ocean until a new innovator can emerge. The industry will most likely continue to invest in Research Development to improve the quality of their products, to try to innovate, to get a better product out to the market and even innovate the way they assemble and market their product to the consumer. Also, personalization and customization of motorcycles will increase as television programs such as American Choppers, and West Coast Choppers are glorifying them. All these factors will lead to an expansion of the Target market and more intense competition. Customer Loyalty Value will most likely rise for the industry because many of the individual producers have a wide variety of products that they can offer to their customers. The industry will most likely target previous customers more to get them to purchase a secondary bike. This trend will continue since the largest buyer group numbers are steady for the next several years, currently there are 41 million US men in the age group of 35 to 54 and that number increases to a little over 41 million in 2020. Also currently there are 80 million baby boomers of those the oldest ones are entering their late 50’s and the youngest boomers are just entering earlier part of their 40’s. These groups will be heavily targeted by the industry to either purchase their first motorcycle or 2nd motorcycle. III. Plausible assumptions about each important casual factor The most important casual factors are the level of quality of the motorcycles, product innovation and marketing. These three factors are predetermined meaning that change is likely to happen  nd is largely predictable and they are constant meaning that these areas in the industry are unlikely to change. However, product innovation is uncertain meaning that product innovation depends on other irresolvable uncertainties in the industry. To begin with the first important casual factor the level of quality, we know that if the level of quality for motorcycles increase, it is likely to lead to an increase in other areas as well such as price, sales, market share and customer retention. (Cash flow, interrelationship, linkages and value added). The next important casual factor is product innovation. Similar to quality, if product innovation increases it is likely to lead to increases in other areas such as price, sales, market share, customer retention and gaining new customers. Lastly, marketing is another important casual factor. We know that if marketing is increased and if it becomes more innovative in ways there will be increases in other areas such as sales, market share, customer retention, new customers, advertising and promotion, branding and in relationship marketing resulting in value added. IV. Assumptions about individual factors into internally consistent scenarios. Scenario 1: If quality increases it is likely that performances in other areas are likely to increase as well. Improving quality is always beneficial and important to execute any strategic sequence successfully. The value curve, which is the basic component of the strategy canvas, depicts relative performance across the industry’s factors of competition. Creating a new value curve involves identifying which factors of the industry should be eliminated, reduced, raised well above and created or offered in regards to the industry. So let’s use Harley-Davidson as an example. Eliminate-Reduce-Raise-Create Grid: Harley-Davidson Eliminate Company staff positions Raise Tariff protection against global competitors Reduce Inventory levels Create JIT inventory practice Employee involvement Materials-As-Needed program When it came to improving the quality of the business Harley-Davidson eliminated the positions of senior vice president in marketing and operations because there was no value added. The style of leadership at the company was very effective because they were able to identify weak links in their operations and cut out the extra manpower that was muda. The company reduced inventory levels with the hope that it would make quality problems more apparent and force employees to take action. The tariff protection the company sought to gain time and protect itself from the Japanese inroads in the heavyweight segment was a leading factor that raised them above the industry standards. The company’s OWC that was created was the use of JIT inventory practices, employee involvement and the SOC (statistical operator control). Workers were required to participate in the newly formed circles that were made directly responsible for improving motorcycle quality. A Materials-As-Needed (MAN) program was implemented to free up, as much needed cash by reducing WIP inventory, which led to economies of scale and LC. These changes also led to increased quality. Productivity improvement went up by over 50%, WIP inventory was reduced by 75%, scrap and rework went down by 68%, U. S. revenues increased by over 80%, international revenues by 1. 7 times, operating profits increased by $59 million and market share in the heavyweight segment increased by 97%. Harley-Davidson’s net revenue increased from $1,350,466 in 1995 to $5,015,190 in 2004 in millions. Scenario 2: If product innovation increases it is likely that performances in other areas will increase as well. Product innovation is the new business imperative. It drives growth and future success for companies. Most companies are trapped competing in red oceans because they define their industry similarly, focus on the same buyer group, define the scope of the products and services offered by their industry similarly and they focus on the same point in time and often on current competitive threats in formulating strategies. However, Harley-Davidson has not followed these same guidelines, so they are not currently trapped in the red oceans. Harley-Davidson was selected as an outstanding corporate innovator by PDMA in 2003 (Product Development Management Association) because of its established brand, its strong connection with customers, and because of its continued commitment to product innovation. The company focuses on optimizing the â€Å"customer experience,† and as a company has grown from 40,000 units/year in 1998 to 264,000 units/year in 2002. Their use of multiple and novel venues to gather customer needs and preferences information to guide their new product efforts, while employing a formal Concurrent Product Process Delivery Methodology (CPPDM), has kept their new product engine running at peak efficiency. Several unique elements and concepts in their process such as â€Å"swirl,† â€Å"bins,† and â€Å"cadence,† ensure the degree of innovation, speed to market, match of development resources, and financial viability of individual projects as well as the entire new product portfolio. Scenario 3: If marketing increases performances in other areas is likely to increase as well. Marketing for any company in any industry is extremely important. How well a product/company is marketed leads to the success of that product/company. Blue oceans are defined by untapped market space, demand creation and the opportunity for highly profitable growth. In order to execute a blue ocean strategy market boundaries must be reconstructed and must reach beyond existing demand. This is in fact what Harley-Davidson did to create a blue ocean for itself and increase the brand name and company revenues simultaneously. The company’s three strategic constants: passion, sense of purpose and operational excellence are the cornerstone of their blue ocean strategy. There is no competition, as seen by being the only U. S. manufacturer for 46 years, and petition to end protective tariffs. All bikes are customizable, and some say that they are made to be tinkered with (not as hands-off as can be, therefore redefining premium brand). The company has a huge fan club and a phenomenally powerful brand and its quintessential strong emotional connection keeps them in the leadership position. Undoubtedly, Harley-Davidsons greatest marketing asset is the Harley Owners Group, with one million member’s world wide making it the largest motorcycle-sponsored club in the world. Harley-Davidson is continuing to improve value innovation by still focusing on beating the competition, making it irrelevant by creating a leap in value for buyers and their company by opening up a new and uncontested market space. They have done this with the implementation of their Rider’s Edge and Rental Programs. The rental program was implemented to hook customers and entice them to buy a Harley. This program is offered by 250 dealers and is available in 52 countries. Survey shows that 32% bought a bike or placed an order and another 37% planed to buy within one year. The Rider’s Edge Program offers riding lessons that last for four days and cost students $350. Approximately 70% of students in the program purchase a motorcycle within 18 months and about 40% of the students are women and 30% are under the age of 35. This buyer learning relationship created by Harley-Davidson has increased sales, new customers and targets the untapped market of women highly. This value innovation has led to LC for people who have learned to ride the motorcycles through the program and also to the instructors teaching the students. It has led to increased sales and revenues from the 70% of students that buy within 18 of completing the lessons. This continues to be a huge win for Harley-Davidson. V. Analyzing the industry structure that would prevail under each scenario McKinsey Model INDUSTRY ATTRACTIVENESS Competitor Profile WeightRateTotal Market Growth Rate. 102. 20 Marketing Size. 103. 30 Competitive Structure. 203. 60 Seasonal/Cyclical. 103. 30 Industry Profit. 102. 30 Tech Demand. 204. 80 Eco of Scale. 102. 20 Unique Social. 102. 20 TOTAL12. 90 Competitor Profile WeightRateTotal Market Share. 204. 80 Tech Strength. 203. 60 Marketing Skill. 203. 60 Company Profit. 102. 20 Management Skill. 102. 20 Ability to compete on price quality. 203. 60 TOTAL13. 00 9 Cell Matrix for Motorcycle Industry 2004 Competitor Profile Strong Average Weak HiIIE MedIE HOGD LowEDD HiMedLow I= Invest E= Evaluate D= Disinvest The next step in scenario planning is to analyze the implications of each scenario for competition. We will determine the future industry structure, implications for industry structural attractiveness and the sources of competitive advantage. The future growth is largely dependent upon its ability to develop and successfully introduce new, innovative and compliant products. In addition, it must comply with governmental laws and regulations that are subject to change and involve significant costs. Worldwide demand for motorcycles is forecasted to advance to 5. 2% annually to more than 35% million units in 2007, valued at $46 billion. Driven by increased income levels in emerging markets such as India, China, and Southeast Asia, demand for scooters, mopeds and light motorcycles will remain relatively strong, providing continued growth opportunities for motorcycle OEMs and suppliers. The market for large motorcycles will also remain strong, although some concerns regarding future demand have emerged due to the aging customer base and rising insurance costs, especially in the US and Europe. While growth prospects remain solid, especially when compared to the 2% annual growth experienced by the light vehicle industry, the industry will likely go through a restructuring phase in the future. Many of the small competitors will begin to exit the market. The intense focus on price in the Asia/Pacific region has caused Japanese OEMs to begin to abandon Japan as a production base in favor of lower cost hubs like China or Thailand. In China, for example, the largest motorcycle market and producer in unit terms, is rapidly transitioning away from motorcycle toward cars, and in the process overflowing the world market with motorcycle exports. In contrast, rising fuel prices and increasing restrictions on car uses are favoring motorcycles in developed markets. Two separate motorcycle markets exist. The first is centered in the industrialized Triad (US, Japan, Europe), where consumers who already have one or more vehicles see motorcycles as pleasure vehicles. These motorcycles tend to be larger, more powerful machines, which cost on average about $5,000 to $6,500. The other much larger market in unit terms is found in the emerging economies of the Asia/Pacific, where motorcycles are seen as primary family and work vehicles. These vehicles are cheaper, smaller and less powerful than Triad motorcycles. Motorcycles everywhere is being fractured down from, stricter emissions controls to noise limits, from land closures to exclusions from HOV lanes. The motorcycle industry has spent the last 10 years of convincing the public that motorcycles are a form of entertainment and not a form of transportation. The world has been changing with new issues and now advertising is geared toward qualities like dependability, practicality, technology, safety and environmental friendliness. Women control 85% of all the discretionary dollars spent in the US. Ten years ago women represented about 3% of the motorcycle owners. In 2004, they ramped up to 12% in motorcycles. Utilizing learning curve, dealers are beginning to understand their sales people can no longer talk down to a woman. Some have started to hire women as salespeople. Once only men staffed dealerships, women are showing up as techs, service writers, parts counter, and unit salespeople. The behavior has changed. The Motorcycle Safety Foundation conducts training for new motorcyclists. In 2003, they reported that 40% of those signing up for new classes are women. In the case of Harley-Davidson, the Harley rider is now 45 (10 years ago it was 37) and 20% of Harley riders are over 55. Despite the company’s success in the past 18 years, it has difficult time attracting younger consumers, who tend, to go for sporty, fast, technologically-savvy racing bikes produced by its competitors. Harley has been investing in its product to attract a younger buyer. It continues to revamp its affordable Sportster line and its higher-tech V-Rod family with liquid-cooled revolution engines continues to appeal to more youthful market. In addition, its sports bike subsidiary, Buell, is to lure in the Generation Y market. Growth in year-to-year sales was slow, but with the economic downturn in the market, sales in this market segment may increase due to the lower price point. These marketing challenges will force the company to examine their manufacturing, marketing, pricing and every other part of the business. For consumers, this will means better pricing, more value and greater service to attract their more discerning and selective purchase. The industries never stand still. Operations improve, markets expand and players enter and exit. VI. Determining the sources of competitive advantage under the most likely scenario The driving force behind Harley-Davidson’s competitive advantage is its quality, marketing and product innovation so we will determine the sources of competitive advantage in these forms. Quality Harley Davidson’s source of competitive advantage in regards to quality will most likely be its continued use of the productivity triad. Harley’s productivity triad involves employee involvement, use of JIT inventory practices (which Harley renamed MAN – Materials As Needed) and statistical operation control. Quality drives productivity and increased productivity is a source of greater revenue. This can be seen as under Harley’s new system inventory turn increased to 17 and productivity improvement went up by over 50%. This new system allowed Harley to free up cash by reducing its work in process inventory by 75%. This system proves that improved quality does not always mean increased cost because its costs decreased while its U.S. revenues increased by over 80%, international revenues by 1. 7 times, and operating profits increased by $59 million. Their market share under this new system had also increased by 97%. Quality is defined entirely by the customer and end user and based upon that person(s) evaluation of his or her entire customer experience. Through the use of the productivity triad, customer retention will increase as Harley Davidson continues to improve its entire customer experience from how their bikes are sold (utilizing women sales people to make women customers more comfortable), to how the bikes perform. The increased customer retention and productivity triad will result in a differentiation advantage over its competitors thus creating superior value to its customers and superior profits for itself. Harley was able to create a blue ocean by driving costs down while simultaneously driving value up for its consumers. Marketing Harley Davidson’s source of competitive advantage in regards to marketing will most likely be the continued use of its programs such as the Ladies of Harley, the Riders Edge and Rental Program. The Ladies of Harley group cultivates and will most likely continue to cultivate the interest of women riders. This group was sponsored by HOG to support women motorcycle enthusiasts, and to encourage women to become more active within the group. The Riders Edge program offers motorcycle-riding lessons that last for four days and cost students $350. Surveys show that 70% of Rider’s Edge participants purchase a motorcycle within 18 months. This program helps to target the women market (who makes up 40% of participants) and younger riders (30% of participants who were under 35). The future strategy of Harley is to gain market share in the younger rider segment, so it is likely to continue this program. Harley will most likely continue the use of its rental program, which is used to â€Å"hook† customers and entice them to buy a motorcycle. It is said that 32% of participants bought a bike or placed an order and another 37% planned to buy one within a year after renting a Harley. The company will most likely increase the number of dealerships the program is offered in, as it has demonstrated great success. This is a value added to the consumer who gets to experience the feel of a Harley before making an actual purchase, and a value added to the company because it almost guarantees future earnings. These programs will result in a differentiation advantage over its competitors. Product Innovation In regards to production innovation, Harley-Davidson will most likely continue with new product development and upgraded manufacturing technology. With many concerns with environmental health issues, Harley will most likely manufacture a Hybrid or economically friendly motorcycle to entice sales of future consumers who are concerned with environmental conservation and to appeal to current eco friendly consumers. Harley-Davidson’s resources and capabilities together form its distinctive competencies. These competencies enable innovation, efficiency, quality and customer retention, all of which could be leveraged to create a cost or differentiation advantage for the firm and thus creating value for its customers and profits for itself. Harley-Davidson has created a strong differentiation strategy setting itself apart from the crowd and making its brand identity legendary. On the next page, you will find a competitive analysis of Harley-Davidson to one of its existing competitors, Honda. Competitive Analysis HARLEY DAVIDSON HONDA Future Goals? Produce and sale high quality motorcycles. ?Maintain market share. ?Replace some of aging boomer customers by tapping into the youth market. ?Address shifting demographics. ?To make cycles more popular. ?Strengthen themselves as a manufacturing company. ?Strengthen focus on initiatives, quality and technology. Current Strategy? Maintain current growth in traditional segments while taking measures to reach younger customers. ?Keep up with trends and customer needs. ?Increase product line of accessory and apparel. ?Provide motorcycles accessories and services to selected niches? Maintain global viewpoint. ?Supplying products with high quality at a reasonable price. ?To create new technology that offers new possibilities in mobility. Assumptions ?Harley would not be able to maintain ?Market for Harley-Davidson products may be maturing. ?Baby-boomers were aging and may not want to ride motorcycles anymore. ?Boomers will ride into their late 60 and 70’s. ?Manufacturers are more skilled at mass-producing motorcycles efficiently. ?Will continue to be more technically advanced in the industry. CapabilitiesStrengths ?Renewed RD expenditure.? Strong brand identity and loyalty. ?Boomers are living more of an active lifestyle. ?Productivity triad. Weakness ?Some bikes are too expensive for younger consumers. ?Close association with baby boomers. Strengths ?Strong technical advances. ?Have a stronger brand with the younger generation. ?Caters to younger buyers with smaller budgets. Weakness ?Does not have an association with baby boomers who are expected to ride longer. Market Share Harley Davidson maintains a large margin in its dominance in the U. S. Heavyweight Motorcycle market as compared to its major competitors. 2003 2007 US Heavyweight Market ShareUS Market Share 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 Harley-Davidson 49. 4% 50% 49. 6% 50. 2% 50. 3% Honda 14. 2 15. 1 16. 6 18. 7 18. 4 Suzuki 12. 5 12. 9 12. 4 10. 2 9. 8 Yamaha 9. 2 8. 6 8. 9 8. 7 8. 5 Kawasaki 7. 2 6. 8 6. 5 6. 4 6. 7 However, Harley’s international market share is slightly smaller. For instance, the company has a 38. 4% Canadian market share and a 10. 2% market share in Europe as of 2006. Notably, both of those markets are substantially smaller than the US market. Nonetheless, Harley has a dominant worldwide market share of 33% in what is a growing industry. Operating Metrics Several operating metrics are useful in understanding the company’s position vis-a-vis its largest competitor. Honda’s figures are for its motorcycle business only. Please see chart on next page. 2006 Operating MetricsOperating Metrics Harley-Davidson Honda Units Sold 361 103 Units Sold per Employee 35. 4 3. 6 Revenue per Employee (USD) 637,881 356,746 Operating Margin(%) 27. 5 9. 2 CapEx as % of Sales 3. 8% 4. 2% While the company’s competitors, notably Honda Motor Company (HMC) and Suzuki, do not have as dominant a market position, they often have greater financial resources. This is largely because companies like Honda have more diverse product lines (like cars), and are greater in size than Harley-Davidson, a far more specialized company. For example, motorcycle sales at the company’s largest competitor, Honda, hover around 12% of total revenue. Revenue by Region While around 80% of the Harley Davidson’s sales still occur in the United States, its international segments are growing quickly, and the company is pursuing opportunities for gaining market share abroad resulting in value added. This can prove important to the company, as market share has begun to stabilize in the US due to saturation of this market. 12 Month Harley-Davidson Stock Analysis The chart above shows that it has definitely been a tough 12 months for Harley-Davidson stock and it is undoubtedly being affected by the economy. VII. Predicting competitor behavior under each scenario Introduction of competitor behavior In 2007, Sales in the motorcycle industry failed to increase after 14 consecutive years of gains and were lower than in 2006. For Harley-Davidson, revenues declined 1. 3% and earnings declined 4. 3% 2007. In preparation for the affects of a slowing American economy, the firms largest market, Harley cut production and shipment of its motorcycles in the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2007. However, on the up side, the motorcycle industry sales in 2007 were over the 1 million mark for the 5th straight year. Battery and tire sales indicate that ridership and enthusiasm for the sport remain high. Quality The competition will continue to manufacturer new models and invest in quality improvement; however, they will focus on supplying products with high quality at a reasonable price. In addition, they will strive to further improve JIT inventory practices and statistical operation control. Quality drives productivity and increased productivity is a source of greater revenue. Marketing The competition will market their brand with the younger generation. It will cater to younger buyers with smaller budgets. The aim to attract the younger target market and compete on price. Furthermore, create bikes that are cheaper and faster that appeal to this market. In addition, the current success that Harley has had with the rental’s, and the rider’s edge program will most likely be emulated by the players in the industry. Product Innovation The competition will continue to invest in product innovation that will appeal to the younger generation in design and price points. They will continue to create new technology that will offer new possibilities in mobility. Conclusion: Harley-Davidson has developed a blue ocean strategy by fulfilling dreams through the experience of motorcycling. All bikes are customizable and have developed a huge fan club and a phenomenally powerful brand with emotional connection and loyalty. This loyalty will be crucial to the company’s success going forward, and Harley will depend upon duplicating this success  internationally to fuel growth. Despite the fact that due to economic issues, in the motorcycle industry sales have been down and cost up, we expect that Harley-Davidson will continue to invest in quality improvement, marketing strategy and product innovation in order to remain competitive in the industry and achieve economies of scale. Harley-Davidson will continue to manufacturer new models and invest in quality improvement however; they will do it with increasing cost pressures. The dollar has lost 26% of its value against the euro and 11% of its value against the yen since March 2003. Escalating cost for the metals, plastics and other commodities used to manufacture motorcycles and the fuel needed to transport foreign models to the U. S. market, has resulted in price pressures for the European and Japanese manufacturers in particular. Harley will need to look to further cut manufacturing costs, (lean manufacturing) rather than raise retail prices for consumers who, in the U. S. , are continuing to tighten their belts. Harley-Davidson will continue to invest in marketing. Through marketing efforts the company will look to increase its current loyalty program but also duplicate this success internationally to fuel growth. The company’s customers tend to be fiercely loyal to the brand, which has helped to drive consistent growth over the past 20 years while making the company the premier name in its industry. In addition, since the company’s core consumer group is aging, it will target women and the younger generation of motorcycle enthusiasts. In order to appeal to this group, the company will continue to use the HOG and riders edge program. Furthermore, the company will continue to revamp its affordable Sportster line and its higher-tech V-Rod family with liquid-cooled revolution engines and its subsidiary, Buell, in order to lure in the Generation Y market. However, it should be noted that in marketing to this new segment, it will lead to the red ocean scenario again and companies will compete at the same level within the industry. The company will also have an opportunity to increase marketing in the international markets. While around 80% of the Harley Davidson’s sales still occur in the United States, its international segments are growing quickly, and the company will have an opportunity to market to these segments in order to gain market share abroad resulting in value added. This can prove important to the company, as market share has begun to stabilize in the US due to saturation of this market. Harley-Davidson will also continue to invest in product innovation. In order to increase its customer base, the company will focus more on fuel efficiency transportation oriented models in the coming years. With many concerns with environmental health issues, the company will most likely manufacture a Hybrid or an economically friendly motorcycle to entice sales of future consumers who are concerned with environmental conservation and to appeal to current eco friendly consumers.

Dulce et Decorum est - Anthem for Doomed Youth Essay Example for Free

Dulce et Decorum est Anthem for Doomed Youth Essay Dulce et Decorum est and Anthem for Doomed Youth are two poems written by Wilfred Owen during the First World War. Owen, like most soldiers, joined up after being convinced that war was fun by propagandistic posters, poems and stories, and once he had realised that the truth was quite the opposite of this, he decided that it was his responsibility to oppose and protest against poets like Jessie Pope through poetry itself. People were not prepared for the sheer scale and manner of death and the mechanised nature of trench warfare, and had false expectations of the heroic endeavour, but little awareness of the realities. However, compared to Dulce, the anger portrayed is dramatically understated. Dulce is an outrageous protest, displaying the haunting and bitter effects of war, and after describing in great detail the horrific story of a soldier drowning and choking in gas, Owen reveals his passionate hatred for the false and misleading idealisms of heroism in war using particularly emphatic imagery in cancer and froth corrupted lungs. The fact that Anthem is a sonnet, is ironic in that they are usually about love, and because it is actually about grief, it somewhat lulls the reader into a false sense of security, therefore making the poem more effective. Both poems seem to talk about the vile and painful conditions in war, Dulce using onomatopoeia in trudge, giving the impression that war is truly appalling, immediately going against the common belief that it is a game from poems like Whos for the game?. Also, true to both poems is the idea of undignified and casual death, rather than the heroic, glorious death promised by governmental propaganda. For example, in Dulce, Owen talks about the way they flung [the dead soldier] in a wagon with such brutal nonchalance. Furthermore, Anthem introduces a typical Victorian funeral with singing choirs, and juxtaposes it with the shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells on the battlefield, and with the constant end-stopped lines, this conveys a sense of solemn grief rather than the vicious anger in Dulce, which tends to use enjambment more frequently. Also, Anthem discusses the lack of ceremony and dignity in which people are honoured after their death on the battlefield, and Owen reveals his anger for this using the powerful, hyperbolic alliteration in rifles rapid rattle. In addition, the fact that the sound of machine gun fire is reflected in the phrase rifles rapid rattle presents to the reader that the harsh realities of war are indeed more than just frightening. In addition, a sense of urgency and immediacy is portrayed in the second stanza of Dulce, when Owen uses direct speech and exclamations in Gas! Gas!, while the epizeuxis and use of the present continuous tense gives further emphasis to this desperate urgency .On the other hand, Anthem has a strong sense of sympathy and general tranquillity throughout the second stanza, which is juxtaposed by something quite the opposite in the first. As well as this, the light lexis used in words such as glimmers and tenderness in the second stanza, give the impression that it is a poem of mourning and respect rather than anger and hate. In general, Dulce uses fairly vulgar and crude language, conveying his disrespect for propagandistic poets, as well as his anger at the unawareness of the dangers of war of the British public: He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. Owens use of the words guttering, choking [and] drowning, has numerous implications and effects. Firstly, a gutter represents the bottom of society, and therefore shows how soldiers dying is in fact not a respectable act, but rather an act that is hardly noticed by society. Also, the onomatopoeic sounds of guttering and choking, give an even more emphatic image of death on the battlefield, portraying Owens desire for the awareness of the harsh realities of war in youth culture as well as in everyday men. Finally, the fact that Owen uses three separate adjectives to describe the horrific scene, in addition to the tri-conic feel it gives, the phrase implies that Owen could not put what he was seeing into words, and therefore persuading the reader that war is simply a catastrophic, desperate excuse for a fight, sacrificing millions of men in the process. Unlike Dulce, Anthem brings out the mournful, respectful side of Wilfred Owen through the melancholy atmosphere he creates through the modulation of harsh imagery to a more resigned tone: The monstrous anger of the guns but in their eyes Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes. This dramatic contrast between coarse and frightening imagery in monstrous anger of the guns and the solemn melancholy in the holy glimmers of goodbyes is a very moving one. This is not only because the phrase refers to tears in young mens eyes, which in itself is a saddening image, but also because it refers to goodbyes, forcing a more personal image of saying goodbye to close friends or relatives as they go to war upon the mind of the reader, again, creating a sombre mood. In addition, the end-stopped line following goodbyes is very effective in that it makes the goodbye seem all the more sudden, harsh, and hurtful. In conclusion, Dulce and Anthem, although they are both written in protest against the deceiving propaganda made by various people, they go about it in different ways. Dulce is an outright outrage at individuals, which we know from Owens draft that it was targeted at Jessie Pope, using coarse and harsh language to do so. Anthem on the other hand is a more solemn and moving poem, although it starts as if it were to be an outrage, before we learn that in fact, it is only grieving for the dead and their lack of ceremony, and it becomes literally, an anthem for doomed youth.

Japanese Airlines (JAL) Human Resource Management Practices

Japanese Airlines (JAL) Human Resource Management Practices The world we live in is constantly faced with many new challenges that must overcome to survive in which business world is one of them. Changes in the world have affected many companies and industrial activities to develop and able to adapt in various kind of nature (Kearns, 2010). The most effectively modified to profit in the business world would be the approaching to human resource sector. For the past decades, human work force have been using like an operating machines, working hard and harsh. But in the present world, human work force can be call the most valuable assets for the business world, presenting as a company core competency and the force that would drive an organization to archives goals (Pate Beaumont, 2006). Management in human resource currently have create and issues within the corporations, also as for the activating the service sector, in which the quality of interaction between costumers and service providers is very important for the success in the business ac tivity. Airline companies have increase on the human resource strategies and policies to make use of them in the company values (Heracleous Wirtz, 2009). This essay presents the most relevant human resource management practices to be adopted by JAL to cope up with the various problems. According to Kearns (2010), For most of the 20th century, the number of tasks and levels in large organizations grew incrementally, with new job and career opportunities to full-time employees. Opening the phase of 21st century have been about fundamental changes as because of many factors include global developments on technological and economical, also in labor market trends as well as the need of flexibility (Holbeche, 2009). As such, organizations have to temporary cancel some of their operations or closing the facilities. Need for cost reduction, plus speed and flexibility have made an organization to decrease a full-time employees result in temporary employment. Global labor market trend is constantly facing an extensive transformation in which cause difficulty in recruiting an employee and to maintain quality workers (Hunter, 2006). Hence, private and public organizations are becoming reliant on alternative employee work patterns. The first step to be taken at JAL is to realis tically analyze the current state of all HR-related matters and to develop a concept for its future development. This will revolve around the issues of market changes in coming years and the companys skills and core competences. The management of people in the airline company is complicated by the pro-cyclical nature of the industry and the proportion and malleability of labor costs (Boswell, Bingham Colvin, 2006). These factors have combined to necessitate cost cutting and to insure that those cuts are often focused on the labor. Competent management of people in airline is extremely important. Pilots occupy a position of considerable bargaining power and have not been averse to exercising that power. Flight crew is also an extremely valuable commodity for airlines due to their extensive training and their scarcity (Harvey Turnbull, 2006). It is imperative, then, management generates a committed and satisfied flight crew community. As per Kearns (2010), The business plan should include a description of organizational structure, including management and human resources capabilities, philosophy and needs, the number of employees intended to hire, how to manage them and the estimated personnel costs. The objective of the HR action plan at JAL should be to build JALs institutional capacity, productivity, and efficiency by effectively managing its most important asset, its staff. At the core of the HR action plan are measures to enhance and update HR management to attract, motivate and retain high-quality staff with the technical skills, behaviors and values needed to implement Strategy. This can be achieved by recruiting and developing staff with full commitment to JALs mission and the proactive attitudes essential for adapting to a changing environment; providing stable and clear mid- and long-term employment with more clearly defined career expectations; and offering an enabling environment in which staff can ful ly realize their potential to produce high-quality products and services (Ruefli, 2007). Given this relatively long-term employment model and the dynamic region in which JAL operates, the knowledge and skills sets of JAL staff need to be relevant and up to date. Recognizing the importance of keeping staffs technical skills sets current, JAL must in turn provide more learning opportunities. This will also support one of the thrusts of Strategy; enhancing JALs knowledge products and services. A key element in providing such an enabling environment will be for JAL to adopt best HR management practices so its staff and stakeholders recognize that HR is being managed properly and in full support of Strategy. These will include offering attractive and competitive conditions that are in line with those at comparator organizations; implementing HR actions based on performance and merit that are fair, reasonable, transparent and consistently practiced; and providing career development and learning opportunities to enable staff to develop and continually upgrade their skills in an evolving environment (Miles Mangold, 2005). Collectively, these measures are expected to address most of the issues highlighted by staff. These included career development and progression, performance management, staff development, salary and benefits, work-life balance. More effective communication with staff to manage the change is essential for JAL to achieve the intended impact for all actions. In order to define a framework for development, SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) and PESTLIED (political, economic, social, technological, legal, international, environmental and demographic changes) analyses are helpful for JAL (Hamill, 2006). Customer and employee surveys can provide important information about the various stakeholders interests. Analyses of competitors indicate current market position. But how does the company want to position itself on the market in the future? A vision helps the company define its aims and objectives (Doherty, 2005). This way, JAL can decide whether it wants to focus on price, innovation or customer relations. When the company has developed visions and aims based on upcoming challenges, they can check what skills already exist. They can then compare the current situation with future requirements using such tools as a qualifications matrix or a dynamic training requirement analysis (Holbeche, 2009). FAQs at such a time for JAL are: What should our employees do differently in the future, and Why are not they doing this already? But one also asks, what distinguishes a good employee from a bad one? At JAL, the human resource functions need to be called as the People Department. Recognizing that the people are the competitive advantage, there is a need to deliver the resources and services to prepare the people to be winners, to support the growth and profitability of the company, while preserving the values and special culture of JAL. The importance of HR should be reflected in every human resource function. Recruitment, selection, training, performance management, compensation, benefits and labor relations all should be supportive to JALs business strategy (Heracleous Wirtz, 2009). As a manager of a human resources department, diversity initiatives, team building, and leadership development would be very important parts of the strategy (Pate Beaumont, 2006). There are several reasons for this. The goal is to keep the best and most energetic people with the company. Develop leadership can work along with personal goals with corporate goal and improve the trust to the organization. It also shows a sincere effort to improve the individual. Team building helps improve a sense of belonging and loyalty to the company. Many people who are known to each other and have common interest tend to work better together (Miles Mangold, 2005). This will make an environment in JAL where it is pleasant to work and where employees are more inclined to help each other, especially during a crisis. Safe and happy workplace make employees feel good to be there. Each individual is given importance and provide security that give them motivation to stay on. This usually can be achieved by surveys to be able to find out the satisfied level of the employees (Hamill, 2006). Open Management Employees dislike the feeling of not knowing the state of what happening in the company. They would feel more motivated when they have part in discussion of company policies, sales, clients, contracts, and objectives (Ruefli, 2007). This encourages participative management. Ask the employees for ideas on how to improve would make them think more creative. Being open about everything related to company, will help building trust and motivated the employees in JAL. Open management policy and be use and practice using several tools. Good performance should be reward, such as bonuses or giving other compensation for well done job. With this reward system organization would not be struggle to keep up with attrition rate (Ruefli, 2007). Even if it is employees job, completion in an appropriate and acceptable manner would create a more profitable profit, and this also can boost up the staff morality (Hunter, 2006). These incentive can be use at JAL, individual or at team level, this have been observe that this works, getting the best out of employees. Still the reward should not be given without reason unless it is for annual bonuses. Doing so would reduce the perceived value of bonuses (Kearns, 2010). It is a well known for HR managers that hiring managers would try to begin the hiring process for a candidate that only have little idea of what exactly they are looking for (Boswell, Bingham Colvin, 2006). Even when job description is available for them to refer to, they must be kept on reminded to use it as a reference tool or else they are wasting everybodys time. Hiring managers must review what it is that they are looking for. Each year, requirement and criteria change. It is necessary to post all jobs that is vacant on company website so that everyone knows about it can apply for that some might be qualified (Harvey Turnbull, 2006). Candidate must need to conduct on behavior and technical test first, and then telephone screening, next as for face-to-face interview. The first advantage of testing is that there are no surprises later about their abilities. It make recruiting process tighter and more quality quantified and having constant process make recruiting consistent acros s all departments (Doherty, 2005). JAL should publicly explain almost every detail of the practices to be used to select employees. In theory, any company could attempt to copy the process and claim it as their own, but it would probably fall for a number of reasons. At JAL, much more energy and time should be expanded on the process. To find the right people, they should spend the money up front on the selection process, in the belief that it will become worthwhile over time (Ruefli, 2007). What should managers at JAL look for in the selection process? The approach should place great emphasis on hiring based on attitude. The search should be for something that considers to be elusive and important: a blend of energy, humor, team spirit, and self-confidence. These key predictors should be used at JAL to indicate how well applicants will perform. There should be centralized process that will help the organization as the applicants will have to go to one place and specialists trained in selection techniques can assist in the process of deciding which candidates should be hired and where they ought to be placed. JAL should keep the line managers and other employees involved in the process, and doing so will benefit the company for a number of reasons. Employees who will get the opportunity to contribute in the selection of their team members will become more committed to helping them succeed, and the process will also give them a sense of urgency (Pate Beaumont, 2006). The involvement of all levels of management and employees along with the HR department in the selection and placement process will help in building a strong network of employees. Thus, it will help JAL in providing the right attitude and service to its customers. There should be sound procedures in place for any level of selection, be it in the form of personality tests, interviews, or other assessments (Ruefli, 2007). The selection and placement decisions, however, should be ultimately made by a combined panel of line managers and specialized representatives from the People Department. These decisions will seem to be made with the full participation of present employees in the spirit of true partnership. There should be great emphasis on specialization and training. The training of new hires should be focused on building relational competence as well as functional expertise. Each new hire should receive classroom training and on-the-job training (Boswell, Bingham Colvin, 2006). Orientation should include ample exposure to JALs culture. Training should be broadly focused so that the new employees understand the jobs of other JAL staffers they may have to interact with. This will help employees to understand how their job fits and they can support others, consistent with the team aspect of the culture. At JAL, sharing of information such as contact and financial information with employees is a must so that they would understand the decision that has been made (Doherty, 2005). Passing this process, employees learn about the business, which is more than just a creative subject. This involves making a strategic decision to allow on contracts that are along with business and strategic business models (Hamill, 2006). People have knowledgeable and understand where money comes from and go to. They know what happen at bonus time and why it does or doesnt get paid out. People become more knowledgeable about business and feel more importance about their contribution and impact (Ruefli, 2007). Employees have changed their focus on just their job to the whole company. The importance of labor relation cannot be underestimated in any company (Harvey Turnbull, 2006). As the JAL employees union members and IASCO employees were not have the union less bargaining power. Pay and benefits of all empl oyees should be specified through the collective bargaining. JAL began to hire non-Japanese employees and pay labor wages. All employees should be paid equally at or above-market pay. It should introduce the profit sharing plan. Stock purchase plan should be introduced which will allow employees to purchase stock shares from payroll deductions at a discount (Miles Mangold, 2005). JAL should provide attractive benefits packages. Employees should receive medical insurance, dental insurance, vision coverage, life insurance, long-term disability insurance, dependent care, adoption assistance and mental health assistance (Doherty, 2005). This will let employees to know how much they are valued by helping them in times of need, be it with financial assistance or something else. Moreover, there should be job security. JAL should not have a layoff and it will help the employees to realize that job security is an important benefit provided by JAL. Paying bonuses or having any kind of variable compensation plan can be either an incentive or a distraction, depending on how it is administered and communicated (Pate Beaumont, 2006). Bonuses should be giving out in a way that the employees understand that this payment is due to the company hits a certain level of profitability. Then the criteria of giving out can be base on team success and individual success. It is based on performance, criteria is consistent for everyone, it is related for the employees to the success of the company, brings the necessity profit into reality, creating people to focus more on team (Harvey Turnbull, 2006). JAL should incorporate profit sharing, stock options, other non financial-based incentives, and a great communication plan for when a bonus plan is there. JALs employees evaluations should be based on demonstrating the spirit of outrageous customer service. Managers who will give an employee superior performance ratings must include documentation of actual examples of exemplary customer service that warranty the rating. Performance measures to be used should be cross functional (Kearns, 2010). This will motivate cooperation rather than competition. At most of the airlines, delays are attributed to specific units such as fueling, cleaning or baggage handling. At JAL, delays should be tied to the entire team or process, reducing blame shifting, and encouraging employees to assist other functions when needed (Miles Mangold, 2005). Performance measurement should be used as a performance management tool to foster cooperation, learning, and improvement. This essay is attempting to solve the problems faced by JAL. Eventually, employees form the greatest asset and must be continuously nurtured and developed as company strives to maintain reputation for excellence in the highly competitive global air travel industry. JAL should adopt a multi-faceted approach which incorporates all aspects of HR, which serves its employees from Recruitment to Retirement. There is a need to continuously improve processes and strategies. The people factor should be given top priority across the whole organization. Feedback and inputs from management, other divisions and diverse employee groups should be welcomed, and this will immensely contribute towards improving the standards and quality of output. JAL should have such an environment in which people can work well to the best, including the enjoyment of working that employees can develop, and be able to perform the most out of their ability and talents.

Atlantis :: essays research papers

Atlantis: We will never know Fantasy is a tough sell in the twentieth century. The world has been fully discovered and fully mapped. Popular media has effectively minimized the legend and the fantastic rumor, though to make up for this it has generated falsities not as lavish but just as interesting. Satellites have mapped and studied the earth, leaving only a space frontier that is as yet unreachable. But standing out is a charming fantasy the modern world has yet to verify or condemn: the lost continent of Atlantis. The father of the modern worlds perception of Atlantis is Plato (circa 428- circa 347 b.c.). (1) The Greek philosopher spoke in his works Timaeus and Critias of a continent in the Atlantic ocean larger than Africa and Asia Minor combined which rivaled Athens as the most advanced in the world. (2) According to the legend surrounding Platos dialogues, the island of Atlantis was violently thrown into the sea by the forces of nature, and its few survivors managed to swim ashore and relate their story. (3) There the legend was passed by word of mouth until an Egyptian priest related the story to Solon, a character in Timaeus. The priest admired the achievements of prehistoric Athenians, because when the rulers of Atlantis threatened to invade all of Europe and Asia the Athenians, on behalf of all Greeks, defeated the Atlanteans to avoid enslavement. (4) The works of Plato opened the floodgates to endless speculation on whether the continent described was fact or fiction. Atlantis has since been placed in Spain, Mongolia, Palestine, Nigeria, the Netherlands, Brazil, Sweden, Greenland and Yucatan. Every nook and cranny of the globe has been hypothesized; mountain peaks, desert lands, the ocean floor and even the barren wasteland of Antarctica have been mentioned in theories. (5) While some of these theories are compatible with Platos works and are within relative reason, numerous crackpot theories have been developed using the lost continent as a basis. One of these theories, posted on the computer internet where it has access to over fifteen million people, talks in twenty-one pages of pre-historical lands with names like Oz and Luxor. These world wide web pages list over two hundred separate articles of proof for the existence of Atlantis, as in the following: (6) Most all ancient civilizations believed in the TITANS, the race of giant humans that inhabited Earth long ago. Different races knew them by different names. These 7 to 12 foot humanoids were thought to be legendary until the excavation of over a dozen skeletons 8 to 12 feet tall, around the world, shocked archeologists. These skeletons were positively human.

The Problems with Farm Subsidies :: Economy

The Problems with Farm Subsidies Subsidies are payments, economic concessions, or privileges given by the government to favor businesses or consumers. In the 1930s, subsidies were designed to favor agriculture. John Steinbeck expressed his dislike of the farm subsidy system of the United States in his book, The Grapes of Wrath. In that book, the government gave money to farms so that they would grow and sell a certain amount of crops. As a result, Steinbeck argued, many people starved unnecessarily. Steinbeck examined farm subsidies from a personal level, showing how they hurt the common man. Subsidies have a variety of other problems, both on the micro and macro level, that should not be ignored. Despite their benefits, farm subsidies are an inefficient and dysfunctional part of our economic system. The problems of the American farmer arose in the 1920s, and various methods were introduced to help solve them. The United States still disagrees on how to solve the continuing problem of agricultural overproduction. In 1916, the number of people living on farms was at its maximum at 32,530,000. Most of these farms were relatively small (Reische 51). Technological advances in the 1920's brought a variety of effects. The use of machinery increased productivity while reducing the need for as many farm laborers. The industrial boom of the 1920s drew many workers off the farm and into the cities. Machinery, while increasing productivity, was very expensive. Demand for food, though, stayed relatively constant (Long 85). As a result of this, food prices went down. The small farmer was no longer able to compete, lacking the capital to buy productive machinery. Small farms lost their practicality, and many farmers were forced to consolidate to compete. Fewer, larger farms resulted (Reische 51). During the Depression, unemployment grew while income shrank. "An extended drought had aggravated the farm problem during the 1930s (Reische 52)." Congress, to counter this, passed price support legislation to assure a profit to the farmers. The Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act of 1936 allowed the government to limit acreage use for certain soil-depleting crops. The Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937 allowed the government to set the minimum price and amount sold of a good at the market. The Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, farmers were given price supports for not growing crops. These allowed farmers to mechanize, which was necessary because of the scarcity of farm labor during World War II (Reische 52). During World War II, demand for food increased, and farmers enjoyed a period of general prosperity (Reische 52).

Prisoners Abuse in Guantanamo Bay Essay

Research indicates that the prisoners at the Guantanamo bay are usually subjected to torture by the prison administrators and guards at the bay. This torture is reported to come up as a result of the torture policy in the United States has led to many inmates at the Guantanamo Bay being treated badly by the prison administrators and guards, who always term them as animals, since they have no one in the legislative to represent them during their trials as they do not have enough knowledge on the judicial systems of their country. In the cases where the offenders are women who are in prison, they happen to undergo a tougher physical and sexual abuse than if the offenders are said to be men. The women normally suffer from mental illness due to the recurring physical or sexual abuse. Apart from the above problem the women also suffer from eating disorders resulting to health problems. Discussion A great number of detainees have been recorded to have been tortured willingly by the united states forces at the Guantanamo Bay while others are jailed with no reason this inmates are found to be mistreated in a manner that can not be avoided this torture usually include; sexual humiliation, threats put on the inmates with dogs these among others are filed as a mode of interrogation in the united states an example of this is in the case where the military guards at the Bay were reported to have tortured the Iraqi inmates whereby, we find that the prisoners were tortured as from being threatened with dogs, being striped naked and also they were forced to wear female underpants on their heads, it was believed that this techniques were authorized by the senior states officials. (Bill 2004) We also find that, President Bush’s administration has advocated for the use of electric shock devices to torture the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay this is well explained in a situation where we find that the state has been exporting devices such as the stun buttons, stun guns among others being exported to other countries such as Cuba, Haiti, India, Turkey and Lebanon. In this case we find that many companies dealing with the production of such weapons have been shipping these products without a license from the government. Through this, there has been an increase in the cases of torturing prisoners in other countries apart from the United States of America. A case of Zahide Durgun who was tortured by the Turkish police in Hakkari where she was tortured with electric shocks to her ear and was later beaten this happened as a result of the police wanting her to accept that she was a member of the political party opposing the government of Turkey. This is well presented in the case released by the FBI report claiming that he had ordered the State to have an inhumane interrogation system against the Iraqis’ detainees; these methods included the sleep deprivation, stress positions and the use of military dogs it is therefore propounded that the Defense department had adopted systems which were illegal and immoral in this instances we find that the CIA had many times refused to contradict the existence of many record of torture in America since it had been confirmed to be involved in the torturing of especially the prisoners in Iraq and in many other CIA facilities for detention globally. The federal has been engaging in torturing its detainees in a manner that provokes their country of originality the best example for this is the situation where interrogation was being conducted by an official in the department of defense where the prisoner was wrapped in an Israel flag whereby the detainee was later shelled with loud mus ic and strobe light. (Johnston, 2006) In the year 2002, the White House was opposed by the Collin Powell who was then the Secretary of the State who had cautioned about the United States breaching the Geneva Convention but the federal went ahead claiming that, the countries inmates were not protected by the Geneva Conventions since some of the detainees were those from Afghanistan who were termed as unlawful enemies, this therefore attracted the attention of most lawyers in the country who came up with legal guidelines for the unlawful act, this action made the military lawyers informed that the breaching of the Geneva convention will lead to the exposure of the states soldiers who were captured to the same torture, after which theses military lawyers took a step forward to see the international human rights lawyer Scott Horton asking the lawyer to give them a stipulated effort in the creation of an environment that has legal ambiguity and also one that shows how the Geneva Conventions was to apply to detainees in the Ba y. (Scranton and Paula 1991) The Effects of the Torture Policy on the Prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay The main policy implication that makes the criminals to be hard cores is always the length of time that the criminals spend in the jails. When they are released for example and directed to attend rehabilitation programs they feel to be wasted because they think that by serving in jail for a long period they are isolated in the society and others may get involved in revenging activities which may cause them more danger of being punished. Under longer prison sentences at the Guantanamo Bay the offender has nothing that will guarantee him protection against the offence he commits which sometimes ends up wasting all his life in jail. Due to the limited informational, educational sources in the prisons, the offender finds it hard to accept change in his mode of life and the behavior that he is addicted in him/her. This means that there are no correction measures which makes the person to become devastated psychologically thus feeling uneasy and may seek to live where he need to help himself escape such a feeling of loneliness and lack of social support through which he may decide to pay any price and sacrifice self-esteem thus forfeiting his life. (Eysenck and Hans, 1996) In some cases the offenders at the prison who are under solitary confinement, are reported to be suffering from disruption of a normal mental function that is normally caused by threats, lack of sleep, starvation and fear of death. Though the incarceration form was meant to encourage a person to confront his own consciousness, it has only led to the offenders at the Bay being stressed because they are under jail conditions that are always cruel and not effective. The conditions in prisons are not normally conducive for an offender such as the coldness of the cells, the food given to the prisoners is always bad and lack of human decency plus noise normally causes resistance to the prisoners for rehabilitation programs. Recommendations As a recommendation for the reduction of the prisoners’ torture at the bay we find that the US federal is urged to come up with laws that enable the treatment of criminals without harsh conditionality. Although, the offenders are entitled to particular constitutional laws, they have various rights in their lives including; the right to be tried by the jury, to be cross-examined and the right to an immediate trial. Since the society has developed a growing concern over the criminal behavior which is ever increasing, the justice system is urged to provide a delinquent preventive measure that will be aimed at preventing the members of the society from indulging in criminal activities. Due to growing concerns over the increased number of criminals, countries have formulated laws that ensure that the criminals especially those detained at the Guantanamo bay involved in criminal cases are restored back to being good people in the society and they have identified rehabilitation policies or program as the best way to nature them instead of putting them under torture like what is happening the Guantanamo bay. Rehabilitation is widely believed by many to be the principal reason of reducing crime. (Committee on Law and Justice, 2004) Rehabilitation normally involves the teaching and training the persons who are addicted to a particular behavior to stop the defective behavior and try to become acceptable members of the society. Therefore under this, the society is given the responsibility of assisting these addicts or criminals by helping them to get hope through various programs that they will be educated thus helping them to heal their bodies and mind. The strengths associated with rehabilitation policies are that the addict will achieve through these Programs education which allows the offender an opportunity to re-enter into the society as a responsible and productive citizen. For example, the people who undergo rehabilitation programs are normally allowed to receive counselling and guidance. For example a rehabilitation program may involve the offenders at the Guantanamo bay in doing community work, such as cleaning the environment and activities that they think suits to the foundation of their interests. This will make them appreciate who they are and accept their presence and roles in the particular society. (Kleinman, 2000) The strength for rehabilitating criminals is that there is always a collective supervision that will be able to provide an environment favourable enough to meet the special needs of the offenders which will help them to join the society newly as responsible and respected persons. However, rehabilitation is prone to some weaknesses which hinder the process of trying to help the offenders to be good and reliable people in the society. For example, the criminals or offenders subjected to rehabilitation programs at the Guantanamo bay feel isolated in the society and thus will not corporate during the entire process. They view themselves as rejected people in the society who are treated maliciously. These aspects make them to feel unworthy in the society and hence after the rehabilitation programs they don’t change but instead continue with bad behavior that they used to engage themselves in. Also another weakness is lack of government support in supporting rehabilitation programs, for example laxity in funding the programs thus few drug addicts and criminal offenders are subjected to such programs. This has resulted to seeking donors who can fund the programs, an activity which is difficult because it’s very hard to find willing donors. (Eysenck and Hans, 1996) Conclusion Torture in the Guantanamo bay prisons is a major problem for many in America and other nations, but the war on Iraq and Afghanistan and the whole issue of terrorism has been stressing the Americans because of the harsh policies imposed by the Bush administration on torture. In general we can therefore deduce that President Bush has not performed his responsibilities and the duties of the president in the maintaining the rights of the detainees in the required way. America is not better of since Bush took over power therefore the next president has a lot of work ahead in rebuilding and restructuring the country’s’ prison administration, for this reasons the federal is given an opportunity to amend and address the effects caused by the torture policy in Guantanamo bay. (Scranton and Paula 1991)