African American Culture 5 Essay

Question# 4: African cultures, by and large, bring a similar world view to the relationship between man and the spiritual realm, one that is marked by an extremely personal interaction. In the broader African spiritual world human beings are seen to be under the constant influence of other people, their ancestors, minor deities, the Creator, and various forces of nature. As a result the African spiritual world can be described as interactive since all things are endowed with life-force. How is this idea expressed in ritual approaches to morality, wrongdoing, and spiritual empowerment? African American religion has always been heavily involved and influenced by the notion of morality, wrong doing and spiritual empowerment since the slave days if not earlier, African Americans came to embrace Protestant Christianity and adapted their own version of it which is consistent with evidence in the 19th century and a little bit of the 18th, at the time Christianity had little effect on slave society through the efforts of Anglicans, but it was not because African Americans rejected the gospel but because whites seized Christian brotherhood from blacks. As blacks in the South and in the British Caribbean struggled to develop individual and collective identities from the ideas and ways of African culture and their new conditions of life, the series of efforts by evangelicals to convert slaves eventually gave rise to a distinct African-American form of Christian theology, worship style, and religious community. The importance of religion and having their own take on it is among African Americans, as among all people, rests on fulfilling the human need for an understanding of one’s place in both the spiritual and temporal world. Although it was difficult, African Americans discovered in evangelical conversion requirements an opportunity to reassert personal authority based on their ability to communicate directly with God and to bring others to recognize the need for personal repentance and acceptance of Jesus. A perfect example that supports the connection between religious involvement and a sense of personal identity, is found in a slave woman who, back then it was not common for them to tell missionaries that her people have come from across the sea and lost their father and mother, and therefore want to know the Father. The displacement of Africans, for whom locality was critical to interactions with the spiritual world, did not strip them of their religious identity, but required them to learn the spiritual landscape of their new home and reshape their practices accordingly. â€Å"Come Shouting to Zion† details the many religious rituals that Africans preserved in the new world, especially those surrounding fundamental life events such as the birth and naming of children, marriage, burial ceremonies, and ritual dancing and singing to communicate with ancestors and deities. The influence of Africans with many diverse but fundamentally similar cultures in a strange new land encouraged slaves to form new pan-African cultures, which grew increasingly popular as later generations of slaves were born into bondage in America, establishing a distinct African-American culture. The pidgin African-English is a prime example of Africans in American creating a system of communication that was not traceable to a particular African ethnic origin, nor was it a perfect imitation of American English, but was instead shared by blacks in America. As slaves first encountered a foreign language that whites wished them to learn well enough to be more productive but not well enough to pose a threat to the race-based socioeconomic hierarchy, so they became acquainted with Christianity at the will of whites, but when given the opportunity, appropriated it for their own purposes. In the early encounters between slaves and Christianity it is without question that African, and particularly American-born slaves, sought a spirituality that would explain or show their temporal condition. Some salves looked to a theology of liberation and equality among Christians, which they could glean from 18th century evangelicals, mostly Anglicans, who tried to downplay these aspects of biblical teaching. The early period of evangelism was restricted by the fears of slave-owners that slaves who converted to Christianity would feel empowered to revolt against their bondage. Several conspired rebellions and many smaller incidents of black assertion were linked to blacks who had heard enough preaching to identify themselves with the enslaved nation of Israel. This fed the fears of whites, and Anglicans continued to complain that the planters who prohibited them from educating slaves on religious matters were the largest hindrance to saving African American souls. While racism was strengthened and slaves were unable to improve their social status by conforming to white European-American values, very few blacks found the Christian message Anglicans shared with them appealing . Anglican churches maintained strict separation of rich and poor, white and black, during services and sacraments. The high-church emphasized that learned men alone were authorized to teach and that blacks would listen without questioning and to accept the extension of their temporal message and isolation from whites into the religious sphere. Under these terms, it is I am not surprised that Christianity failed to take root as a meaningful religion, a spiritual world that Africans wanted to live in. But it is essential to recognize the role of whites in shaping the message that Africans were allowed to hear, and the role specifically of slaveholders in excluding blacks from access to Christianity. That blacks expressed their agency in rejecting this early version of Christianity offered to them. . At the same time Anglicans were confused over their lack of success in the Southern mainland, Moravians made a significant impact on blacks in the Caribbean by bringing a different vision of a Christian community. Moravians, Methodists, Separate Baptists, and a few other missionaries in the late 18th and early 19th centuries who sought out African Americans stressed spiritual, if not always worldly, equality. Africans identified with and embraced images of a savior who had suffered like they did, and joined these Christian images with African musical modes of expression to create spirituals that reminded: â€Å"Jesus been down to de mire/ You must bow low to de mire† (Stuckey, 139). However, you must finally accept Christianity as an affirmation of their lowly place in society and a divine exhortation to obedience and docility, as many white slaveholders had hoped they would. Rather, blacks found opportunities at biracial revival meetings which were meetings held at locations most often church, in which slaves and blacks were black would interpret what they heard and to share their divinely inspired interpretations of Christian faith, even from pulpits. During this critical period when a significant portion of blacks in the Caribbean and American South were first offered Christianity, they clearly adopted it and transformed it into something that was their own. After the period of revivals that first sparked wide-scale conversions in the South, many African-Americans focused on building a community in which they could support one another and worship in their own African-influenced style. Local black congregations extended their religious community, most notably with the founding of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in1816. As an institution spanning several states, the A. M. E. Church allowed blacks to take part at different levels in a collective, hierarchical social system as had never before been possible under American slavery. blacks continued to participate as minorities in biracial congregations (still with segregated seating) in most parts of the south and the expanding frontier, but found fewer opportunities to become ordained preachers or lay leaders in mixed parishes, where they were likely only to be allowed to â€Å"exercise the gift, provided they teach sound Doctrine sic† under the approval of whites (Frey & Wood, 166). In the creation of their own religious communities in which no whites were present to criticize â€Å"overemotional† black forms of religious expression and persisting practices, such as polygamy and dancing, African-Americans actively designed a spirituality that fulfilled their needs in the slave societies of the Americas. African-American religiosity was then, as it is now, â€Å"centered on extended and expanding families and households, the importance of self-determination and personal dignity, mutual aid, and shared responsibility for the progress of the race† (Hortons, xi). In my opinion, African agency is most clearly supported by evidence of Africans defining their faith, modes of worship, and religious ties as part of a larger emerging African-American culture. Change was a relentless fact of life for Africans in 18th and 19th century America, most tragically present in enslavement and removal from Africa and domestic trade within the Americas that broke up families as masters bought and sold property. Outside the personal struggles of individual slaves, the changes in ideology and society wrought by the era of the American Revolution exposed Africans and their descendents to evolving external ideas about their place within American society, their rights as humans, and their needs as spiritual beings. Religion was one of the few arenas in which African-Americans could control the changes in their individual lives and their culture as a whole. Evolving religious traditions provided individuals over generations with a source of spiritual renewal and a supportive community and prepared an institution that could serve future generations. The long and turbulent transition from African forms of religiosity to African-influenced forms of Protestantism shows that black Americans created, out of all religious ideas and structures available to them, a faith that was their own. Question#3 The musical selections in this section come from Africa and the Americas. Some are examples of the preservation of traditional musical styles; others are examples of the adaptation of traditional modes of expression to modern styles. Prevalent in each performance is the use of either percussion instruments such as drums or singing in groups or by soloists. How do these musical selections exemplify a common African musical aesthetic, i. e. rhythmic syncopation, call-and-response, melodic constructions, vocal colors, in both traditional and contemporary expressions? African dance has contributed many characteristics to dance in America. We see evidence of this in many aspects of dance today. Being such a diverse nation, America has the blessing of combining original dances from different cultures to create an amazing dance repertoire. American dance as we know would be completely different, if it weren’t for the Africans. African dance began with the different rhythms of the tribes. Its roots in America began with the slave trade. The American slave trade began in 1619, (However, Africans were imported as slaves to the West Indies staring almost a century before that) with the arrival of Dutch trading ships carrying a cargo of Africans to Virginia. They were first brought over by boat to places such as Brazil, Cuba, and Haiti. Eventually different countries end up taking over those nations and slaves fall under their rule. In Brazil, the Portuguese take over, in Cuba the Spanish take over, and in Haiti, the French take over. The retaining of African culture by those in slavery was stronger in the other nations than in America, as the Spanish and French rulers adhered to the more lenient view of dancing taken by the Catholic Church. In America, the Protestant church strongly disapproved of dance. Therefore, dances that occurred in the West Indies, Brazil, Haiti and Cuba retained more of the African dance structure, than those in America did. Those dances can be classified as recreational or sacred. An example of a recreational dance is the Juba, which was a competitive dance where opponents would outdo each other in feats of skill, sometimes while balancing something on their head. Sacred dances were based on the worship of religious gods. The goal of the dance was for the dancer to become â€Å"possessed† by the god so that it would speak through the dancer. Two examples are voodoo and Shango dances. Traces of the African religious practice of possession, or disengaging from reality through the combined effects of music and dance, can be detected in the appeal of some forms of jazz dance. In America, the dance movement of Africa was restrained mainly by two factors: the attitude of the church towards dancing as being immoral and the restricted use of the primary African instrument (the drum). Drumming was banned in 1739 following a slave insurrection. White plantation owners responded by banning all drums and that forced slaves to search for other percussion options. They substituted with banjos, clapping hands, stomping feet, and the fiddle. Dances that occurred on the Plantations were for recreation and religious reasons also. Because of the European influence in America, the movement gave a distinct American appearance, rather than a strictly African one. Many dances imitated animals. There were also circle dances and dances for celebrations. Another category that emerged was competitive dances. The most well known one was the cakewalk. The slaves had witnessed their owners’ dancing festivities and imitated their stiff upper bodies while contrasting it with loose leg movements. The owners enjoyed watching this and gave a cake to the best dancer. The observation of African dancing by the whites led to them stereotyping the dancing slave. They began to blacken their faces and imitate them using such indigenous movements as the ‘shuffle’. The imitation dances by whites started an era of American entertainment based on the stereotype on the dancing ‘Negro’. Before the Civil War, professional dancers were mostly white, with the exception of William Henry Lane. He was also known as â€Å"Master Juba† and was a freeborn slave thought to be the best dancer in the World. He had lived in Manhattan where the Irish immigrants also lived. His dancing was a combination of Irish jig dancing and African rhythm, just like the slaves who were forced to compete with the Irish migrant workers aboard the ships. Both his movements and the Nigerian slaves are said to be the start of tap dance. Minstrelsy was also a popular form of entertainment in America from 1845 –1900. The Minstrel show was a group of male performers that portrayed the Negro as either slow and shuffling or sharply dressed and quick moving. The minstrel show proved prominent in spreading vernacular dances like the cakewalk and jig dancing on a wide scale. The next major change after minstrelsy came with the birth of ragtime music and ballroom dancing after 1910. A bunch of animal dances were seen in white ballrooms. Examples were the Turkey Trot, and Chicken Scratch. The invasion of ballrooms with native inspired dances set the stage for the same process to occur on Broadway. Zeigfield borrowed some of these dances for his Follies. Social dance became introduced on the theatrical stage. The big aspect being borrowed wasn’t the actual dances, but their swinging qualities. In 1921, Shuffle Along featured a jazz inspired dance called the Charleston. It left the audience with a lot of energy and a new respect towards black dancing. Tap was now also brought to white audiences and the musical comedies took on a new, more rhythmic life. In the late 1920s, jazz inspired songs replaced the popular white standards and America accepted Jazz music as its own. Louis Armstrong was a big part of the creation of swing music. It was a style of jazz music that emphasized African influenced rhythm and was played by big bands. Faster and sharper footwork came about and the Lindy was the new dance craze. It incorporated the shuffle and glide and buck and wing movements from early African dances. The Lindy was significant for starting jazz dance styles used in later musicals. It also gave the opportunity for white choreographers to experience African swing. Jazz music and dancing slowed down in popularity after WWII. Technology and music were evolving. The beat became more complex and musicians like Charlie Parker and Dizie Gillespie explored more with improve. The overall result was, jazz music became something more to listen to rather than to dance socially. The advent of Television in the 1950s also kept people at home instead of on the dance floors. African American dance became more of an artistic expression than a social means. Professional companies and dancers restored early African rhythms and the beauty and emotion of their traditional songs, including Catherine Dunham’s â€Å"Shango†, Alvin Ailey’s â€Å"Revelations† and Bill T. Jones’ â€Å"Uncle Tom’s Cabin†. In the past 50 years, African American dance has been rich in innovations as well as connections with the past. The definition of professional dance has broadened beyond ballet, modern, and jazz. Popular and social dances, including the urban black dance forms of break dancing and hip-hop have been recognized for their artistry and expressiveness. Dance created and performed by African Americans has become a permanent part of American dance. Every dancer and almost every person in America, in one way or another has danced steps that resemble early African polyrhythmic movements. Personally, I think the dance World in America could no have flourished as well as it did without it’s African influences. since the slave trade the drum has been used all over the world as a means of communication and self expression. Its broad variety of users includes the early African tribes, using them for ceremonial purposes. The Africans brought drums with them to the Americas and helped to develop their popularity among American musicians. In the mid 1900’s drum sets were brought about. These revolutionary collaborations of percussive pieces started off with a pair of hi-hats, a bass and snare drum, and a couple of tom toms. Later as the music progressed, so did the drum kits, completely eliminating the need for an entire drum section. With the coming of the rock and roll movement the drum kits were changing, they needed to accommodate the new music styles. They became sonically diverse and even electronic drums were brought about; making them infinitely adjustable both ergonomically and musically. With every major drum manufacturer competing to have the best product on the market drums will always be evolving. African American musicians and early slaves choose to use drums as a common form of expression because of the deep bass that was used to duplicate heart beat and thunder. The sound waves for open ended and string instruments is fairly straight forward. However, for a closed end instrument, such as a drum, the sound waves are different. A lot of the energy is dissipated through the shell of the drum, which is the reason for the variance in drum construction these days. Many different kinds of wood are used to generate different sounds, or a different amount of energy absorption. For a warmer, deeper sound maple construction is used while birch is used to get a high, resonant tone full of vibration. The heaviest wood that dissipates the most amount of energy is oak, creating a lower, flat sound. Question#1 I believe that Egypt’s economic progress over the last decade is a great example of showing how They have come a long way and are still vastly improving. Egypt is the third-largest economy in the Middle East and North Africa region (after Saudi Arabia and Israel), as well as one of the strongest, with significant potential for future economic growth and diversification. With a real commitment to economic reform, which favors a large privatization program and the encouragement of private investment and growth. The improvement in Ghana is evident in how their country has such a diverse economy. The Gold Coast was renamed Ghana upon independence in 1957 because of indications that present-day inhabitants descended from migrants who moved south from the ancient kingdom of Ghana. By West African standards, Ghana has a relatively diverse and rich natural resource base Minerals–principally gold, diamonds, manganese ore, and bauxite–are produced and exported. Exploration for oil and gas resources is ongoing. Timber and marine resources are important but declining resources. Agriculture remains a mainstay of the economy, accounting for more than one-third of GDP and about 55% of formal employment. Cash crops consist primarily of cocoa and cocoa products, which typically provide about one-third of export revenue, timber products, coconuts and other palm products, shear nuts , and coffee. Ghana also has established a successful program of nontraditional agricultural products for export including pineapples, cashews, and peppers. Cassava, yams, plantains, corn, rice, peanuts, millet, and sorghum are the basic foodstuffs. Fish, poultry, and meat also are important dietary staples. Ghana’s industrial base is relatively advanced compared to many other African countries. Industries include textiles, apparel, steel (using scrap), tires, oil refining, flour milling, beverages, tobacco, simple consumer goods, and car, truck, and bus assembly. Industry, including mining, manufacturing, construction and electricity, accounts for about 25% of GDP. I strongly believe that since Ghana and Egypt have improved so vastly it is helping African Americans improve in general, the saying â€Å"We come from a long line of kings and queens is such a truthful statement if you look back on history. We have a lot of ancestry that lies within Ghana and Egypt. With the knowledge of the past it will help us to continue realize our past and bring us to terms with the future. We can reverse the process by not letting people hold us back and to not blame others. I also believe that strong knowledge of Ghana and Egypt and Mali, will also further our culture by being educated and not told how our past was. There are a lot of invention by many great African Americans that most people do not know that black inventors were behind the idea, not that is matters that a black or a white person constructed or came up with an idea for a patent, it is essential that we are have contributed just as many things if not more than any other culture. There have been so many contributions to society to western civilization and I feel it is so important that we surround our selves with knowledge of our ancestors because they worked hard to get us to the point today where we are able to vote and the possibility of a black president. The saying that we come from a long line kings and queens is so powerful because it shows you that black really is beautiful and if you retrace our ancestors you will find out that our people were just as important as kings and queens. Lewis Temple was the inventor of a whaling harpoon called the â€Å"Temple’s Toggle† and the â€Å"Temple’s Iron. † He was born in Richmond, Virginia in 1800 and arrived in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1829. He worked as a blacksmith and had lots of friends that were whaler’s who bought harpoons and had lots of conversations with them. Granville T. Wood was known as the black Edison. Woods was born in Columbus, Ohio on April 23,1856. He never finished elementary school and he worked in a machine shop at a very young age. He moved to Missouri in 1872 at the age of sixteen. By 1881 he opened a factory in Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactured telephone, telegraph and electrical equipment. He filed for his first application for a patent in 1884 for an improved steam-boiler furnace. Woods patented the† telographony ,† a combination of the telegraph and the telephone. He produced one of his most important inventions in 1887, it was called the Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph. It enabled messages to be sent from moving trains and railways stations. In 1890 he set out to improve the lighting system by creating an efficient safe economical dimmer. It was safer and and resulted in 40% energy savings. Woods also created an overhead conducting system for electrical railways and the electrified third rail. By the time of his death in 1910 he had 150 patents awarded to him all together. Lewis H. L was a pioneer in the development of the electric light bulb. He was also the only black member of the Edison Pioneers, a group of inventors and scientists who worked with Thomas Edison. He was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts in 1848 and was raised in Boston. He enlisted in the Navy and served as a cabin boy on the U. S. S Massaoitta the age of sixteen. Latimer was given the assignment to draw plans for Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone patent . In 1879 Latimer went to work as a draftsman for Hiram Maxim, who invented the machine gun and headed the electric lighting company. Latimer worked on improving the quality of the carbon filament used in the light bulb. In 1882 he received a patent for an improved process for manufacturing carbon filaments. Gerrett is best remembered for his invention of the gas mask and the three way traffic signal. Mogan was born on March 4,1875 in Paris, Kentucky. He left school after fifth grade at the age of fourteen. He left Kentucky and headed for Cincinnati, Ohio and got a job as a handy man in a sewing shop. Morgan directed his attention to the frequent instances of firemen being overcome by fumes and thick smoke when they went into burning buildings. He perfected breathing device which he patented in 1914. In 1923morgan patented an automatic traffic signal which he sold to the General Electric Company for four thousand dollars. In 1963 Garrett A. Morgan died at ht age of 88 in Cleveland, Ohio after he was ill for two years. Just to name a few ,those were a couple of major contributors to the African American culture and western civilization.

Challenges of Scholarly Writing

Writing is a means of expressing oneself through words and even a method of sharing information about different fields of study. Many have enjoyed and appreciated various forms literature that have transformed readers to another place or make them feel that they are someone else. The benefits of writing are endless. More so, it has become an integral part of a person's life and an inevitable component of the society. For without it, the world today would be bland and monotonous. Since we were toddlers we were trained to read and write so that in our adult years, we will be equipped with a tool that can advance our status in the society which can either be for personal or professional purposes. For me, writing has been an arduous but rewarding part of my life. At first, I was a little apprehensive about writing because it requires the writer to know a lot about sentence constructions, proper usage of punctuations and others. It seemed that writing was a tedious task that demanded time and effort in order to produce high-quality outputs. But after numerous writing exercises and trials, I was able to get used to with the rules and guidelines involved in writing. Because of this, I was able to be exposed to various forms of writing such as creative, technical and scholarly writing. Among the three, creative writing is the easiest and most enjoyable because it gives freedom to the writer to write about anything under the sun. It is like typing on the keyboard or scribbling on a piece paper everything that pops in your head. Meanwhile, technical writing demands technical knowledge about a certain subject which makes it harder than creative and scholarly writing. However, scholarly writing is a different story because it is arduous to write but the end results are beneficial and helpful particularly to the academe. During my days as a student, I was bombarded with a lot of scholarly papers which helped us to learn more about the courses that we took in college. There were days that ideas just came flowing in your mind that helped me finished my research or writing papers in a short amount of time. But there are also moments when you can not seem to extract any good thoughts from your brain even if you spend hours and hours researching, reading and brainstorming. This type of incident is famously known as writer’s block wherein the writer experiences a short-term inability to start or continue the writing process which is frequently caused by the lack of drive and creativity. Also, another writing obstacle is the generation of ideas or thoughts. The most difficult part of writing is the beginning and the conclusion phase. As a writer, I found it hard to organize and develop properly my views and perceptions about a certain subject matter. Even though there is a lot of information, sometimes it is difficult to synthesize all of them to make coherent and logical paragraphs. Aside from this, writers particularly students also go through many obstacles in scholarly writing such as poor structure of writing composition, incorrect usage of grammar and words, citations and plagiarism. When these factors remained unnoticed, the likelihood of generating a solid writing material would be impossible. The key to producing a well-structured scholarly paper is that the thesis statement must be direct and concise. Also, it should be supported by strong arguments at the body of the paper and followed by a conclusion that summarizes the main points and answers the thesis statement. More so, grammar and language used should be appropriate to the topic to make the paper credible and smooth-flowing. However, the most important factor to consider in writing is using proper citations to avoid plagiarism. In writing, it is inevitable to borrow ideas from other writers or previous studies. In order to avoid committing a professional misconduct, writers should cite all sources that they have used in their scholarly papers as a sign of acknowledgment that the incorporated information were taken from other publications. As an alternative, it would be better if writers tried to create their own ideas instead of copying other people’s work thus their skills in writing and critical thinking would be further developed. There is no shortcut in making excellent scholarly papers. Writers must learn the basics of writing before they can be able to yield productive outputs. Moreover, there is no alternate for sitting down and jotting down your ideas on paper so writers should make the best out of writing and try to be honest and responsible .

Business Models and Technological Innovation

The current assignment deals with identifying the comparisons between the business models of Target and Wal-Mart. In addition, the significance of ratio analysis along with the important categories of ratios is evaluated from the perspective of the retail organisations. The impact of the business models on the financial performance of the above-mentioned organisations is critically reflected to develop an insight about their financial positions. Moreover, the study also analyses the cause behind changing rate of return in terms of equity, price-earnings and leverage ratios. The latter segment of the assignment sheds light on Ackman’s views for modifying the financial and overall strategies of Target.   Ã‚   The Dayton Company has established Target in the year 1962 and Wal-Mart has been set up in the same year. These two organisations are the major competitors in the US retail industry in the 21 st century. The major points of distinction between the business models of Target and Wal-Mart are summed up as follows: Target has been popular in the US retail industry for its â€Å"fun, fast and friendly services† to its clients. Wal-Mart, on the contrary, has been popular for its strategy of low cost services. In this context, Baden-Fuller and Haefliger (2013) stated that the small retailers often tend to follow the business models of large retailers for improving their themes of store layout to cater the needs of the customers. Wal-Mart is known for its cheaper prices of products and the stores contain large boxes with racks of products and general merchandise to meet the needs of the customers. The racks and furniture are of basic designs with the aisle space minimised to portray the sensation of low prices. In the words of Landry et al. (2013), such sensation converts the perceptions of the customers to purchase quality products at lower prices compared to the other stores in the market. Target, on the other hand, has designed its theme at the most appropriate costs, as it mainly aims to target the higher-class customers. Additionally, the fixtures and layouts of Targets are highly elaborate having broader aisles and quality concepts of lighting. In this regard, Schaltegger, Là ¼deke-Freund and Hansen (2012) stated that such high quality layout and visual display improves the customers’ shopping experience. However, it is worth mentioning that Wal-Mart has now undertaken initiatives in most of its US stores by incorporating better quality of fixtures and broader aisles to attract the high-level customers. As commented by Baden-Fuller and Haefliger (2013), the soft lines are the soft products involved in retail organisations like linens and clothing. Target has developed a set of designers to create brand new soft lines for its stores. Therefore, the organisation aims to improve the shopping experience of the customers by depicting the reflection of selling better quality soft goods at reasonable prices. Conversely, Wal-Mart has focused on the traditional marketing approach of providing quality soft goods at cheaper prices compared to the competitors. The financial ratio analysis is an important method to evaluate the financial performance of an organisation and its significance is briefly summed up as follows: Evaluation of financial statements: With the help of ratio analysis, the associated stakeholders of an organisation could determine the profitability and liquidity positions of the same (Healy and Palepu 2012). For instance, the profitability ratios like gross margin, operating margin and net margin could help the organisation to know about its profit margin and accordingly, measures could be taken to improve the same further. Judging the organisational efficiency: As commented by Delen, Kuzey and Uyar (2013), the efficiency ratios and the liquidity ratios like inventory turnover, debtors’ collection, creditors’ payment, current and quick ratios help in knowing about the operational efficiency of the management. Accordingly, Target would be able to make effective use of its assets to earn higher income. In addition, the turnover ratios would also help the organisation to know about the market demand. The other two efficiency ratios would indicate the effectiveness of the organisation in collecting and paying amounts to the debtors and creditors respectively. With the help of accounting ratios like return on investment and dividend payout, the external investors associated with Targets could make sound decisions based on the annual or monthly returns. Based on these ratios, the investors make decisions whether to make investments or withdraw the fund invested in the business (Brigham and Houston 2012). Comparison of financial performance: In the words of Brigham and Ehrhardt (2013), it is of prime necessity for an organisation to compare the financial position of its rivals. Hence, based on the financial ratios, Target could be able to distinguish its performance from Wal-Mart and take remedial actions, if necessary, to increase its revenue margin. Evaluation of the stability of a firm: The accounting ratio like capital gearing ratio help in evaluating the financial stability of a firm by indicating its leverage (Frank and Pamela 2016). In case, the preference share capital and other fixed interest bearing loans are higher in contrast to the equity share capital and reserves, the investors might not be willing to invest in Target and vice-versa. Figure 1: Importance of financial ratio analysis Identification and importance of the key ratio categories for the retail companies: With the help of gross margin, Target would be able to review its pricing strategy and evaluate the risk of overpricing or under pricing based on the cash flows. In case, the profit is low, the management of Target could reduce its cost of sales, increase the sales value and minimise damages. In the words of Vernimmen et al. (2014), the retail organisations mainly aim to achieve 50% gross margin at the end of each accounting year. The management of Target needs to consider this ratio, since it helps in knowing the selling and replenishment of stocks. In this context, Weil, Schipper and Francis (2013) cited that higher rate of turnover reflects the introduction of new merchandise, while a lower turnover indicated the capital congested in stocks. In the latter case, Target needs to release its inventory at lower cost to avoid any potential loss. With the help of liquidity ratios, Target could gauge the ability of its stores to write off the short-term debts and obligations. According to Edwards (2013), the benchmark for current ratio is 2 and that of the quick ratio is 1 for the retail industry. However, Richard and David (2016) argued that the retailers often consider the quick ratio as the best measure, since it subtracts inventories from current assets to indicate the firm’s ability of raising cash for meeting debt obligations. The return on assets is considered as another important ratio, which portrays the growth rate of the retail operations (Horngren et al. 2012). The retailers like Target always prefer to have higher ratio to maximise the amount of revenues. The creditors consider the gearing ratio to compare the investments with the funded business portion. Thus, Target needs to maintain a lower gearing ratio to ensure increase in funds from the creditors. According to the financial report of Target, the sales of the organisation have increased at almost a fixed rate from $26,296 in 1999 to $62,884 in 2008. This depicts that the organisation has managed to increase its customer base through improving its store layouts and the nature of services. However, Wal-Mart has also experienced wide increase in its revenues from S153,345 in 1999 to $401,244 in 2008. In this case, Wal-Mart has been enjoying competitive advantage over Target due to its low cost products to attract all categories of customers. According to the gross margin value, Wal-Mart has been enjoying competitive advantage over Target. This is because of high quality products at cheaper prices to attract all types of customers. However, both the organisations have performed quite above the industrial benchmark of 50%. The degree of financial leverage for Target has been 0.96 in 2008 compared to 0.61 of Wal-Mart. This depicts that Target has relied highly on debt financing, which has increased the debt payments of the organisation. In addition, the inventory turnover of Wal-Mart has been greater, which is due to the selling of goods at low prices to the mass market. However, the liquidity position of Target has been quite higher in contrast to Wal-Mart. The possible reason is the increased amount of retained earnings and less investment on capital projects. This implies that the company has been efficient in discharging its existing liabilities with the cash generated. This has been further supported by the dividend payout, which is high for Wal-Mart over the years 2006-2008. The debt-to-equity ratio has been significantly high for Target, which reveals that the company is inefficient to acquire funds through issuance of equity shares. The credit policy of Wal-Mart has been stringent, as the company is not extending the amount to be received from the debtors for accumulating higher working capital. This is because Wal-Mart has been making payments to its creditors within short span of time in comparisons to that of Target. Thus, these above-mentioned ratios are the key metrics, which have helped in ascertaining the financial performance of Target and Wal-Mart. The rate of return on equity is largely dependent two components, which include net margin and the asset turnover. For instance, if the sales of an organisation increase, the return on equity also increases, since each sale generates higher money for the organisation (Hotchkiss, Strà ¶mberg and Smith 2014). In addition, if any retailer generates greater sales from the assets owned, it increases the return on equity. Thus, the product sales and turnover from assets are the major determinants, which lead to differential rate of return on equity for the retailers. Some retailers deliberately increase the financial leverage to acquire funds through debt financing in relation to the equity shares. Thus, higher amount of debt in the capital structure of the organisation might result in higher price/earnings ratio and equity returns (Pà ¤tà ¤ri, Karell and Luukka 2016). According to the provide case, Ackman has hold a substantial portion of the shares of Target and initially, the person was highly satisfied with the financial performance of the organisation. However, the person has demanded to be appointed as a board member of Target. The management of the organisation has declined the negotiation immediately. Hence, this shows that the person has self-interest in the organisation to accomplish his personable goals and objectives. It is quite justified on the part of Ackman to change the board of directors of Target, as no direct possesses the relevant CEO experience. However, it is to be borne in mind that Ackman has been quite satisfied with the management before putting forward the proposal of becoming a board member. Thus, this demand for change might not be aligned to suit the needs of the associated stakeholders. Ackman has also suggested to increase the business reach outside USA to match with the revenues of its major competitor, Wal-Mart. In addition, the proposed nominees of the person do not have any sort of relationship with Ackman, which challenges the personal conflict issue. Furthermore, one of the former board members of Target has extended support to the proposed changes, as they will result in creation of long-term values fore the shareholders.    However, most of the external analysts have supported the management of Target by stating that the investors are highly satisfied with the organisational performance. This is because the earnings from each share of the organisation have increased from 1999 to 2007; however, it has fallen marginally in the year 2008. In addition, the management of Target has been effective to maintain its liquidity position despite the lower turnover from inventory and delayed payments from debtors. Despite positive effects of Ackman’s changes, the demand for changes has aroused because Ackman has been denied to be appointed as a director within the organisation. Hence, despite the increase in financial leverage and fall in the annual sales growth, it has yielded adequate returns to the investors. Thus, Ackman’s demand for changes is not justified to match the organisational strategies and financial record of accomplishment. In compliance with the brave discussion, it is feasible for the investors to stay with the current board of Target. This is because Target has provided the opportunity to Ackman to express his views to the shareholders possessing the voting rights and most of the shareholders have turned up for the organisation. In addition, the changes proposed on the part of Ackman would barely result in long-term benefits to the shareholders. In addition, Target has increased its dividend payout to the shareholders over the years, which also signifies the management efficiency in running biasness operations. Hence, from the perspective of an investor, it is better to select the existing Target board instead of choosing the proposed slate of Packman. In order to avoid such conflict, the Target Board could have increased the remuneration of Ackman, as the maximum amount of investment is drawn from the person itself. However, Callen (2015) argued that increasing the remuneration of a specific shareholder might result in discontentment amongst the other stockholders. In addition, Target could issue bonus shares to Ackman through which greater benefits could be realised. With the help of such strategies, Target might have been able to avoid such conflicting interest and maintain effective relationship with the largest shareholder of the organisation. According to the provided scenario, a substantial portion of the derivative securities of Perishing Square is with Target, which would perish within two years. Hence, this type of investment would help in boosting the stock performance of Target in the short-run; however, the value is nominal in relation to long-term shareholder value. As a result, the return on equity might be reduced largely along with fall in the dividend payout ratio. In addition, the company might suffer from poor liquidity position, as the creditors might not be willing to extend its payment period due to the possible fall in share prices. According to the above discussion, the business model of Target is to attract the high-income individuals by selling products at affordable prices. On the other hand, Wal-Mart has been providing high quality products at lower cost to attract all types of customers. In addition, it has been found that ratio analysis is an important financial tool to evaluate the financial performance of an organisation and help the investors to make sound decision-making. After comparing the financial performance of Wal-Mart and Target, the former has been enjoying competitive advantage due to its expansion in the global markets. Furthermore, from the given case, it has been found that Ackman’s proposed changes are not effective in improving the financial performance of Target from the ethical perspective. In order to avoid such conflict, the organisation might have increased the remuneration ad issued bonus shares to Ackman. Lastly, it has been evaluated if such the changes were implemented, it might result in loss of shareholder value of Target. Baden-Fuller, C. and Haefliger, S., 2013. Business models and technological innovation.  Long range planning,  46(6), pp.419-426. Landry, R., Amara, N., Cloutier, J.S. and Halilem, N., 2013. Technology transfer organizations: Services and business models.  Technovation,  33(12), pp.431-449. Schaltegger, S., Là ¼deke-Freund, F. and Hansen, E.G., 2012. Business cases for sustainability: the role of business model innovation for corporate sustainability.  International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development,  6(2), pp.95-119. Healy, P.M. and Palepu, K.G., 2012.  Business Analysis Valuation: Using Financial Statements. Cengage Learning. Delen, D., Kuzey, C. and Uyar, A., 2013. Measuring firm performance using financial ratios: A decision tree approach.  Expert Systems with Applications,40(10), pp.3970-3983. Brigham, E.F. and Houston, J.F., 2012.  Fundamentals of financial management. Cengage Learning. Brigham, E.F. and Ehrhardt, M.C., 2013.  Financial management: Theory & practice. Cengage Learning. Brigham, E.F. and Houston, J.F., 2012.  Fundamentals of financial management. Cengage Learning. Frank, J.F. and Pamela, P.P., 2016. Financial Management and Analysis. Hotchkiss, E.S., Strà ¶mberg, P. and Smith, D.C., 2014, March. Private equity and the resolution of financial distress. In  AFA 2012 Chicago Meetings Paper. Pà ¤tà ¤ri, E.J., Karell, V. and Luukka, P., 2016. Can size-, industry-, and leverage-adjustment of valuation ratios benefit the value investor?.International Journal of Business Innovation and Research,  11(1), pp.76-109. Vernimmen, P., Quiry, P., Dallocchio, M., Le Fur, Y. and Salvi, A., 2014. Corporate finance: theory and practice. John Wiley & Sons. Weil, R.L., Schipper, K. and Francis, J., 2013.  Financial accounting: an introduction to concepts, methods and uses. Cengage Learning. Edwards, J.R., 2013.  A History of Financial Accounting (RLE Accounting)(Vol. 29). Routledge. Horngren, C., Harrison, W., Oliver, S., Best, P., Fraser, D. and Tan, R., 2012. Financial Accounting. Pearson Higher Education AU. Richard, L. and David, P., 2016. Advanced financial accounting. Callen, J.L., 2015. A selective critical review of financial accounting research.  Critical Perspectives on Accounting,  26, pp.157-167. Warren, C.S., Reeve, J.M. and Duchac, J., 2013.  Corporate financial accounting. Cengage Learning. O’Neill, P., Sohal, A. and Teng, C.W., 2016. Quality management approaches and their impact on firmsÃâ€" ³ financial performance–An Australian study.  International Journal of Production Economics,  171, pp.381-393. Parker, L.D., 2012. Qualitative management accounting research: Assessing deliverables and relevance.  Critical Perspectives on Accounting,  23(1), pp.54-70. With a decade's experience in providing essay help, Business Models and Technological Innovation Business model is defined as the abstract presentation of a company’s way of working. The model is a comprehensive layout about how the company operates in the market, sells its products, generates revenue and maximises its capital. Business models are primarily related to entrepreneurial firms like Google and show how these firm captures market opportunities and create value. Today business models include technology and show how companies use it to create economic value (Chesbrough, 2013). Innovation is a very important aspect of business models and has evolved has the stimulus which stimulates the organisations to continuously manage their models to adjust to the market conditions. Business models are designed to embrace the entire business system of an organisation. The companies earlier conceived business models as â€Å"pipes† which showed how they produced goods and sold them to consumers (Aithal & Jeevan, 2016). This model worked just like pipe carrying water but did not include other important aspects like innovation, organisational culture or future strategies. The platform model as used in present international companies like Apple is based on a technology driven platform which acts like a market. The digital platform help the buyers meet the seller and also stores the information about the transactions for future use (Van, Parker & Choudary, 2016). Today business models have evolved into dynamic systems which allow the companies using them to explore new markets, bring about innovations and restructure their models according to the market situations. The companies conceptualise their business models based on several factors within themselves and from the external environment. The structures of the companies have a profound effect on the business models. The multinational companies like Apple and Vodafone keep on introducing new products and expanding their business into new markets. These companies look upon disruptive innovation, restructuring and sustainability as the essence of their business models. These companies follow business models like franschise, manufacturer, retail outlet or distributorship to operate in their markets. The working cultures of the companies decide their power to adjust to new situations and take advantage of them. Companies grapple to change their existing business models and adopt new business models. Management, communication and coordination among the various segments are important for smooth adoption of new business models. The leadership in the companies and the employee relationship have profound effect on the business models and its dynamism. For example the companies like Nestle with expertise in fields of technology, innovation, marketing mix and financing have leadership in the market (Vahlne & Johanson, 2014). The global locations of these companies operate in an integrated way which enables the management to lead them through the changes. The small companies with limited resources often find it difficult to change their models and often face employee resistance (Kastalli & Van Looy, 2013). The dynamic business models used by the multinational companies can be used to deal with market challenges in a more strategic way. The static business model is only based on value creation between the consumers and the company. The dynamic model looks upon businesses as blocks but does not integrate them. However, the market challenges and intense competition require a total reformation of the companies and their ways of operating. This requires restructuring of the whole company as a system to adapt to the changes. Companies which fail to adapt to the changes often threat from substitute or threat of new emerging companies. Google has a unique business model which allows the internet giant to lead the market. In fact, it can also be opined that the business model of Google has helped the company to reach a position of having almost no competitor. The business model of Google, first allows the firms and people to promote their products in return of payment. The company also provides free blogging services to bloggers without opening accounts. The search engine allows these two groups of consumers to promote their blogs and earn money. Google has emerged as the world’s largest paid online advertisement platform and encourage growth of start-ups, entrepreneurial ventures and small business. It allows these groups to advertise their products to a vast consumer base which allows them to create their own profitable market. Google provides free services to the net surfers and allows a variety of services like email communication, socialising and video sharing. The free customers provide Google with invaluable information while using the internet which it uses to develop its future business.   This business model of Google provides services to the segments like bloggers and advertisers and which generates huge revenue for it. The services provided by Google are parts of the business system while the way of charging the advertisers and bloggers form the profi t model (Itami & Nishino, 2010). Companies use and develop innovative business models to expand their territories and partner with other firms.   The business model of Google is not restricted to providing mail and blogging services. The company has a dynamic business model which allows it to partner with companies and expand its product line. Google joined the Alliance for Affordable Internet which allowed the company to enter into partnership with Facebook, Intel and Microsoft. The business policies. The business model of Google has inspired it to enter into joint ventures and partnerships with organisations from diverse fields. The company entered into partnership with NASA to construct office of 1 lakh square feet which would used for research on nanotechnology, distributed computing and entrepreneurial space industry. Google set up two wind farms to generate renewable forms of energy. The company have entered into acquiring companies like Youtube and Android (Osiyevskyy & Dewald, 2015). Thus, the dynamic busi ness model of Google helps it to acquire new companies and operate in a sustainable way. Business models are developed by companies and advertise their innovative power. Business models are designed to adapt to new market situations and expand new markets. A well planned business model helps a company to acquire companies to expand its product portfolio. For example, Google owns the video sharing software Youtube, the internet search engine Google Chrome and the satellite map, Google Maps. This innovative product line consisting of various softwares catering to diverse needs under one owner, Google has helped the company to be the undisputable leader in the internet services market. Thus, the business model of Google allows it to bring about innovations (Baden-Fuller & Haefliger, 2013). Business models help the companies to explore and exploit their resources to bring about innovation and sustainability. The companies today lay stress on sustainable supply chain management to reduce their emission of poisonous gases and waste water. The companies invest in setting up renewable sources of energy like windmills. These policies of them benefit the society, consumers and the other stakeholders (Girotra & Netessine, 2013). Thus, business models encourage the company to acquire and use resources in a sustainable ways which encourage innovation. The aim of developing a business model is to operate ina way to provide maximum consumer satisfaction and high profits. Companies also price their products according to their business models and price their products to cater to huge consumer base (Dudin et al., 2015). The firms offer innovative products in various shapes and sizes at apt prices to cater the diverse consumer needs. It can be concluded that the business models are the very essence of the companies and expressions of their business strategies. The companies make dynamic and innovative business models to take advantage of the market situations and expand their operations. Their business models also help them to create innovation in areas of marketing mix, supply chain management and sustainable operations. Aithal, P. S., & Jeevan, P. (2016). How Service Industries can Transform themselves into Green Business Industries. Baden-Fuller, C., & Haefliger, S. (2013). Business models and technological innovation.  Long range planning,  46(6), 419-426. Chesbrough, H. (2013).  Open business models: How to thrive in the new innovation landscape. Harvard Business Press. Dudin, M. N., Kucuri, G. N., Fedorova, I. J. E., Dzusova, S. S., & Namitulina, A. Z. (2015). The innovative business model canvas in the system of effective budgeting. Girotra, K., & Netessine, S. (2013). OM forum—business model innovation for sustainability.  Manufacturing & Service Operations Management,  15(4), 537-544. Itami, H., & Nishino, K. (2010). Killing two birds with one stone: profit for now and learning for the future.  Long Range Planning,  43(2), 364-369. Kastalli, I. V., & Van Looy, B. (2013). Servitization: Disentangling the impact of service business model innovation on manufacturing firm performance.  Journal of Operations Management,  31(4), 169-180. Osiyevskyy, O., & Dewald, J. (2015). Explorative versus exploitative business model change: the cognitive antecedents of firm?level responses to disruptive innovation.  Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal,  9(1), 58-78. Vahlne, J. E., & Johanson, J. (2014). Replacing traditional economics with behavioral assumptions in constructing the Uppsala Model: toward a theory on the evolution of the Multinational Business Enterprise (MBE). In  Multidisciplinary Insights from New AIB Fellows  (pp. 159-176). Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Van Alstyne, M. W., Parker, G. G., & Choudary, S. P. (2016). Pipelines, platforms, and the new rules of strategy.  Harvard Business Review,  94(4), 54-62.

Interview with Zara Dane Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Interview with Zara Dane - Article Example Certainly, the good times will help fuel the writer’s muse, but at the end of the day, the good times tend to swallow up the productive times whole. So, when a friend of mine mentioned that she had knew someone who was a friend of an obscure horror writer, and that she had met with her to discuss her craft, I was envious.And yet, I found myself in just such a situation recently, being given the singular pleasure of meeting with Zara Dane, American ex-pat thriller/horror author extraordinaire, now living in Manchester. I admit, I have certain prejudices. All week, I have been fantasising about what our meeting will hold. Her reputation as a fiction writer who specialises in the horror genre precedes her. Will we meet within the gates of a cemetery at midnight? Am I to expect similarly odd behavior? Will she be†¦a friendly person? The last question is answered after a brief conversation with her on the telephone. My suggestion to meet at a local eatery is turned down, and i nstead I am graciously invited to her home. I’m first met by a small, but beautiful historic two-story in Manchester. Those familiar with Dane’s work are aware of her entrancing way of interweaving beauty, sensuality, innocence and corruption into her tales of murder and mayhem, and her abode certainly gives a very similar impression. Its brick exterior is a warm, but fairly subdued pink, (a tribute to the home she left behind in New Orleans, US) the color of flushed cheeks. Feminine, but not cloyingly so.... This is my first time meeting Zara, and I am instantly captivated by her green eyes and mischievous smile. My first impression upon meeting her is that I have met one who is not really from this planet. Social, hospitable, intelligent, all of these things describe her, but there is somethingwhat is it I leave the outside with its shouting children, scorching asphalt and the smell of heavy, French cooking from nearby restaurants, and enter into a place of coolness, serenity and iced sweet-tea. We settle down on her dark green sofa in preparation for time spent doing a question and answer session, when the ice is very much broken by a loud racket coming from upstairs. Dane excuses herself and takes a moment to shout at her uproarious dog who has been sequestered to one of the upper rooms. A strange mix-the, calm, Victorian surroundings, that one would normally associate with a very buttoned-down, proper personality (and impeccably clean! So much for messy artists) that are the home to this vivacious, creative, almost eccentric, auburn-haired woman who is outfitted entirely in black, right down to her boots. Zara returns, friendly and flustered, and apologises profusely, then offers to refill my tea. I decline, then awkwardly plunge into my first question, considering all of the perversity and horror of your storiesdid you have a normal life growing up Zara laughs. "Oh, my, I guess you could say that. My dad is a lawyer, my mum is a professor. I grew up in a fairly well-to-do neighborhood and attended a horribly competitive private school. I got good grades, was on the swim team and things like that, but I was in a very, very unhealthy situation. I had very caring friends,

Howard Schultz Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Howard Schultz - Essay Example It was at this point that Howard identified an opportunity at Starbucks, and he explored the company’s prospects before joining it. He internalized Starbucks’ objectives, while working as the organization’s departmental director and developed an entrepreneurial vision, but the company’s founders did not share in his expansion, prompting his departure. He established his own business but later purchased Starbucks and merged the two. He has since improved prospects of the company and his, to become global success. By the year 2012, Starbucks owned more than 1700 stores in almost 40 countries, with a net worth of about $ 35.9 billion and customer turnover of about 44 million people per week. His success from a humble background, arising from his vision and dedication, which identifies and exploits opportunities, together with his focus on targets; identify Howard as a leader, a visionary leader. The leader influences a wide range of followers such as investor s, workers, and customers, as is evident in his professional and entrepreneurial experience. He also influences policy makers and special interest groups, in his activism role, and his visionary and determination cause the influence (Bio, 2014). The discussion analyses the leader, based on covered concepts from the course. As the CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz is seen to be one of the most successful and inspiring leaders of his generation. Schultz was part of a poor family. He grew up watching his father try to support the family with jobs that provided no employee benefits. This made an especially difficult toll when his father was injured with no health insurance or compensation to cover the damages that had been done. This is something that eventually impacted the way that Schultz would run his company. Gerald Baldwin and Gordon Bowker added Schultz as a part of their company, Starbucks.

What Is The Most Important Thing In Socialism Assignment

What Is The Most Important Thing In Socialism - Assignment Example Socialism also at the time revolutionary in nature as most of the socialist society tends to be dynamic. In revolutionary socialism, a socialist society comes up with new ways of doing things and improving on the existing ones while ensuring that the common good stands. In modern society, there is false consciousness about socialism as many societies use democracy to imply socialism (Steger, 80). In socialism, there is the idea of common ownership and the issue of sharing properties, but in democracy, capitalism sets in and it is only a few influential personalities who own properties. The influential people normally sway the masses and at the end of the day, it looks like the common good are prevailing. In reality, the few individuals get their way. This is the false consciousness that modern society holds on socialism.Politically, one of the leading fathers of socialism is Karl Marx. In his argument, Karl Marx believed that capitalism was responsible for the exploitation of the var ious workers and citizens around the world. He was of the idea that a social revolution was the way out when it comes to dealing with capitalism. Marx saw the class system in society as a factor leading to alienation and hindering the freedom of citizens (Marx and Friedrich 89). He believed that a social-political system where the political power rested with the community and private ownership of properties existed was all that a society needed to realize the freedom from capitalism. However, this argument of a revolution does not hold always as some agents and parties normally take advantage and in the presence of championing the common good revolt for their own personal interests (Nicholls 79). Therefore, in as much as revolutionary socialism is effective in political liberation, caution must be taken when implementing it. The two major stages according to Marx is where the class is retained, but then the goods are commonly owned and the second stage is where the class is fully ab olished and the state becomes unnecessary leading to a utopian society. This may lead to anarchy and lawlessness in the end (Kropotkin et al. 102).

Final Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Final Analysis - Assignment Example Oversight is an important aspect in data networks in that it ensures successful implementation of policies within the business. Specificity of policies means that each policy should deal with a particular action while implementation guidance refers to what and how the policy will be undertaken. For example, implementation guidance may require that encryption be 1000 bits long. Within the context of information technology, implementation refers to various processes that include acquiring hardware and software, installation of the computer programs, testing, configuration and making changes that are vital during the performance of a system. Standards are implementation guidance that must be followed by policy implementers during the utilization of particular technologies. One of the key aspects of standards is that they are compulsory and they aim at creating uniformity within an organization. On the other hand, guidelines refer to the methodologies of enhancing security within a system. Raymond and Julia (2011) argue that due to their flexibility, guidelines are used to develop standards within various information systems. Even though guidelines are essential in systems security, they are not compulsory but they should be given careful consideration. According to Raymond and Julia (2011) three types of oversight that ensure policies are successfully implemented are auditing, vulnerability analysis and log files. Vulnerability testing refers to the scanning of network systems to be certain that all the configurations are properly set and adequate security of the system. It is important for a policy to drive both implementation and oversight to ensure that the objectives of the policy are attained within the

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

Organisational Behaviour in Action - Essay Example Similarly Mill, Bentham and Locke tried to include the principles of pleasure, pain and hedonism in describing human motivation but could not distinguish what factors accounted for differences in individual motivation. It was Douglas McGregor who pointed out that in order to achieve organizational objectives, it was better to treat workers with respect and compassion (McGregor, 1960, 12). One’s morale can suffer on account of undue pressures at work, bad supervision or the state of the economy when others are being laid off. In this paper we will try to discover how to keep the employees motivated and happy despite the dismal conditions all around them. Using Equity Theory to Motivate Employees at Bain & Company Psychologists and social scientists have developed various theories to explain how to motivate employees towards greater productivity and satisfaction in the workplace. Among these are Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory, Herzberg’s Two Factor or Hygiene t heory, Vroom’s Expectancy theory, J. Stacy Adams’ Equity theory and so forth. In the case cited, we have the example of Bain and Company, where the worldwide Managing Director Steve Ellis is still not afraid to hire new employees in hot growth areas despite the recessionary trends in the economy as of 2009. He has managed to placate and address employee fears of being fired by reducing their goals to achievable levels looking at the state of the economy. He is also raised the rewards for lower level and temporary employees, so that they remain motivated and happy to have a job despite the economic slowdown. The equity theory states that there should be a balance between the output or productivity of an employee on the job and the rewards given to them. If the rewards given are perceived to be less than equal, the employee becomes dissatisfied and his productivity will drop in the near future. If the rewards given to an employee are perceived to be matching the level of his efforts at work, he will be suitably satisfied and his productivity will remain at the same level in the near future. The theory also states that if we want to increase an employee’s productivity, we should reward him a little bit more than he expects for his efforts. The employee will thus be pleasantly surprised and will definitely be motivated to work harder considering the faith that management has put into him. This is what Bain and Company is trying to do with the lower level employees by reducing goals and giving more rewards at lower levels of achievement across the organization. It is also seen that when employees are made to work harder and longer hours without a commensurate rewards program, ultimately they will leave the organization when things get better in the economy. Perhaps this is the very thing that Bain and Company wants to avoid. So by rewarding employees in this fashion, staff is not only happy to come to work every day but also learn not to worry like their counterparts in other organizations who are living in fear and despair. They can produce without undue worry about tomorrow. Using Expectancy Theory to Explain Motivation in Bain & Company The case cited also mentions that Bain and Company is hiring employees in hot growth areas. Steve Ellis thinks that a downturn is the best time to hire some outstanding employees away from the competition because of economic uncertainty and layoffs adding to the fear

Health informatics Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Health informatics - Research Proposal Example The challenge is not only increased by the chances of errors in prescriptions resulting out of lack of clarity of the handwritten prescriptions, but also from the pharmacists losing the handwritten prescriptions in the shuffle process of issuing drugs (Beuscart-ZÃ ©phir, 2005). Thus, due to the lack of electronic systems that are able to track the movement of the prescription orders from the patient wards to the hospital pharmacy, the efficiency and accuracy of dispensing prescription drugs is adversely affected (Weant, Cook, & Armitstead, 2007). Computerized pharmacy order entry systems have been suggested as potential solutions to the challenges of inpatient drug prescribing errors (Roberts, et al., 2013). Computerized order entry by the prescribing physicians enables the patient’s drug prescriptions to be transmitted electronically from the physician departments to the pharmacy department of hospitals. The essence of the use of the computerized pharmacy order entry systems is to eliminate the handwritten order prescriptions being transmitted from the physicians to the pharmacists. The suggestion for the implementation of computerized pharmacy order management system is pegged on the premise that the automated system is advantageous both in cost-savings and also in drug prescription safety enhancement (Lai, Yokoyama, Louie & Lightwood, 2007). There is no doubt that the major impact of a computerized pharmacy order entry system is to improve the legibility of the prescription orders. This is in turn observed to be fu ndamental for eliminating the medication errors that arises out of wrong drugs issuance by pharmacists, following the ineligibility of the prescription orders. Lack of legibility of the handwritten pharmacy orders can result in the pharmacists dispensing the wrong and even potentially dangerous drugs to the patients (Troiano, 1999). The benefits associated with the automation of the pharmacy ordering process within

Germany and the germans Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Germany and the germans - Essay Example It would not be untrue if said that religion took its complete toll on him and the course of his life changed forever after experiencing some personal hardships. Here is actually where the climax in the life story of Martin Luther develops because after experiencing a serious emotional turbulence episode one day as he was returning to Erfurt after visiting home, he actually decided to become a monk later on and gave up his law studies in favor of other newly developed interests. This change of plans and decisions did not gain him much appreciation from the family and friends circle in the start, but later on things got better for him when he got appointed as a priest in the church and then he immersed himself in advanced theological studies (Advameg, Inc). This phase of his life is considered to be very critical by all historians because that was when he began to develop ideas and arguments against the traditional and orthodox Christian beliefs. Martin Luther is a very powerful figure in the history of Christianity and studying his life and different events related to it holds immense fascination in itself. This is because Luther entered a monastery when he was quite young and not many people feel any strong bondage with religion when they are that young. Luther, however, is quite distinguished in respect that not only he underwent complete religious transformation as a youth but he also decided to give up his law studies in order to become a monk and then later on in life, he went on to study theology. By this time, he began developing many theories and arguments that openly defied the traditionally established Christian rules which gained him much criticism from the Roman Catholic Church. That was a very hard time for Luther because in spite of so much antagonism and repulsion, he decided to stay firm on his writings which were already distributed throughout Germany. If on one hand he was considered

Morality in Copying CD’s Essay Example for Free

Morality in Copying CD’s Essay Morality is an issue that will forever encompass debates from thousands of sectors around the world. There are no definite set of rules of what is moral and what is not; as such, it will infinitely be hard to define. Judging someone’s morality is going to be difficult given this lack of definitive structure of the subject itself. This paper will be discussing piracy (which is what copying cd’s may lead to) in the context of morality. As difficult as the task may sound, this paper shall try to be as objective as it can be given the infinite boundary of the context. Piracy Piracy has been the thorn on the side of the music industry since the early 1990’s. Piracy is not even hard to do, given that one must simply stick a CD to a computer then transfer its entire contents to another and from there, numerous other copies can be made. The cycle does not and will not stop because most people prefer things for free. College students who must be the most frequent computer users will not be averse to copying CDs and distributing it to others. They sure enjoy their music and they normally are under strict budget due to their educational financial needs. The music industry is not the only field that piracy has wrecked. Almost anything that is being distributed on a CD or uploaded online has been endangered by piracy. Software is easily pirated, the newest Microsoft products are easily found on bootleg shops, finding its way easily in the third world black market. Aside from software, there are videogames and movies that can easily be copied and sold for much less than the producer originally retailed it, all illegally, of course. With piracy, the artists, software developers, producers, actors, programmers suffer as they are not paid the royalties they deserve for working hard on their respective projects but the consumers win, as they get the media they want/need for free or at a considerably lower price. The Utilitarian Approach According to Velasquez, et al. (1989), â€Å"utilitarianism is a moral principle that holds that the morally right course of action in any situation is the one that produces the greatest balance of benefits over harms for everyone affected.† The utilitarian approach can certainly be used by those who copy the CD’s and distribute it to a wider span of users. When a person purchases a CD and uploads its entire content online on a file sharing site, his reasoning is that, such upload can share the music to a wider variety of people. These people can get it for free thanks to that one person who uploaded it for sharing out of the goodness of his heart. When a person buys a CD, he has paid for rights to use the content of that music. No matter how he abuses the content of that CD by repeated usage is something he is entitled to do. However, copying the entire contents of the CD and giving the copy to another person is another story as herein, he has breached some legal boundaries of his usage. Morality may be a subject that is infinite but legality has very strict confines and stepping beyond its boundaries is punishable by a hefty sum, long hours of community service or jail time. The utilitarian reasoning is not a defense against illegal acts and as such, one cannot escape punishment by reiterating that he committed piracy for the benefit of the world, out of the goodness of his heart. In addition, the utilitarian approach does not consider the minority who will be affected by such act. For instance, the loss of income to those people who have labored to bring the media out on the market is not something utilitarianism will consider. Deontological Ethics According to the Encyclopedia Britannica (n.d.), â€Å"in deontological ethics an action is considered morally good because of some characteristic of the action itself, not because the product of the action is good.† Given this definition, copying CDs onto another computer, given today’s anti-piracy campaign, is not going to be considered moral even though the intentions maybe good and the act may be easy to do. Music, movie, software, videogame industries have lost billions of dollars because of piracy, they are trying to fight it as best they can and as such, there are piracy warnings/threats on almost every media distributed. Doing it anyway will certainly question one’s morality over it. To circumvent this, one does not usually copy CD’s. He goes to websites where he can share files. However, in the UK, such file sharing can now be considered illegal (Solanki 2010). Such is the campaign against piracy that in the US, every digital media sold in the market is protected by DRM, a software that limits the number of devices the content can be played in to typically, 5 machines (Grossman 2007). Exceeding this limit can raise questions on one’s morality via Deontological Ethics. Conclusion Copying the contents of a CD is piracy. Piracy nowadays is a criminal offense that is punishable by law. One can hardly find anything moral over something that is illegal. Even though piracy may be the most tolerated crime in the world, it will be best for the person to stay on the conservative side and not commit it, for his personal welfare. References: Encyclopedia Britannica. (n.d.) Deontological ethics. Retrieved 19 July 2010 from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/158162/deontological-ethics Grossman, L. (2007). The Battle Over Music Piracy. Time.   Retrieved 19 July 2010 from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1625209,00.html Solanki, M. (2010). File sharing becomes illegal as Government pushes through Digital Economy Bill. SeekBroadband. Retrieved 19 July 2010 from http://seekbroadband.com/focus/2010/04/09/internet-technology-news/file-sharing-becomes-illegal-as-government-pushes-through-digital-economy-bill/ Velasquez, M. et al. (1989). Calculating Consequences: The Utilitarian Approach to Ethics. Issues in Ethics V2 N1. Retrieved 19 July 2010 from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/calculating.html

Childhood Obesity Essay Example for Free

Childhood Obesity Essay Obesity in young children is becoming more and more of a problem in todays society. The effects of this epidemic can be life long, or even fatal. Lack of nutritional education on the nurses behalf, theories on pre-birth influences and ignorance to the long term effects of obesity have lead up to being the main problems when dealing with childhood obesity. The causes of this epidemic range from before the child is even born, to the teenage stages. The role of a nurse is to address health problems of a single person, or poor nutritional habits of a family. It is important to involve the family as a whole when addressing a single person about their weight so that they know that they have their family behind them, supporting them through it all. â€Å"The child is embedded within the family system and therefore, it is very difficult for obese children to alter their dietary or physical habits if not supported by their families.† (Rabbitt 731). If a nurse implements these kinds of strategies when addressing the epidemic, a greater impact of importance would be laid upon the person facing their obesity. There are many theories out in the scientific field that have to do with causes in childhood obesity. We hear about poor nutrition and shortfall of exercise, but we might have looked over the mothers role when she is pregnant. Poor eating habits and not enough exercise are both factors that contribute to the theory: The Developmental Over-nutrition Hypothesis. This theory states that the fetus of and overweight mother is more prone to being overweight as a child due to over exposure of free fatty acids and higher levels of glucose (Ding 0353). Research done by Debbie Lawlor and some of her colleagues has proven an association between BMI of parents and children (Ding 0353). With the statistics that come with this research, we are able to identify core problems with family nutrition and eating habits. The fetus of a mother does not have the choice of what they do or do not eat, so it is the mothers responsibility to make sure that her baby is fed with proper, healthy foods. The amount of obese children in the United States has tripled since the 1980s (Childhood Obesity 1). Not only is it the nurses and mothers job to watch what their child consumes,  but schools play a major role in the epidemic as well. Although schools strongly promote exercise, the food that they are feeding to the children does not help progress their intentions of preventing childhood obesity. When I was in elementary school, we were served fried foods galore. There was never a day that went without some kind of greasy, fatty foods. Convienence also is a major facto when it comes to eating healthy.

Customer centrality within the organization of mcdonalds

Customer centrality within the organization of mcdonalds Introduction This report will assess the degree to which the organization of McDonalds is customer centred. Established in 1955 as a small Illinois neighbourhood restaurant, McDonalds has developed rapidly in becoming one of the worlds best known brands of fast food with over 30,000 restaurants in over 120 countries and with 2001 sales in excess of $40 billion the company claims to be the worlds largest food service organisation (Jones et al,2002). The McDonalds brand continues to enhance its worldwide reputation to this day, the main reason behind this continual success is because the organization listens to its customers needs and expectations. It is imperative that McDonalds remain customer focussed due to the vast amount of competition in the fast food sector, customer orientation is critical to business profitability (Donaldson,1993; Narver and Slater,1990) and is a necessary antecedent of competitive advantage (Ganesan,1994; Williamson,1991). The typical McDonalds customer cannot be stereotyped or defined. In an attempt to categorize the typical McDonalds customer market research has been carried out which identifies different types of customers, for example (www.mcdonalds.com): A parent with two children Visits the restaurant to give children a treat. Children View McDonalds as a fun place to eat. A Business Customer Visits during the daytime as service is fast, the food is good quality and can be eaten whilst on the move. Teenagers Attracted by the Saver Menu and the affordable food, Wi-Fi internet access is also an attraction. This report will attempt to assess specific parameters of focus for consideration with regard to customer centrality. The literature review will discuss several marketing concepts and models with the key concept being the 7 Ps Marketing Mix, by investigating how the 7 Ps model is integral to customer centrality various other concepts will arise as part of the marketing mix model. Literature Review An organization which realizes that profits come from customers, not from products, will establish systems to measure and manage customer profitability (Marketing Management,2003). In order to appreciate and understand how customer relationships are critical for profitable organisations we need to understand the key fundamental marketing principles. Once these key principles have been discussed the author will discuss how these fundamental principles are applied within the organization of McDonalds. The Marketing Mix Concept A consumer-centred organisation is focussed upon and structured around, identifying and satisfying the demands of its customers (Marketing-Management,2009). The marketing mix management paradigm has dominated marketing thought, research and practice since it was introduced almost 40 years ago (Gronroos,1994). The marketing mix comprises four levers, by utilising the mix an organization can position themselves or their products in a way that makes them attractive to target consumers. Kotler and Keller (2006) define an organisations marketing mix as a set of tools that work together to affect the marketplace. Todays marketing emphasis is on that of customer relations due to the competitiveness of the economy McCarthy (1964) developed the early marketing mix models and formulated the 4Ps concept consisting of product, price, promotion and place. Since its conception the 4Ps became treated as the unchallenged basic model of marketing (Gronroos,1994) resulting in most other models and approaches being overlooked and discounted in preference of this model. Traditionally the marketing mix has consisted of the 4 Ps however Gronroos (2000) points out that during the last two decades marketing researchers have increasingly found that the list of 4 Ps is too restrictive and morevariables have been suggestedsuch as people, processes and physical evidence. The 4Ps framework is thought to be most relevant for introductory marketing and consumer marketing as opposed to services marketing (Rafiq et al,1995). Gronroos (1994) argues that a list of categories of marketing variablescan never be considered a very one.A list never includes all relevant elements, it does not fit every situation and becomes obsolete. Crittenden (2007) backs up this statement with her view that relying upon the tactical aspects of the marketing mix (4Ps) is insufficient for long -term success . Gronroos (1994) argues that the four Ps constitute a production-orientated definition of marketing, and not a market-orientated or customer-orientated one. Swartz et al (1973) adds validity to this statement in observing that some experts feel that public relations should be recognized as a distinctive marketing mix variable. Gronroos (1999) also argues that customer relations should form part of the marketing mix concept the marketing mix approach does not cover all resources and activities that appear in the customer relationshipsof the customer relationship life cycle, he states that the 4Ps are far too simplistic. Crittenden (2007) argues this point in saying the successful simplicity of the 4P framework has allowed it to remain strong as an organizing method. The 4 Ps concept is perceived as too restrictive, as it is centred more towards short term transactions rather, the concepts failure is that it does not concentrate on the importance of building and maintaining long term relationships with customers (Marketing Management,2003). In order to achieve customer centrality within the marketing mix concept Booms and Bitner (1981) proposed that the existing four elements of the marketing mix be extended to include three additional elements: physical evidence, people and processes. This revised marketing mix model is known as the 7 Ps with the concept used mostly within service industries and knowledge intensive environments. McDonalds uses the marketing mix concept with regards to customer centrality by utilising the framework in the manner; Product This area covers all aspects with regards to creation, development and management of products (Brassington Pettitt,2003). Some are physical products; others intangible personal services, the product can include non-core items such as packaging and after-sales service. A huge amount of choice is available on the McDonalds menu, McDonalds places considerable emphasis on developing a menu which customers want (McDonalds,2009). McDonalds product popularity is supported by the following customer statement; you can always rely on them to get it rightfor convenience they cannot really be beaten (Jones et al,2002). Price Price represents on a unit base what the company receives for the product or service which is being marketed (Jobber,2001). The price of a product or service may portray it being a quality item or a desirable one (Brassington Pettitt, 2003). A customer statement with regards to the price at McDonalds; it is a real treat for the family and is very good valuegood cheap foodfits the student lifestyle (Jones et al,2002) McDonalds state that the danger of using low price as a marketing tool is that the customer may feel that a low price is indicative of compromised quality. McDonalds acknowledge that they are in a competitive market but realise they are market leaders benchmarking product quality against price. Promotions Promotion is concerned with how the product of service is made available to its target audience (Jobber,2001). McDonalds promotes its products and brand to customers through numerous methods such as sales promotions, direct mail, exhibitions, seminars, loyalty schemes, demonstrations and telemarketing. The McDeals in-store consumer communication and loyalty program provides customers with personal, customised purchase incentives, offers and sweepstakes at the point-of-sale (www.mcdonalds.com). With regards to customer centrality, promotion needs to be based on consumer-perception through use of the media to reach the target audience. McDonalds recently launched m-Venue which allows customers to access in-store digital content such as music, music videos and movie previews with their mobile phones or laptops whilst enjoying their food this service is of no cost to the customer (www.akoo.com). McDonalds customers are also given the chance to win various prizes ranging from food vouche rs to cash and sports cars via in-store game-based promotions (www.mcdonalds.com). Place Place is concerned with distribution channels and consumer service levels (Baker, 1999). Place refers to decisions about the ways in which products can be most effectively distributed to the final consumer, either directly or through intermediaries. Customers can interact with McDonalds on their website which can be used as an effective data gathering tool for relationship marketing. McDonalds restaurants are strategically placed in convenient locations, in retail outlets, motorway services and busy city/town centres the aforementioned locations are either associated with leisure or relaxation activities. By strategically placing their restaurants McDonalds position themselves within the required target market. Although many marketers agree that the 4 Ps model is limited in its application, some marketers still recognise the concept as the holy quadrupleof the marketing faithwritten in tablets of stone (Kent,1986). Crittenden (2007) argues that the marketing machine must rigorously reflect the 4 Cs axiom of marketing (customer centrality, competitive capabilities, company collaborations, cyclical connections). Crittenden (2007) states that the 4 Cs must be used in conjunction with the tactical components of the 4 Ps of the marketing mix, the 4 Cs are referred to as the strategic components. Crittenden argues that marketing as a truly integrated function must use its 4 Ps as necessary components, this statements conflicts with that of Gronroos (1999) who says that the 7 Ps concept should be viewed separately, with relationship marketing suggested as one new paradigm . Crittenden (2007) states that marketers would be wise to give attention to the 4 Cs of marketing and harmonize the Ps and Cs for a stronger, more powerful marketing machine it could be argued that in doing this the strategic Cs would effectively cover the relationship marketing aspect of the marketing mix. Interestingly the 4 C axiom states customer centrality as an element, Crittenden (2007) states that the customer is touted as the predominant theme of the marketing conceptthe satisfaction of customers wants and needs is a major force in the world of marketing she goes on to say that the customer must be central to the companys focus, as their satisfaction is crucial to company success. McDonalds chief operating officer, Charlie Bell, supports the core concepts of the marketing mix framework in the following statement; To achieve our four business objectives attracting more customers, increasing frequency, building brand loyalty, and increasing productivity we will concentrate on the five drivers of superior customers experiences: people, products, place, price, and promotion. (www.mcdonalds.com) Marketing orientation is critical for todays organizations, adopting a marketing function forms part of an organizations process but being market orientated is critical, Ottesen et al (2002). Gronroos (1994) states that along within the development of market orientation an organization needs to develop true market orientation and a real appreciation for the needs and desires of the customers. Within many organizations the marketing department, and organization unit is separate from the rest of the organization, the department is critical to taking care of the fulfilment of customer needs and desires (Gronroos,1994). Gronroos (1994) says that the psychological effect on the rest of the organization of a separate marketing department is, in the long run, often devastating to the development of a customer orientation or market orientation in a firm. Gronroos (1994) states that marketing specialists organized in a marketing department may get alienated from the customers with no interact ion between customer and marketing specialist the customer become mere numbers with a lack of qualitative data an organization will suffer. Moller (1992) emphasises the aforementioned Gronroos point by stating from the functional view of marketing mix management our focus has extended to the strategic role of marketing, aspects of service marketing, political dimensions of channel management, interactions in industrial networks; to mention just a few trends. Crittenden (2005) supports the strategic marketing concept by stating if firms are truly to become market-orientated, the marketing function itself must become more strategic in its orientation. Michaels (1982) stressed that No-one person, system, or technique will make a company marketing orientated whist also pointing out that a marketing orientation cannot be achieved overnight. Kotler and Keller (2006) also stress the importance of structuring the organization to focus on the customer by management educating themselves and their staff about their marketing focus to show how it will support long-lasting success in the marketplace. McDonalds takes a commitment to continuous training, from counter staff level, right through to senior executives (Tomkins, 1995). This rule applies to all levels and functions within an organization who must share a common commitment if they are to work together in the interest of the consumers. Kotler and Keller (2006) highlight the point that without the support of top management, the focus on customer satisfaction advocated by the marketing orientation will not become the guiding orientation for organisational decisions. Gronroos (1994) highlights the fact that most organizations the non-marketing specialists outnumber the marketing specialists, in order to achieve true market orientation the non-specialist or part-time marketer (Gummesson,1990) within an organization is critical as the part-time marketer interacts with the customer more frequently than that of the full-time marketer (specialist). Gummesson, (1990) states that the full-time marketers are not able to handle more than a limited portion of the marketing as its staff cannot be at the right place at the right time with the right customer contacts thus placing the customer interaction emphasis on the part-time marketer. Internal marketing is considered a prerequisite for successful external marketing (Compton et al,1987), if the internal market of employees are not s uccessfully taken care of..the success of the organizations operations on its ultimate , external markets will be jeopardised (Gronroos,1990). Gronroos introduced the perceived service quality concept in 1982, this new concept introduced the interactive marketing function. This function was brought in to cover the marketing impact on the customer during the consumption of usage process, where the consumer of a service typically interacts with the systems, physical resources and employees of the service provider (Gronroos,1994). The interactive marketing function recognizes that every component human as well as other in producing a service, every production resource used and every stage in the service production and delivery process, should be the concern of marketing as well, and not considered operations or personnel problems only (Gronroos,1990). Once Gronroos had introduced this system the servuction concept was developed which pioneered the field of services marketing (Eiglier and Langeard,1987)) of services marketing. Servuction is the process of producing services and is essential to any organization operating in the services segment and deals with, to great extent the employees and the inner organization (Eiglier and Langeard,1987). With respect to McDonalds service quality Ken Tomkins (1995) states the quality will be consistent, the service fast and friendly, the cleanliness exemplary, and the value second to none. Part-time marketers are key to the servuction concept with an organization as the impact of the part-time marketers as well as the customer orientation of systems, technology and physical resources is paramount to the success of interactive marketing (Gronroos,1990). The marketing success of a firm is only partly determined by the full-time marketersthe part-time marketers of a service provider may often hav e a much more important impact on the future purchasing decisions of a customer (Gronroos,1994). If a company was to abide by the principles set within the 4 Ps concept there would be no personalized relationship with the producer and marketer of a product due to the clinical approach, which makes the seller the active part and the consumer passive (Gronroos,1994) There are numerous other key issues within relationship marketing, with two vital concepts which should not be ignored, these are the promise concept and trust concept (belief is a direct resultant of trust). Calonius (1988) emphasizes that the responsibilities of marketing do not only, or predominantly, include giving promises and thus persuading customers as passive counterparts on the market to act in a given way. If an organization makes a promise to its customer and does not fulfil the promise the evolving relationship cannot be maintained and enhanced (Calonius,1988). Trust, a willingness to rely on an exchange partner in whom one has confidence (Moorman et al,1993). From this definition it can be seen that there has to be belief in the organizations trustworthiness that results from the expertise, reliability or intentionality of an organization (Gronroos,1994). The concept of relationship marketing as opposed to transaction marketing was introduced by Berry (1983) who observes that clearly, marketing to protect the customer base is becoming exceedingly important to a variety of service industries. Gronroos (1990) formulates a relationship definition of marketing which states Marketing to establish, maintain, enhance and commercialize customer relationships (often but not necessarily always long term relationships) so that the objectives of the parties involved are met. This is done by mutual exchange and fulfilment promises. Transaction-type strategys are usually facilitated in an organization pursuing a traditional marketing mix approach, whereas an organization applying a relationship marketing approach will focus specifically on the additional 3 Ps of people, physical evidence and processes which in turn will use the servuction concept to ascertain customer expectations and needs. An organization pursuing a relationship strategy has created more value for its customers than that which is provided by the core product alone (Gronroos,1994). As customer interaction is enhanced through relationship marketing the customer recognises this added value, Gronroos (1994) states relationship marketing makes customers less price sensitive. Philip Lempert (www.supermarketguru.com) supports Gronroos statement People understand they get what they pay for, and as long as the food is good and its a comfortable atmosphere, theyre willing to pay repeatedly for it. Marketing trend analysts suggest that slashing prices to attract the customer isnt always the answer, it will aid retention of existing customers but may deter new custom due to perceived quality (www.SupermarketGuru.com). Conclusion It is evident through this report that McDonalds as an organization is extremely customer focussed. By carrying out research within the marketing mix concept it can be seen that all of the 7Ps and associated models are utilised by McDonalds. Through use of the servuction concept McDonalds has succeeded in establishing a highly trained internal and external workforce which has resulted in high levels of customer service ultimately resulting in consistently high sales and customer retention and acquisition. The literature review further emphasises the fact that McDonalds have carried out extensive research within its market area by implementing a successful market segmentation strategy to satisfy the different customer needs and expectations within the marketplace. McDonalds service marketing strategy is testament to the additional three Ps of the marketing mix. Success of the overall service within the organization is due to the fact that the organization has critically identified all areas within the fundamental four Ps approach and emphatically succeeded in fulfilling all requirements with regards to segmenting, targeting, positioning and establishing an organizations which is customer central. The success of McDonalds customer centrality is not achieved by default, the organization has differentiated itself within a competitive market by excelling in customer relations. There are several fast food retailers within the sector who have a customer base achieved by default but it is not evident to the marketplace that they have focussed on customer centrality as a priority which is in vast contrast to the philosophy of McDonalds which structures its organization around the demands of the customer. The following statement typifies the way in which McDonalds views its organization; We strive to be a progressive market leader and we can only stay ahead of the rest by listening to the most important ambassadors of our brand our customers! (www.mcdonalds.com). The philosophy of customer centrality is imperative to service organisations as long as the relationship marketing concept is integrated within a successful marketing mix approach. Product orientated organisations could benefit from focussing on customer centrality by adopting relationship marketing. Transactional based marketing should not be viewed separately in its application as integration of relationship marketing within a transactional based model could result in increase in perceived quality, customer retention and overall satisfaction.