The Smooth Transition Into Adulthood Essay Example for Free

The Smooth Transition Into Adulthood Essay In this research report it will be proven that in order to have a smooth transition to adulthood, the completion of developmental tasks must occur. This is a stage when parents and children must separate one another so that young adults can accept emotional responsibility for themselves. Without the co-operation of both the parents and young adult the success of this transition can be long drawn and less effective. According to the Family Life-Cycle Theory, three developmental tasks must be mastered for this to happen. These tasks detail that; young adults must form an identity separate from that of the family of origin, young adults must develop new intimate relationship with peers outside the family and lastly young adults must make their first tentative commitment to a career or workplace role. With the co-operation of the young adult’s parent’s situations such as; parents becoming overly attached to their children and parents becoming too involved with a child’s life can easily be avoided. If a parent becomes too heavily attached to their child, the success of the young adult’s transition into adulthood is jeopardized. This type of behavior causes negative effects on both the parent and child as the parent will have a much harder time having to let their child go at one point, this creating more emotional pain for the parent later on (Holloway, 2002). For the child, this type of attached behavior robs them of their poetical freedom. Holding the young adult back from completing the Family Life Cycle transition phases of discovering a separate identity from their parents and developing new intimate relationships (Holloway, 2002). Creating new and different intimate relationships is an exciting part of becoming an adult. At this time in life people begin to learn what they are looking and expecting out of a potential partner (Holloway, 2002). The interference of a parent when choosing a mate limits the young adult’s choices when searching for a mate, restricting their options of exploring and discovering for what they are looking for in a mate (Holloway, 2002). A parent’s involvement within intimate relationship hinders the young adult smooth transition into adulthood as they can no longer fully complete the second stage in the Family Life-Cycle Theory of making new intimate relationships outside of the family. In conclusion becoming an adult is a large step in any young persons life. The co-operation and support of parents and guardians is very important in ensuring a smooth transition into adulthood for the young adult. Yet it is imperative that parents allow their children to begin to develop on their own, creating a new self-identity, developing intimate relationships and making their first commitment to a job on their own.

United Parcel Service And Service Marketing Business Essay

United Parcel Service And Service Marketing Business Essay Services are economic activities that create and deliver great value to the consumer. It is an act that helps consumers to get things done without having to go do it themselves, and the consumers have to pay for it. Services, which can surprise a customer on the first delivery, always win over with high reputation and excellence or pass with flying colours. This report is on the services offered by UPS, mainly focusing on their call centre. UPS was found in 1907 by two people Jim Casey Claude Ryan who were teenagers at the time, also known as the American Messenger Company, whose messengers delivered packages, and carried notes, baggage and trays of food from restaurants. Most of the delivery was made either on foot or, and bicycles for longer journeys. At the time, only a few automobiles were in existence and department stores of the day still used horses and wagons for merchandise delivery. The company was soon started delivering small parcels for local department stores and changed its name from American Messenger Company to Merchants Parcel Delivery. The company expanded outside Seattle (USA) in 1919 with the acquisition of Oakland (USA) based Motor Parcel Delivery and was renamed United Parcel Service in 1930. UPS began the process of expanding its services by acquiring common carrier rights for the entire country; this took place in the 1950s. Over the past century, UPS has transformed drastically, growing from a small messenger company to a leading provider of air, ocean, ground, and electronic services. In 2003, the company introduced a brand new mark and acronym UPS showing the world that its capabilities extend beyond small package delivery but rather has a broad line of services. However, the company maintains its reputation for integrity, reliability, employee ownership, and customer service. For UPS, the future holds even greater goals to be achieved and accomplished. The UPS Culture As a company, UPS focuses its attention on: Safety: The company spends $38 million a year on safety training, which covers everything from proper body mechanics at work to proper nutrition and exercise at home. As a result, UPS has lowered the number of workdays lost due to injury by more than 50 percent since 1995. Employee education: Many UPS employees at Worldport and other sorting locations are college students. UPS encourages mentors and recruiters from nearby colleges to visit and work with its employees, and it provides additional benefits and perks for college students. Diversity: Minorities make up 35 percent of UPS U.S. employees and 30 percent of its executives. Its also recognized by Fortune magazine as one of the 50 best companies for minorities The Environment: Delivering packages all over the world and moving them between distribution centers requires an enormous amount of fuel. UPS uses several methods to reduce its fuel consumption and its environmental impact. For example, it has developed a hydraulic hybrid package car, and its drivers use route-planning software to minimize the amount of time they spend idling in traffic and making left turns. UPS pilots also fly at the most fuel-efficient speeds possible to meet their delivery deadlines and run only one engine when taxiing to conserve fuel. Current trends in the industry According to Miss Tanya Astley, Customer Representative Officer in the UPS there are no such trends in the company, only the way things are done keep changing, on busy days, like, on festivals and important occasions. ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths Global Brand, Strong Distribution Network Weaknesses Perception of Ground Delivery instead of Overnight Heavy Union presence Opportunities Expansion of online shopping Emergence of international middle class Threats Increasing Fuel Costs Competitive Landscape (DHL, USPS, FedEx), potentially slowing global economy. Now to use strengths to capitalize on opportunities, I would say leverage the brand online by partnering with major shopping sites. To addresses weaknesses to alleviate threats, I would say heavily market overnight capabilities to keep FedEx and DHL at bay. 3. Major competitors: Fedex DHL Speedex Aramex THE SERVICE OFFERING Determining customer requirements There is no particular way of measuring the customer requirements in the type of service done by UPS, but they tend to attract new customer through marketing and telesales. Customer loyalty is held high in UPS. Strategy There are a lot of different factors to build Competitive advantage in the Air Express Industry. The different strategies of the companies based on their core product which they are better in than other companies hence makes all the difference. When a business provides an excellent service to its customers, it gives them a positive service experience which leads to repeat purchases or usage of that specific service. As well as passing on the experience to family and friends this helps UPS build a stronger relationship with their customers. UPS believes that by achieving effective customer service they will hence achieve a competitive advantage in the market. UPS uses a differentiation strategy; it does this by creating something about its product or service that is perceived as unique in the industry. Customers must perceive the service as a unique one compared to the competition. UPS should be aware that its customers must be relatively price insensitive as adding this additional uniqueness to its services as additional costs Differentiation may be attained through many features that make the product or service appear unique. Possible strategies for achieving differentiation may include: warranties brand image technology features service quality/value dealer network Economies of scale, such as, lower costs and product differentiation were also prime sources of achieving a competitive advantage in this industry, which were used by UPS to its advantage. This helped UPS to gain a much larger domestic market share three times that of United States postal and twice of Fed Ex, UPS was very cost effective at the time and had a very good reputation in the market. It was only a matter of time when UPS realized that they were not doing as well as they did before and also realized that any competitor could do the same in terms of achieving economies of scale. UPS has been the market leader in this division for a long time. UPS as sited in our essay has always been the leader in market pricing trends. Always the first to charge premiums, and the first to give discounts to the customers. UPS strategy has always been quite different from that of Fed Ex, Aramax or even DHL. UPS is very profitable, well organized, successfully run, has low debt, and a massive ground operation that can financially support a downturn in air express operations. Because of their size and financial strength UPS is in the best position to survive a price war in the industry. The media strategy The usage of an appropriate advertising media, such as, television, press, radio, internet and key broadcast channels, leading titles and publications and strategic outdoor sites can be very influential in helping us to achieve our campaign objectives. The following media imperatives have been set for the region: Television is the key broadcast medium to drive awareness of the new UPS brand identity and offering. Radio will be used as a lead (where budgets dont allow for TV) or support medium, reinforcing primary messages and cultivating top-of-mind awareness. Outdoor will be used to communicate the primary message, ensure new logo exposure and in smaller countries, as a substitute for broadcast media. Press will be used to support the TV creative or stand alone, allowing more opportunity to explain the UPS strategy further High reach media will be used at the launch, covering all audiences, followed by one or two lower bursts ensuring longevity of the new brand message. To build customer relationship, the organization could: Keep in touch with the customer by sending emails with the offers and rates. Get regular feedback from customer who have used the service and improve with their suggestions, to make the customer feel like the king. DEMAND AND CAPACITY 1. Demand cannot be forecasted in this industry. The company can only take the initiative to maintain current sales and hope increase sales in the future by marketing. 2. An increase in demand will lead to more people being employed either part time or full time depending on the tasks that need to be performed. Another important thing needed is the service vehicles, with the increased demand. 3. Customers dont have to go through the hassle of waiting in lines for their doubts to be clarified. All the customer has to do is call, which gets routed to various agents in the call centre, to answer any queries or solve any issues. SPECULATION 1).Opportunities appear to be available in the industry currently the margin for opportunities seems to be very narrow. But strategies could be altered according to the consumer needs. For example, some consumers emphasize on price and the others on the service time taken no matter what the price. Recently, UPS is planning to set up a domestic postal service in China. They plan to introduce a next day delivery service and second and third day delivery products. China is a potential for UPS to grow and offer services and products internationally and this it seems China is an emerging market which could be worth billions. 2. Technological advances In todays day and age the air express industry has become so technologically advanced that goods can be delivered overnight. It is facing intense price competition between the competitors, which exist in this market. The ability to price, route, track and deliver parcels and mail in both domestic and international markets demands a comprehensive. A significant improvement in information technology has enabled package carriers to provide to customers the ability to track their packages movement from origin to destination. Other advances included combining logistics, freight and financial services with traditional package delivery in order to offer customers full supply chain management solutions. Only the organizations that were able to achieve these effectively and efficiently were able to survive in this industry. This is how the existing companies could then make their profit. In this industry the price of the service is the main source for competing. This is the only way in achieving Competitive Success. Competitive advantage can be achieved if, the price of the service provided by competitors is similar and the approach taken to provide the service. For instance, the amount of time taken for the product to reach from point A to point B. 3. Advice to other firms who plan to enter the industry Our advice to the new firms which plan to enter this industry would be to, research the market and the industry and think about strategies that provide the new firm a big competitive advantage including low cost of service and low price charged to the customers. The relationship between the firm and the customers should be healthy. The company should be knowledgeable about everything and should see to it that they have all the information necessary. Customer Relationship Management Customers account for 95% of UPSs shipping information directly. The CRM methodology is a very core part of the UPS success story. UPS grows through engineering and re-engineering of its systems. UPSs growth was achieved slowly and methodically from the inside out. An Excellent service is what distinguishes it from other companies. Companies can use and integrate UPS Worldship hence optimizing their business processes. They can process shipments easily, respond to your customers faster, and reduce costly errors. UPS  provides businesses with  multiple ways to integrate WorldShip with their business: Batch Import/Export: Import a file containing addresses, customer orders, or other shipment information, or export shipping history to your internal systems. Keyed Import:  Allow WorldShip to recognize a customers order simply by entering or scanning a unique identifier, such as a Purchase Order number. Hands-Off Shipping:  Schedule WorldShip to pull addresses from your order entry database and automatically print shipping labels at designated times. XML Auto-Import:  Automate shipment processing using XML code. LOGISTICS Logistics is about getting things where they need to be, at the correct time as effectively and efficiently as possible. But nowadays, logistics is also a strategic way to add value to your business, better served customers, and better long term growth. The logistics provided by UPS can help you manoeuvre the intricacies of global trade with minimal effort. Manage your shipments and minimize their environmental impact. And win repeat and loyal customers by making it easy to return products or parts. The new logistics is more than just getting things to the right place at the right time at the right cost. Its about using the movement of goods as a competitive advantage. Its a whole new way of thinking. And its a powerful force for growing your business. Access to Resources through UPS Businesses dont need a large warehouse, distribution center, or global network to access this new logistics. UPS has built a massive integrated network of physical, technological, and human assets that lets you  tap into the power and passion of logistics. The new logistics from UPS levels playing fields. It lets you act locally or globally. Its for the individual entrepreneur, the small business, or the large company. Its reliable, efficient, and environmentally responsible. Long term growth in the telecommunication UPS needs to learn from other industry best practices to gain a competitive edge in and expand beyond their core markets. An increasing number of companies have redefined themselves and significantly outperformed the markets by growth through services. UPS Moved from traditional parcel services to total supply chain solutions. UPS can better differentiate themselves via services by extending relationship with existing customer base leveraging. Superior customer knowledge as key asset. Customer proximity and delivery competence. In addition, developing the necessary skills and scale by new service-specific processes being developed and service innovations to ensure fast scalability of process and time to market. UPSs evolution to Total Supply Chain Solutions started as:- Standalone development of small service operations within the organization: Worldwide Logistics unit Service Parts Logistics Worldwide dedicated Services UPS Truck Leasing UPS consulting This moved on to:- Expansion of product portfolio and consolidation of existing services resources into UPS Supply Chain Solutions. And finally Reorganization and major MA effort with 16 key acquisitions to develop scale and growth.

Customer Relationship Management Business Dilemma Marketing Essay

Customer Relationship Management Business Dilemma Marketing Essay The most influential person in cafà © or in any business are the customers, since without customers, one does not have a business. Everything in a business environment revolves round customers. Similarly, in case of our cafà ©, customers are a key to a successful business at the end of the day. Knowing your customers and providing satisfaction to those customers would gain customer loyalty. Grandfather gave priority to customers thats why he knew all his customers. However, just knowing your customers is not enough; one needs to keep a record of its customers so that its easy to analyze. Since customers are really influential towards a business, business (in our case, cafe) should treat each and every customer as if they were the only customer. While serving each customer, one must keep in mind the needs of that particular customer only and should serve in such a way that the service exceeds their expectation. Giving most priority towards customers would enhance customer loyalty an d keep that customer attached to a particular business. Through customers, a business can improve its business as said by Bill Gates Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. Customer complains in fact is a key to improve the service, for instance, if a customer complains that the way coffee served was not pleasant and did not met the expectation, that complain can be used as a tool to improve the coffee serving process through further training workshops for employees in that area. Thus, customers complain can be seen as a challenge to be met in future to make him/her (customer) happy and attracted to the cafe. If you treat your customers well, your customers will go out of their way to return to you. Therefore, customer feedback and suggestion can help improve a service. However, the cafà © may not have answers or response for all of customer questions and suggestions. Customers could help or hurt the cafe through viral marketing. Word of mouth marketing is the largest determining factor for a service business image, which can be either online chatting or physical talk. If the service in cafà © is up to the expectation of the customer, it would help the cafà © to attract more customers through viral marketing and gain market share. However, if the products and service in cafà © is very poor which made the customer unhappy can spread negative impression on other customers, hurting the company through losing its current and potential customers. Moreover, online comment or complain on the cafes website can be injurious such as comment on You Tube. Literally, the customer does not intend to harm or hurt the company; they just want their needs to be fulfilled and service is up to their expectation. As already mentioned customer complains can provide an opportunity, thereby, helping the cafà © to improve its service. My employees will agree that customers are the most important part of cafe since thats the reason they are in cafe. If there wouldnt be any customer, there wouldnt be need for employees. Thus, customers determine or secure the period of employment of the employee. If there are fewer customers, employees may be laid off to cut down costs. However, some employees may feel that they are the most important part in a business. Employees are the most important asset of any business. If cafà © doesnt value its staff, it would demoralize them which can impact their performance in service. And as a result, their poor performance can hinder customer growth of cafà ©. Thus, some employees value themselves as the most valuable person in a business when compared to customers. MAKING BUSINESS DECISION I Virtual world is a 3D, electronically-generated environment where users can interact, create and communicate just as they would in the real world for example, second life (http://ictwm.org/news/virtual-worlds-help-real-businesses). Virtual world provides people with experiences rather than processing transaction. Once people get attached to virtual experience, they would be excited about experiencing it in real life. This would only be possible through going to the real cafà © which would help the business in transaction processing. It also aids in mass customization as customers design or suggest what they exactly want. Virtual world encourage interaction, collaboration and communication. It can be accessed from anywhere in the world, thus, keeping people and cafà © connected. If cafà © provides continuous updates in virtual world, people nearby the cafà © would go for new and innovative products in that cafà © just because of that cafes presence in virtual world which would enhance the business/cafà © operations. It could also be a marketing tool for the cafe to promote its menus for the day through frequently changing attractive ads in the virtual world. Customer relationship in virtual world is very delicate matters since one does not physically meet to create impression. Virtual world should be designed in such a way that it is appealing and attractive to a customer. In virtual world, cafe business would be better able to meet customer satisfaction with minimum or no cost by changing designs to strengthen virtual customer relationship. Customer wont need to wait in long lines to be served, one can just go to the cafes website and get the taste of coffee or of service in that cafà ©. Virtual world does not restrict the access to any person; any person can access to the website to have a taste. In other words, there is a greater reach and contact to maintain strong customer relationship. Cafà © can be always available to its customer through virtual world without any disruption. Customers would be in a position to demand what they want based on their own specification. This makes the customer feel like king through providing their customized products and enhancing better customer relationship. In traditional customer relationship management strategies, there has been lack of customer experience, co-creation, co-production and collaboration with customers. Thus, our strategy to manage customer in new virtual world is through co-creation and co-production with customers. Co-creation and co-production with customers is different than traditional customer-centric approaches in that the focus is not to learn as much as possible about customers but instead consider them as equal problem solvers (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5858/is_200711/ai_n32252899/pg_2/). Giving customers an important role in the value chain can affect customer satisfaction. Value in co-creation derived by customers purposeful interaction cannot be obtained merely from asking the customers to answer questions and leave comments. Virtual worlds may provide an experience space that supports experience networks which go beyond the domain of a single company and its suppliers to one that is experience -centric to the customers. (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5858/is_200711/ai_n32252899/pg_3) Moreover, since there is a growing use of internet, it would be easier for company to collaborate with its customers through electronic CRM. Electronic CRM has a wider scope for managing customer relationship in a variety of ways and not just collaboration ranging from designing and pricing of digital products to loyalty programs. Supporting Second Life customers differs from supporting website customers as well as traditional customers. In second life, cafà © can design and create those products and services that a particular customer wants. It allows basically for customization as well as reaching out to customers for ideas, prototyping and feedback in a particular area giving cafà © a better competitive advantage. This means that customer support in second life would need to be met in real time especially to a customers demand. Second life is basically everything being electronic whereas traditional revolves around physical presence. Moreover, collaboration between customers and company is a major support in second life unlike traditional customers. Website supports customers with visitor information and product review. It does not allow a customer to get the feeling of being in cafà ©. However, second life gives a customer a virtual feel of being part of that cafà © in addition to visitor information. To make the experience of a virtual world customer great, second life location should offer free virtual coff ee, music, and chairs with tables for customers to hang out. In the traditional (physical) environment, the cafà © needed to be closed off at a particular time, even though customers were involved in deep discussion. This does not happen in second life. Second life supports customers to continue with whatever they are doing in the virtual cafà © without any time limit and can chat as late as they want. Furthermore, upcoming events, artwork and music should be available to customers visiting second life so that it becomes interesting and encourages them to explore the site. Another difference between traditional and second life customer support is in terms of advertising. In past, business would use advertising agency to promote their products but now the cafà © can do in house advertising in virtual world attracting wider range of customers all round the world. Second life does not provide authentication of a persons identity. There is no access control and anyone can easily get into the second life and if there is any confidential information for customers only, that can be easily leaked and used to the disadvantage of the business, that is, the cafà ©. Moreover, phishing can easily take place whereby an intruder who is against the cafà © business can create a website similar to the cafà © site and trick the customers into inputting confidential data. This confidential information can be used as a tool to harm the image of the cafà © through missing the customers information which would tremendously impact on the cafà © business. Similarly, misrepresentation can be another issue just like phishing, whereby someone designs an avatar that looks just like the avatar of a customer service representative. Other issue involves the obsolesce of real life location. Since people get attached to second life, they dont go or visit the real life cafà ©. Second life cafà © can be visited by anyone but real world cafà © may not be. People in a region would only be visiting the cafà © and if those limited people get attached to second life cafà ©, there wont be much importance of real life cafà ©. Thus, issue arises that second life should be positioned and designed in such a way that real life cafà © does not get obsolete and people remain attracted to it as well to have real currency flow in business. Due to lack of authentication, privacy concerns arise. Maintaining customer confidentiality becomes an ethical issue and a challenge for businesses. MAKING BUSINESS DECISION II You Tube can be an important vehicle to communicate with the cafes customers. It is a popular free video sharing website where people can also comment on a particular video. We would design and create video clips of the cafes products and the way service is provided in cafà © and then share it on You Tube, using cartoon characters and other imaginary characters making the clip funny, interesting and informative. Through these clips, we can conveniently show our customers how we have minimized the problem of long wait lines. Firstly, we would make clips showing more counters for serving as well as drive in windows. Long wait lines are basically because of few or only one counter, thus showing a clip with more counters can be seen as a reasonable rectification to the problem. Moreover, for travelers who want to be served instantly while in their vehicle, drive in windows would be a solution to avoid waiting in lines when in rush as in case of McDonalds in Fiji. Clip can show a custome r ordering and being served in just few seconds through drive in windows. Furthermore, online ordering and tele-ordering can also be a rectification to long waiting lines. Through virtual world or cafes website, customers can order online as well as through phone calls before actually going to cafà © so that on their arrival, their order is prepared and no waiting is required. These solutions can be depicted on You Tube through videos using animated characters. You Tube as a communication vehicle, is free and easy to use. Unlike advertising over television, which is associated with costs, You Tube provides this for free whereby anyone can watch the videos and pass comments about how they feel about that particular video. As already said, it saves money on marketing since advertising can be done through clips to promote the cafà ©. You Tube has a wider reach in terms of customers and markets. It is not restricted to a particular geographical region or location. Customers all around the world and in different market can get access to You Tube and learn about the cafà ©. Also through You Tube, cafà © can get a great deal of information to many people in a short amount of time just through one clip. These benefits show that You Tube can be an efficient communication vehicle for any business whether it be cafà © or a car dealer. However, there are various disadvantages for You Tube as well. Since it can be viewed by anyone in the world, it may capture unwanted attention, for instance, is a person does not love coffee, he/she may not like the clip based on coffee and would comment negatively which would create bad impression to other customers. You Tube also in some cases compresses the content of clips and other files, making it unappealing to customers as its not presented in the right way intended and information can be chopped in that compression. Products may not be clear to customers, thus, proper communication of that product such as coffee maybe hindered. Also due to missing information or half information, it could become difficult to understand what the file tries to reveal to customers. Issues of privacy concern and copyright infringement can be cons of You Tube. Privacy can be made vulnerable as amount of information on video can be dangerous such as unintentionally showing where an employee lives or showing someones bio-data while promoting the product or service. Therefore, before starting to use You Tube as a medium of communication vehicle, one must clearly study the pros and cons of it to see whether benefits are there or not. Other new technologies that can be used as a customer communication vehicle that would be more effective than You Tube are social networking sites such as twitter and facebook. It allows more than just posting video. One can post comments, pictures, update information and create events on it. Twitter and facebook help bringing customers together. With help of twitter, cafe can send an alert about new deals or offers in the cafà ©. Blogging can also be a publishing medium. If a customer complements the cafes service or the products and food in cafà © in his blog, it would be a free advertising for the cafà ©. But can also harm the image if blogger comments in a negative way. APPLY YOUR KNOWLEDGE To obtain high quality data, systems in the cafà © must be integrated, since quality information does make a difference in any business. Major importance of quality information is that it induces enhanced, accurate and appropriate decision making. The quality of information used to make business decision determines the quality of decision made. Having real time system in cafà © would provide real time information in response to decision makers queries and requests. High quality decisions can significantly impact the cafes bottom line, thus, profitability. For instance, having integrated and real time system, cafà © can provide what customer wants in an instance which would meet customer satisfaction, thus, improve profitability. Moreover, high quality information enables any business to track valuable customers who generate most revenues. Having proper information about a particular customer visiting cafà © frequently can help cafà © identify the loyal customer and could reward him or her so that they keep coming in future. Uses can place confidence on information of high quality since it is reliable. For instance, if cafà © post on its website information generated from its systems, customers could be easily in a position to rely on it. On the other hand, low quality information results in various business effects. Low quality information are those which has missing information example no first name of customer, incomplete information example no street or missing area code, probable duplicate information such as similar name, same address or phone number and potentially wrong information. The effects of this on cafes business would be its inability to accurately track customers, difficulty identifying valuable customers, inability to identify selling opportunities of cafes product, marketing to non-existent customers, difficulty tracking revenue and inability to build strong customer relationship (net: slides). Low quality information would hinder cafà © to follow up with its profitable customers who frequently such as daily visit cafà © since there may be name confusion. Also if systems are not integrated, it becomes difficult to provide accurately what customer wants and may lead to providing wrong products. Thi s will affect the demand and supply of a particular product which would not be reliable. Also cafà © may be marketing and promoting its cafà © and product to a non-existent customer online due to fake or same names who are not cafes usual customers. Overall, low quality information vigorously degrades the decision making quality in managing a customer and the cafà ©. The examples of information that can be used by The Broadway Cafà © to gain better understanding of its customers are customers taste and preferences. If the cafà © gets a picture of what their current and potential customers would like to consume, cafà © can be prepared for the product and provide the customer that product when they actually came and demand. Moreover, having a brief idea about the customers disposable income would help understand the affordability of prices by customers. This would give the cafà © a view as to what prices customers would be willing to pay for the cafes products such as coffee. Changes in environment and weather would also help in getting to know the customers and their wants, for instance, coffee would be largely demanded during colder seasons in Fiji. Some of the data quality issues are as follows. Firstly, dirty data issues due to data errors which can be attributed to human errors or an application error due to legacy systems. Since theres a large quantity of data to be fed in the system, humans are prone to make errors. Missing and duplicate data are other two issues (Turban, E., and Volonino, L., 2009). The cafà © lacks in proper management of its data which can lead the data to be easily lost as well as to be entered twice. This could really affect the output results thus affecting decision making. Moreover, data can be non-standardized and massed up due to lack of standards. The strategies the company can use to avoid such data quality issues are to implement Master Data Management system. It is comprises a set of processes and tools that consistently defines and manages the non-transactional data entities of an organization. MDM has the objective of providing processes for collecting, aggregating, matching, consolidating, quality-assuring, persisting and distributing such data throughout an organization to ensure consistency and control in the ongoing maintenance and application use of this information. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_data_management) MDM would reduce or eliminate the data quality issues, giving a unified view of enterprise data. It can also use automated data entry, Web forms for individual entering data with data integrity checks and drop down menus and radio buttons. (Turban, E., and Volonino, L., 2009) having frequent data audits in the system can also aid in preventing the above mentioned issues since data would be continuously reviewed and any errors would be detected and corrected appropriately without further problems in future. CAFES BEST CUSTOMERS** Customer ID Total Sales Amount ($) 3548 18,261.86 4438 26,474.28 5657 11,342.98 6891 10,585.94 13801 33,555.50 13959 19,593.65 270177 14,355.99 294896 11,348.40 305668 49,647.45 540135 16,338.02 1309948 11,401.60 ** We have assumed that the cafes best customers are the ones that bring in sales amount dollars of more than $10000. Listed above are the cafes best customers. The cafà © should offer to its valuable customers loyalty marketing programs such as point programs whereby a customer would get points for every purchase they make and when they reach a certain level and collected enough points, will get a special reward such as Jacks of Fiji which is using this marketing system to keep their loyal customers attached. Moreover, the cafà © can give its valuable customers loyalty cards as MH in Fiji is dong with its flash and gain card. Providing customers with promotional vouchers would also give them a feeling of appreciation for their service. Keeping in touch strategy can also be a way of marketing campaign towards valuable customers. Giving personal attention towards the profitable customers is a way to build relationship and keep them in your business. This can be done by sending them promotional messages personally through email or calls frequently and asking for their feedbacks as to what they would like in future and their expectation from cafà ©. Broadway Cafe Question Name Total What is the best selling product? Music CD $776,813.17 What is the worst selling product? Kids CD $96 What is the best sales month? 3 $569,339.10 What is the worst sales month? 5 $58,501.06 What is the best selling product during the best month? Music CD $235,054.45 What is the worst selling product during the best month? Kids CD $64 What is the best selling product during the worst month? Music CD $33,684.43 What is the worst selling product during the worst month? Food $63.2 * For answering the above questions, we have taken our base as sales amount values to reach an answer. SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT BUSINESS DILEMMA Broadway Cafà © can reinvent the cafà © by making use of demand planning software. This software would enable the cafà © to be prepared in peak hours of business since it would capture and give information as and when a customer enters either the cafà © or the car park of the cafà ©. For instance, as part of software set, a camera can be attached at the roof of the cafà © to capture information on people entering the car park and determine what they would normally order at that particular time of the day. Also, it would allow the cafà © to keep track of its regular customers and their demands, thus, have the items available for them without having them wait in lines. This can be done before a customer enters the cafà ©. The software would also enable in ensuring whether the cafà © has enough of the products that that would be demanded by the customer such as a particular type of coffee. Although the implementation of such a software would be costly at its initial stage, it w ould be beneficial for cafà © in future as it is located in Suva, to obtain customer satisfaction and where people are always in rush. Thus, demand planning software would be a great benefit for the cafà ©. Like Netflix, we would not see cafà © becoming a supplier in another business supply such as hotel industry since our cafà © itself is very small at this stage. First, it needs to widen its customer base with the help of demand planning software and online ordering system (electronic ordering). Since our cafà © has a website, we could include in that a feature where customers order online, paying through credit cards or paying subscription fee for being in that account. The cafà © can based on customers order deliver the items to the customer within the Suva area if large quantities are ordered such as Pizza King which delivers pizza to people living in urban and suburban areas. Moreover, a customer would also order online so that before their arrival in cafà ©, the items are prepared for them before hand such as coffee. Thus, innovating ordering system would also attract more customers in the cafà ©. With the help of these supply chain technologies, the cafà © can expand its customer base and from there on can think bigger and better options such as becoming supplier of coffee/coffee beans to hotels or other businesses such as MacDonald. MAKING BUSINESS DECISION I The success of any business depends on its ability of short and long term planning. As a concerned business operator, I would always maintain some inventory in my warehouse for such unexpected events especially coffee beans which are in demand. Since not being able to meet customer demand would lead to losing out customers. Thus, our cafà © would keep with its operation regardless of disruption in supply chain du to dockworkers strike and would run on warehouse inventory (Brazil Beans, China Tea and custom Coffee press machines). Moreover, based on available inventory analysis in the warehouse, we would determine how long supply would last. Is our warehouse inventory wouldnt be able to meet up with the disruption period, we would resort to redundant suppliers since all suppliers wont be affected at once with the same problem. We would consider our temporary local suppliers such as Nestle to supply us with similar products as long as we are able to operate efficiently, although the cost in emergency need may be higher than usual price paid to our fixed suppliers. Since the cafà © has been going towards demand-driven manufacturing, Radio Frequency Identification Technologies (RFIT) would be the newest and most efficient solution to supply chain problems. RFIT is the most valuable technology to track inventory. If inventory level in any case would be low, it would trigger automatic alert to our suppliers. It is an important device in global transportation both land and sea. It ensures that inventory level are checked and replenished on need by need basis. Although this strategy would be bit costly for the cafà © in the initial stage at present, it would provide benefits in the future. Another strategy I would recommend is to create a position as freight specialist whose job would be to enable transportation of products in whatever the situation maybe and at any cost. The freight specialist would guarantee that products would reach the cafà © on time to meet customer demand and if not than they would be responsible for the loss. MAKING BUSINESS DECISION II Broadway cafà © No move Broadway Cafà © Units sold per month: 20,000 Unit variable costs: $0.50 Average unit sales price: $2.20 Current fixed costs: $5,000 Added lease payment, new offices: $2,500 Projected fixed costs: $7,500 Sales month Units Sales Fixed Costs Variable Costs EBIT January 6,582 $14,480 $5,000 $3,291 $6,189 February 11,121 $24,466 $5,000 $5,561 $13,906 March 14,178 $31,192 $5,000 $7,089 $19,103 April 13,692 $30,122 $5,000 $6,846 $18,276 May 11,597 $25,513 $5,000 $5,799 $14,715 June 9,599 $21,118 $5,000 $4,800 $11,318 July 9,913 $21,809 $5,000 $4,957 $11,852 August 10,926 $24,037 $5,000 $5,463 $13,574 September 14,349 $31,568 $5,000 $7,175 $19,393 October 12,965 $28,523 $5,000 $6,483 $17,041 November 6,972 $15,338 $5,000 $3,486 $6,852 December 2,455 $5,401 $5,000 $1,228 ($827) Sum $151,393 Broadway cafà © Move Broadway Cafà © Units sold per month: 20,000 Unit variable costs: $0.30 Average unit sales price: $2.20 Projected fixed costs: $7,500 Sales month Units Sales Fixed Costs Variable Costs EBIT January 6,582 $14,480 $7,500 $1,975 $5,006 February 11,121 $24,466 $7,500 $3,336 $13,630 March 14,178 $31,192 $7,500 $4,253 $19,438 April 13,692 $30,122 $7,500 $4,108 $18,515 May 11,597 $25,513 $7,500 $3,479 $14,534 June 9,599 $21,118 $7,500 $2,880 $10,738 July 9,913 $21,809 $7,500 $2,974 $11,335 August 10,926 $24,037 $7,500 $3,278 $13,259 September 14,349 $31,568 $7,500 $4,305 $19,763 October 12,965 $28,523 $7,500 $3,890 $17,134 November 6,972 $15,338 $7,500 $2,092 $5,747 December 2,455 $5,401 $7,500 $737 ($2,836) Sum: $146,263 APPLY YOUR KNOWLEDGE Broadway Cafà © Shipping Analysis Number to ship from DC to Roasting Plants: DCs Total Salt Lake Chicago Albeq <

Professional Wrestling Proposal :: essays papers

Professional Wrestling Proposal Part I:Interest and Motivation The topic I have chosen to write about is the world of professional wrestling. There are many reasons as to why this subject has interested me. One major reason is that I grew up watching pro-wrestling on television. As a child, I was fascinated with the spectacle of the wrestling matches and wondered at the wrestlers themselves. At that age, I took wrestling for what it was. It was a full-contact gladiator sport filled with exaggerated and extravagant wrestlers, cocky commentators, and interesting "one-of-a kind" personalities which added up to a high entertainment value. As I got older and more aware of the sport, I did not just see it as another part of sports entertainment but also as a multi-million dollar business which catered to a wide audience. I began to wonder what was it that made this popular genere work and how it was able to attract the crowds of people, young and old. I also wanted to know the history of pro-wrestling. How did it get started and how it became a part of the American culture? As a fan for several of my childhood years, I now wanted to know the real deal behind wrestling. The professional wrestling sport is a very secretive business. It is on a "what you see is what you get" basis. Many of the fans take the sport for face value and enjoy it for what it is, even if many of them are uninformed on the inside workings of it all. Although many books have been published about wrestling, a high number of them are as cryptic and secretive as the business itself. That is why I am motivated to go into an in-depth research to answer and unravel the questions of the professional wrestling world.  Professional Wrestling. Part II: Knowledge and Preconceptions. After being exposed to professional wrestling for quite sometime, I became somewhat knowledgeable of the sport. I became familiar with most of the wrestling superstars it produced, notably Hulk Hogan which many consider the icon of pro- wrestling. I was also mindful of the wrestling maneuvers and techniques that were used. Although I knew all this, it was all common knowledge. Through personal experience, the people I know who are fans of the sport only know this basic ideology of its premise. I feel that one major reason for the scarce information on pro- wrestling is due to the lack of media coverage. Wrestling is infamous for blurring the lines between true sport and pure entertainment. Many major news, magazines, and articles rarely cover the wrestling world because of

The Crucible by Arthur Miller Essay -- The Crucible Salem Witchtrials

The Crucible by Arthur Miller The Crucible is a fictional retelling of events in American history surrounding the Salem witch trials of the seventeenth century, yet is as much a product of the time in which Arthur Miller wrote it, the early 1950s, as it is description of Puritan society. At that particular time in the 1950s, when Arthur Miller wrote the play the American Senator McCarthy who chaired the ‘House Un-American Activities Committee’ was very conscious of communism and feared its influence in America. It stopped authors’ writings being published in fear of them being socialist sympathisers. Miller was fascinated by the Salem Witch Trials and that human beings were capable of such madness. In the 1950s the audience would have seen the play as a parallel between the McCarthy trials and the Salem Trials. A 21st century audience would look at the play from the perspective of needless hysteria and accusations and would be amazed that human nature when put into these situations reacts the way it does in the play. In modern time we are able to appreciate the play without being concerned with the parallels of McCarthyism. Although my selected scene is only three-quarters way through the play it is very conclusive in the way that it shows the ability of the court to accept the condemnations of people looking for vengeance and the girls’ lies throughout the trials. The historical background to the play, although quite old still relates to human life and behaviour. It shows the willingness of human beings to blame anyone but themselves. It enforces the belief that humans are not ready to take responsibility for their actions and would rather find a scapegoat than be righteous. The key scene i... ...willing to do to get her way. Only the girls, Mary and Proctor know to what extent Abigail can manipulate a situation in her favour as well as people. Even when she appeals for help from Danforth they continue to echo her. E.g. Mary: â€Å"Mr. Danforth!† Abigail and the girls: â€Å"Mr. Danforth!† This may be because Abigail does not want Mary to tell Danforth the truth and Abigail’s plot. This therefore prevents Danforth from finding out about Abigail and her manipulation of the other girls. Mary has to show great willpower to oppose Abigail; e.g. â€Å"I have no power.† In the stage directions it shows Mary summoning all her determination from within to stand up to Abigail. In this scene we can see how powerful Miller’s characters can be. Our first impression of Abigail is accurate because she is clearly capable of sending people to death to save herself.

Movie Review: Fight Club Essay -- essays research papers

I Am Jack’s Paper The movie Fight Club shakes the foundations of our democratic nation, spits on our capitalist society, and makes all who watch it look at the American way of life differently. In a country driven by consumption, one can imagine the movie Fight Club rubs certain people the wrong way. When Edward Norton was asked why he decided to take the role as the main character in Fight Club, he replied, â€Å"to piss off America.† Each American since childhood has been told repeatedly that democracy equals freedom, but is this true? The only difference between capitalism and socialism is that corporations own everything in a capitalist society. In America â€Å"the things you own end up owning you.† Corporate America gives Americans a television in every home, a car in every driveway, and a Wal-Mart in every town. They call this freedom and freedom shall rain. This new breed of social democracy, an evolution of democracy where private enterprise controls Big Brother, is spreading through the world, infesting and exploiting every country and every government, from the sweatshops of Central America to the oilfields of Iraq; corporate America is slowly choking the world, one McDonalds at a time. Consumerism is the drive shaft of our generation, the fuel that pushes kids through college, and hope that one day we can have all the things seen in magazines and on TV. The dream of owning a house in the suburbs with a white picket fence and a SUV parked in the driveway. â€Å"Advertising h...

An Undesirable Quality

Respect is perhaps one of the initial virtues taught to any individual. As a person living in a community, the aide of respect is a pre-requisite to be able to subsist in the light of socialism and harmoniously interact with other people. This form of virtue cannot be comprehended nor understand through readings and factual information alone—it needs to be done, experienced and be consistently noted in any person’s daily handbook of attitude so as to evaluate whether a person’s act is flowing on the stream of respect or on the unethical state of the opposite.In the case of the academic perspective, student discipline and classroom management have always been a concern for teachers, administrators, and teacher educators. Control has become a greater problem in the last half century, for troubling historical and sociological reasons that we do not attempt to explore here. Yet at the same time the problem has grown, and the public has become increasingly agitated, t he educational dialogue about discipline and management has attenuated.This is why the drive for respect must be taken in full force in any entity or in any group—this saves lives even, not only for this immediate purpose, but for the future generation as well (Lightfoot, 2000). Respect on the social context Social psychology stresses that respect is the key to etiquette across all of the class and ethnic divisions as well as with the basis of gender. Apparently, to be able to gain respect from others, one must have dignity—a social equivalent of the term, â€Å"rights†Ã¢â‚¬â€hence the receiving and granting leads to what is preferably called as â€Å"friendship† or interpersonal relationship.This kind of â€Å"taking and receiving† of respect is then characterized to be a vital factor in achieving a higher level of understanding with each other, and on the brighter side of the explanation, a form of â€Å"contentment† by which both of the individuals would later state as a â€Å"form of acceptance. † Further, respect does not come from facts or ideas or the exchange of such, it is how the person actually interacts with another in a manner wherein the other person does not pay high regard on what, who, or whatsoever it is the one has.In most cases, the virtue of respect helps a stranger identify a person’s personality. As philosophers state it, the idea of being accepted is considerably one of the highest achievements a person may have. It then proves the idea that individuals have the innate need of being â€Å"respected† in who he or she is, what he or she does, and of course, on what the other person preferably wants one to treat him or her. Mutual respect Like trust, many people say that respect has to be earned, but they never quite tell you what actions a person is required to take in order to earn this respect.It's probably also true that in most people's thinking, respect is not very disti nct from agreeing with or liking. For example, when people say, â€Å"I respect her opinion,† what are they really saying—that they agree with it, that they like it? And what do people mean when they say, â€Å"I respect him†? The essence of respect is accepting a person for what they are and what they present themselves to be. Respect exists in a range from mild acceptance to total admiration. On the acceptance end of the spectrum, we decide that the values and the behavior of someone is within the wide range of what we find to be tolerable.We may not fully understand the person or her motivation, but we've found a way to accommodate her that minimizes conflict. On the admiration side, we fully endorse the values and behavior of the person and hold them up as a model for ourselves and others. When I hear people say that they do not respect anyone, my guess is that they are saying that there is no one that they admire in all aspects of life. Very few people hold up to this high standard for respect, especially in these days when the private lives of public figures are put under the close scrutiny of the media.In coaching people, it's not necessary that you maintain this high-end standard of respect. What is required is that we respect clients in the domain of activity in which we will be coaching them, and within the day-to-day relationship that we personally have with them. Understanding the need of â€Å"respect† There are many people who do not understand the exact and precise definition of respect. It may be taken to assumption that this is because they lack the immense establishment of such or either they are not yet mature enough to understand how important it is to respect.In most cases, respect is only sought in one’s life if the person experiences the opposite of it—being disrespected. Several cases have been noted with regard to â€Å"fights† or â€Å"misunderstandings† because one person has hu rt another person’s feelings. In critical analysis of similar situations, the misunderstanding starts by either the person, making an act which is undesirable or not giving importance to what is called â€Å"laws† or rules. By not following these rules, the person is then marked with the concept that he or she is not giving importance to what is â€Å"righteous† or â€Å"deferential† in the majority.The level of respect comes in various forms, normally, a person who is selfish and is not properly oriented with the â€Å"flow† of respect often times commit the mistake—all forms of culture, race and religion is demanding for it. Respect has always been an issue. Moreover, it has been in written in the face of literature and of history, it is odd to realize that there are still those who is not enlightened by its importance that they continue to commit the fury of â€Å"disrespect. † The exact opposite of respect Our parents are the most important teachers in one’s life.Parents teach their offspring the desirable quality that their children must possess and correct them for any form of undesirable quality which may eventually come along the life of the child. Disrespect is not taught in schools, nor at home, is happens when a person is not able to understand its importance. Tracing back history there commenced numerous civil wars on the issue of â€Å"disrespect†Ã¢â‚¬â€black Americans were treated â€Å"with no respect† by making them slaves—and so they fought for their freedom. That certain point of glitch which has been found between both parties has caused lives.As a matter of fact, there were numerous works in literature by famous authors who presented the agony of those who were â€Å"disrespected† so to speak that it fired up their emotions, making them have the cry for respect on the battlefield. Furthermore, as portrayed on movies, when a child talks back to the parent, t hat is a form of disrespect. It only denotes that idea that the child does not give importance on what his or her parent is trying to say. In cultural scenario, once somebody steps on a religious group’s sacred entity, it is punished—also termed to be disrespect on their supernatural being.Ecuadorians are known for being particular in the degree of ‘respect’, the Chinese community is also famous for this certain point of characteristic that tourists must have. One significant example of the practice of respect would be the isolated vicinity of North Korea, wherein each citizen is obliged to pay respect over their hailed leader that whosoever shall cross the borderline of this â€Å"respect† shall be hated by all of their nationality. Aside from the mentioned instances, this form of undesirable quality often happens in the basis of status quo or social hierarchy.In the social aspect of the country, there is a demarcation line between the elites, the average, and the oppressed—whether it is taken on the account of financial, social, mental or religious subject. Moreover, the most important basis of this argument all boils down to the focal and fundamental passage and fact in humankind, the 10 Commandments of the Holy Bible (Exodus 20: 1-17). The Ten Commandments or the basic laws deliberately and literally stress the fact that respect is a must. It has been literally emphasized that individuals must respect—all these commandments show the need of respect.There are several forms of disrespecting others—stealing another person’s property is a from of disrespect, by not adhering to what is â€Å"legal† is disrespecting the law, to commit others’ rights as one’s own is disrespecting one’s own worth, not to remember important and necessary dates is disrespecting them as to not giving them importance—hence, some may not be able to notice the grave effect of one’s ac tions, one may be able to realize these things if he or she experiences the pain of being reprimanded or not respected, at that. How to avoid being disrespectfulSometimes, we oversee the importance of respect in our lives. We disregard others’ feelings that we are unaware that we are stepping on them. For a person to be able to avoid committing ‘disrespect’ or disrespecting others, one must keep in mind the importance of it. Perhaps by facing one’s shoe on one’s foot, by then, a person may realize if he or she is about to say or do something which is disrespectful. Oftentimes, the act of being disrespectful is triggered because of swank personality or arrogance that one is not able to see the â€Å"mistake† hitting the ground.To expunge away from committing such, one must fall in the streamline of the â€Å"basic laws† or to glue their rationality in the vortex of tradition and linger on the virtues taught by our parents—to resp ect other people especially the elders. These merits are taught in almost any form of organization or in any subject. Reason enough to be remembered and inculcated in any person’s being. Being able to get knowledgeable of others’ culture, or others’ belief shall also serve of good help.Primarily, trying to understand the differences of every individual and trying to decipher the meaning behind this diversity that unfolds any human being shall open the doors of respect. As a matter of fact, greetings and other respectful words are taught to individuals so as to use them in dealing with others. Respect for human rights that can be understood as a moral imperative from the perspective of the ethic of justice. From a feminist orientation, the ethic of care in schools is a moral necessity. An ethic of care fleshes out the skeleton of justice, adding relationship, motivation, and meaning to the educational mission.The ethic of justice forms the crucible for practices of care. Precisely, both the ethic of justice and an ethic of care need to be differentiated and articulated in order to imagine the valuable insights each has to offer to teachers. The ethic of justice is externally visible in practices and behavior while the ethic of care is fundamentally inside the one-who-cares and the one-cared-for. This â€Å"insideness† of care is not initially visible to an observer, but remains a highly potent aspect of the relationship.The ethic of care does eventually become observable in the growth of belonging, motivation, and empathy in learners. Conclusions and further remarks It is indeed true that for a person to understand respect in the most concise definition of the word, one must be able to understand the exact opposite of it. It may have compromised my self-admitted arrogance and desolate form of understanding on how to care to other people, but indulging my own self on how to keep my mouth closed, or not to follow what I want is a benef icial thing to do in order to achieve respect from others.If I want to be respected by other people, then I must give them the exact point of respect that they want. Not only on the sole basis of my rationality and understanding on the term, but on comprehending their understanding of it as well. There may be no exact and similar definition on ‘respect’ but there is a universal one on ‘disrespect’—stepping on other people’s rights would be the most fitting term. To be able to prudently understand â€Å"disrespect,† one may base the fact on the literal basis of the term, in any dictionary that may possibly define such; it shapes up to exponentially negative thoughts:â€Å".. boldness, coarseness, contempt, discourtesy, dishonor, flippancy, hardihood, impertinence, impiety, impoliteness, impudence, incivility, insolence, irreverence, sacrilege† To have these characteristics is driving away other people from the circle of â€Å"mut ual understanding. † As I have researched on the different synthesis of â€Å"disrespect† and the effects that I may have, I am fortunate enough to be given the chance to correct this undesirable quality which is in no doubt unadvisable.Nobody would want to befriend a disrespectful person, worst, if not corrected in the soonest time possible, then the consequences may not be paid much attention and rigor repair. I have learned that it is important to follow rules and to follow what our parents and our teachers tamed us to be. Not to take the course of life like a game or that of â€Å"trial and error† scenario. Being a person living in a community, interaction with other people is imperative—not unless a person lives in an island with nobody to interact and respect, then the wrath of superciliousness and arrogance may keep one on his or her leash. Reference Lightfoot, S. L.-. (2000). Respect: An Exploration (1st ed.). New York, NY: Perseus Publishing.