James Baldwin s Sonny s Blues - 2994 Words

INTRODUCTION Sonny, from James Baldwin’s â€Å"Sonny’s Blues,† is portrayed as a sufferer. He struggles with his stagnation in Harlem, his unfulfilled dreams and the disconnect between himself and his only family, his brother. However, not all hope is lost. He serves as a teacher for others, full of knowledge of how one can truly suffer and still triumph (Norton 47). Only when he is finally able to connect with his brother through music, are his â€Å"blues† finally heard and he affirms his individuality and ties to the black community. Blues, jazz and bebop are art forms that embody the pain, suffering and loneliness not only of individuals, but of the entire black community. It can trace its lineage back to the time of slavery in the Americas, and continues to evolve with each new generation. The nature of blues and jazz often manifests itself in the talented artists who take part in the tradition. Sonny finds himself in a pattern of self-destruction and despair. As stated by Suzy Goldman, â€Å"†¦these blues belong to all of us, for they symbolize the darkness which surrounds all those who fail to listen to and remain unheard by their fellow men† (Goldman 232). SONNY’S STORY Sonny is a sensitive, and gentle individual. His brother recalls him as a young boy in high school, both bright and kind. He also remembers Sonny being very much like their father: â€Å"It doesn’t do any good to fight with Sonny. Sonny just moves back, inside himself where he can’t be reached. However, theShow MoreRelatedSonny s Blues By James Baldwin827 Words   |  4 PagesSonny’s Blues In James Baldwin’s â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† it is only when a brother loses his child that he realizes how easy it can be to lose his brother. The narrator’s little brother, Sonny, was left in his charge when their parents passed away. He neglects Sonny and leaves him to work through hard decisions on his own which leads to Sonny being picked up by the police for using and selling drugs. When the narrator’s daughter, Grace, passes he sees how suffering can affect people and reaches outRead MoreSonny s Blues By James Baldwin1252 Words   |  6 PagesThe story â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† by James Baldwin centers on the conflicting relationship between two brothers that is explored throughout various stages of their lives. Through the structured, melodic style used by Baldwin there are reoccurring themes of suffering, family, and home that are used to further convey the idea of two brothers who love each other, but don’t understand eac h other. Ultimately, the relationship between the two brothers is greatly strained due them being polar opposites, their lackRead MoreJames Baldwin s Sonny s Blues956 Words   |  4 PagesJames Baldwin brings you on an emotional ride through Harlem in the 1950’s with his short story, â€Å"Sonny’s Blues.† From the beginning, we are in media res when the unnamed narrator is informed of bad news concerning his younger, troubled brother, Sonny. Throughout the story we witness the ocean of emotions between these two brothers battling hardships from their past, through flashbacks, and present time. The setting plays an important role in â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† to an extent where it is practically aRead MoreSonny s Blues By James Baldwin2300 Words   |  10 PagesIn the short story â€Å"Sonny’s Blues†, by James Baldwin there is the notion or a reoccurring theme of a conflict between light and dark between the characters. The notion is carri ed throughout the story of two brothers finding their own lights and trying to work towards a greater life. In the late 50’s, after the Harlem Renaissance, adolescents are faced with drug sales everywhere and crime sprees around every corner, this is one example of the darkness in the story. Kids began to form bad habits thatRead MoreAnalysis Of James Baldwin s Sonny s Blues Essay1154 Words   |  5 Pagesntroduction: James Baldwin, author of Sonny s Blues, once said, I grew up with music...much more than with any other language. In a way, the music I grew up with saved my life (Session 3 Inquiry: Rudolfo Anaya and James Baldwin, 2015).   Blues becomes Sonny s drug and his addiction to it his salvation.       Even though the adults refrain from lamenting their sufferings directly to the children and telling them about the darkness, the child-narrator still intimates its marks in their facesRead MoreAnalysis Of James Baldwin s Sonny s Blues Essay2104 Words   |  9 PagesSeveral dialectics are at play in James Baldwin’s short story â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† including a dialectic between the narrator and his beloved brother Sonny involving their opposing responses to the sense of oppression and limitation that arises from living in Harlem. This dialectic and its resolution closely parallel Baldwin’s masterful use of Blues, Jazz, and Gospel music. We follow the narrator and his brother Sonny as they traverse the complexities of their individual and interconnected Harlem livesRead MoreAnalysis Of James Baldwin s Sonny s Blues 995 Words   |  4 PagesJames Baldwin presents an emotional journey through Harlem in the 1950’s with his short story, â€Å"Sonny’s Blues.† From the beginning, the story is in medias res when the unnamed narrator is informed of bad news concerning his younger, troubled brother, Sonny. Throughout the story there is an ocean of emotions witnessed between these two brothers as they battle hardships from their past and present time. The setting plays an important role in â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† to an extent where it is practically a characterRead MoreSonny s Blues By James Baldwin1028 Words   |  5 Pagesand influence the subject’s ideas. Consciously and unconsciously, the individual reflects the confluence of his or her history and culture. In â€Å"Sonny’s Blues†, a short story by James Baldwin, the dominant culture constricts the black individual. Subject to the explicit and latent biases of a racist society, the black population of â€Å"Sonny’s Blues† attempt to endure oppression and suffering and survive in an unforgiving land. However, they can thrive here with the hope and salvation provided by theRead MoreSonny s Blues By James Baldwin Essay1745 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"Sonny’s Blues† is a narration about two siblings – brothers - who choose very different routes in life in order to accomplish the zenith of individualism, expressionism and recognition. In doing so, they take a glimpse into one another’s spheres and learn to assent and appreciate each other for who they are. In 1951, Baldwin wrote Sonny’s Blues, a story of the ills that Harlem provided its youth. In Baldwin’s telling of the narration, it forms a nous of liberation, an atmosphere of therapeutic acc eptanceRead MoreJames Baldwin s Sonny s Blues1452 Words   |  6 PagesJames Baldwin’s Sonny’s Blues is a short story that, for some people, could be considered a challenging read. Not because of the level of difficulty, but for the fact that it shares a lot of human angst. However, Baldwin’s story still manages to be entertaining, as well as holding many life lessons in it. Baldwin’s story teaches lessons such as; dealing with suffering, being supportive, and accepting differences. James Baldwin’s Sonny’s Blues does a noble job of relating to the readers on various

The Television Show Gossip Girl - 1576 Words

Including lots of technical events does help to make television shows more esthetically pleasing, but there is more to it than just a prettier picture. For this part of the experiment I watched the television show Gossip Girl. The entire time I watch the episode I was constantly marking down technical events. Technical events affect out perception of reality. It might sound strange, but by using technical events the production companies are tricking our brains to believe that life happens in small moments. As an observer we only witness snippets of the full picture, our reality becomes smaller, shrunk down by the absence of real time. It tricks the viewer into focussing only on the pretty picture the director and producers want us to see. We are unable to witness the fuller picture. In real life people think about so many variables, but in television we only focus on one thing at a time. When one watches a television show it could take them only forty-five minutes to watch an episode , but days could go by for the characters. This messes with their perception of time. We base our recognition of time off ever-changing elements, by finishing and completing different tasks. When one watches TV however the viewer is unable to separate different moments because of technical events, which ruins our perception of time. Watching television without sound or subtitles was a very unique experience. For the first couple of minutes all I did was try and figure out what the characterShow MoreRelatedMachiavelli and Gossip Girl1497 Words   |  6 Pagestargets the prince and all other royalty, but today his work may be used as a social critique of upper class society. Thus, a popular television show depicting Manhattan’s elite governed by social media blasts, is no coincidence. It is evident that the creators of the popular television show Gossip Girl had Machiavelli in mind. Machiavelli and the character of Gossip Girl complement each other in their focus on manâ€℠¢s lack of morals, and their ability to create paranoia as well as manipulate those inRead MoreHigh School Confidential : Notes On Teen Movies1617 Words   |  7 PagesWhile high school in reality is full of surprises and twisty roads, teen television shows and movies are based off a strict set of conventions that allude to other teen films. In David Denby s High School Confidential: Notes on Teen Movies, he describes the typical movie storyline and characters: the blonde, superficial cheerleaders that make up the popular crowd, along with the buff, handsome jocks versus the social outcasts comprised of geeks and freaks. Denby continues to explain the natureRead MoreThe Phenomenon that Is Gossip Girl1395 Words   |  6 Pagesphenomenon that is the television show Gossip Girl is centered around the extravagant lives of privileged Manhattanites, and how the cluster of main characters are constantly falling in and out of love. Viewers of the show can be found all across the globe; a s of 2012, the show had been broadcast in 197 countries. The show was declared by New York Magazine the â€Å"Best Show Ever†. With the reviews in and the show declared a success, there is still one nagging question: why? Why is the show so popular and influentialRead MoreSymbolic Convergence in Gossip Girl: The Fantasy of the â€Å"In Crowd†1665 Words   |  7 Pagesschool girls desperately trying to be one of cool kids in school to corporate warriors rubbing elbows for that next promotion, nearly everyone has fantasized about being a part of the â€Å"in crowd†. What is it that makes the bonds and barriers of â€Å"in crowd† so unbreakable? Through sharing stories and reaching conclusions through discussion of those stories, members of small groups develop a common bond that shapes their social reality. An example of this bond is prominent in the CW’s hit show, GossipRead MoreEntertainment Media Essay example1303 Words   |  6 PagesEveryday, millions of people either go to a gossip website, or pick up a copy of a People magazine to catch up on what their favorite celebrity is wearing, doing, and saying. For some reason we all just need to know what kind of scandals these people are involved in and what their babies look like. Why is it that we are so obsessed with gossip? The entertainment media industry is booming and shows no sign of ever slowing down. We look up to these people and want to follow the same trends that theyRead MoreWhy the Gossip Girl Series Has Been Banned1006 Words   |  5 Pagessex. Many books have been challenged and banned throughout history. One series has had every single book within the series banned in some locations; there are thirteen books in the series. Gossip Girl, written by Cecily von Ziegesar, is one of the most challenged and/ or banned books in recent years. Gossip Girl has been challenged and/ or banned for multiple reasons including: sex, drugs, and scandals. There is a difference between banned books and challenged books. According to the American LibraryRead MoreEvolutionary Families Essay1535 Words   |  7 Pages Over decades, television shows have reflected the social changes of the family structure. Starting with the 1960’s, a family commonly consisted of parents and their children. Nuclear families, with parents and children, embodied shows like Leave it to Beaver and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriett. Family was everything to people back in the day. People lived to create and spend time with their family. Television shows were emerging steadily and became popular. Also, television was a main sourceRead MoreGossip Girl Is An American Teen Soap Opera Based On The Book Series By Cecily Von Ziegesar2557 Words   |  11 PagesPenn Badgley, who plays Dan Humphrey in the hit TV show Gossip Girl, recognizes the negative ideals displayed by the show that launched him to fame. Gossip Girl is an American teen soap opera based on the book series by Cecily von Ziegesar. The show welcomes viewers into the exclusive, luxury world of the wealthy and connected as they try to live their lives de spite the drama that comes with their power, reputation and wealth. The story follows Dan Humphrey, the so-called lonely boy and BrooklynRead MoreCharacter Analysis Of Chuck Bass1803 Words   |  8 Pagesignores the girls’ pleas and continues his attacks. Interestingly, however, as the series continued, viewers grew increasingly infatuated with Chuck, often praising his charm. Indeed, by the end of the series, Chuck Bass enjoys a very happy ending; he marries Blair Waldorf and they start a family. The show’s creator himself, Josh Schwartz, even insisted, though a character starts as a villain, it does not mean that a character will not fall in love with him (McNear, 2017). Thus, the show basicallyRead MoreMuch Ado About Nothing, By William Shakespeare1434 Words   |  6 Pagesunderstand, let alone when everyone around you seems to be figuring it out and you feel out of the loop. In the play, Much Ado About Nothing, and the novel, Pride and Prejudice, this shows to be the main plot line. These are quite dated. However, a modern twist to this story line is also seen in the television series, Gossip Girl. It is the typical love story; the prospective pairs can only fall in love with each other once they recognize their isolation and fight their way towards their own happy ending

The Bhopal Gas Tragedy Free Essays

Macie Marr Mrs. Curran English 4/5 1/12/13 The Bhopal gas tragedy The Bhopal disaster, also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy, was a gas leak incident in India, considered one of the world’s worst industrial disasters. It occurred on the night of 2–3 December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. We will write a custom essay sample on The Bhopal Gas Tragedy or any similar topic only for you Order Now Over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate gas and other chemicals. The toxic substance made its way in and around the shantytowns located near the plant. Estimates vary on the death toll. The official immediate death toll was 2,259. The government of Madhya Pradesh confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release. Others estimate 8,000 died within two weeks and another 8,000 or more have since died from gas-related diseases. A government affidavit in 2006 stated the leak caused 558,125 injuries including 38,478 temporary partial injuries and approximately 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries. November 1984, most of the safety systems were not functioning and many valves and lines were in poor condition. In addition to this, several vent gas scrubbers had been out of service as well as the steam boiler, intended to clean the pipes was nonoperational. Other issue was that, Tank 610 contained 42 tons of MIC which was much more than what safety rules allowed. During the night of 2–3 December 1984, water entered Tank E610 containing 42 tons of MIC. A runaway reaction started, which was accelerated by contaminants, high temperatures and other factors. The reaction was sped up by the presence of iron from corroding non-stainless steel pipelines. The resulting exothermic reaction increased the temperature inside the tank to over 200  °C (392  °F) and raised the pressure. This forced the emergency venting of pressure from the MIC holding tank, releasing a large volume of toxic gases. About 30 metric tons of methyl isocyanate (MIC) escaped from the tank into the atmosphere in 45 to 60 minutes. The gases were blown in southeastern direction over Bhopal. The initial effects of exposure were coughing, vomiting, severe eye irritation and a feeling of suffocation. People awakened by these symptoms fled away from the plant. Those who ran inhaled more than those who had a vehicle to ride. Owing to their height, children and other people of shorter stature inhaled higher concentrations. Many people were trampled trying to escape. Thousands of people had succumbed by the morning hours. There were mass funerals and mass cremations. Bodies were dumped into the Narmada River, less than 100 km from Bhopal. 170,000 people were treated at hospitals and temporary dispensaries. 2,000 buffalo, goats, and other animals were collected and buried. Within a few days, leaves on trees yellowed and fell off. Supplies, including food, became scarce owing to suppliers’ safety fears. Fishing was prohibited causing further supply shortages. Within a few days, trees in the vicinity became barren, and 2,000 bloated animal carcasses had to be disposed of. On 16 December, tanks 611 and 619 were emptied of the remaining MIC. This led to a second mass evacuation from Bhopal. The Government of India passed the â€Å"Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster Act† that gave the government rights to represent all victims, whether or not in India. The acute symptoms were burning in the respiratory tract and eyes, blepharospasm, breathlessness, stomach pains and vomiting. The causes of deaths were choking, reflexogenic circulatory collapse and pulmonary oedema. Findings during autopsies revealed changes not only in the lungs but also cerebral oedema, tubular necrosis of the kidneys, fatty degeneration of the liver and necrotising enteritis. Immediate relieves were decided two days after the tragedy. Relief measures commenced in 1985 when food was distributed for a short period along with ration cards. Madhya Pradesh government’s finance department allocated 874 million (US$15. 91 million) for victim relief in July 1985. Widow pension of 00 (US$3. 64)/per month (later 750 (US$13. 65)) were provided. They government also decided to pay 1,500 (US$27. 3) to families with monthly income 500 (US$9. 1) or less. As a result of the interim relief, more children were able to attend school, more money was spent on treatment and food, and housing also eventually improved. From 1990 interim relief of 200 (US$3. 64) was paid to everyone in the family who was born before the disaster. In 2007, 1,029,517 cases were registered and decided. Numbers of awarded cases were 574,304 and number of rejected cases 455,213. When the factory was closed in 1986, pipes, drums and tanks were sold. The MIC and the Sevin plants are still there, as are storages of different residues. Isolation material is falling down and spreading. The area around the plant was used as a dumping area for hazardous chemicals. In 1982 tube wells in the vicinity of the UCIL factory had to be abandoned and tests in 1989 performed by UCC’s laboratory revealed that soil and water samples collected from near the factory and inside the plant were toxic to fish. Several other studies had also shown polluted soil and groundwater in the area. Till this day chemicals abandoned at the plant continue to leak and pollute the groundwater. Whether the chemicals pose a health hazard is disputed. Contamination at the site and surrounding area was not caused by the gas leakage. The area around the plant was used as a dumping ground for hazardous chemicals and by 1982 water wells in the vicinity of the UCIL factory had to be abandoned. UCC states that â€Å"after the incident, UCIL began clean-up work at the site under the direction of Indian central and state government authorities. How to cite The Bhopal Gas Tragedy, Papers

Management Skills and Entrepreneurship

Questions: In your role as a first-time entrepreneur, you are required to prepare an individual written presentation to outline and explain the following: 1. The importance of creativity and innovation in entrepreneurship.2. Your New Venture Concept based on a detailed feasibility analysis.3. Your proposed strategy and business model to explain how the new venture will work to achieve positive financial results.4. The conditions which must prevail to avoid failure. Answers: Abstract A business plan is an important factor for any start-up business as it provides plan to the business and also indicates the future of the business depending upon the projected financial statement analysis. Here, in this report an entrepreneur intends to start-up a business in Malaysia in the service sector, such as a restaurant that will serve only Asian foods to the consumers. Thus, in this report a feasibility analysis and a projected financial analysis have been performed that indicates the feasibility of the proposed business. The positive economical and social condition will support the proposed business. In addition to this, the positive financial outcome of the projected financial statement analysis has also been performed. This indicates the feasibility of the business that is the particular entrepreneur will be able to start-up the proposed business as it will run successfully in future. Introduction An entrepreneur is defined as an individual who takes the risks of an enterprise with the aim to bring in change within the business and also aims to earn profit by inventing new ways to combine the resources (Bohlander and Snell 2013). The successful entrepreneurs add value to the economy for the broader group of stakeholders. Therefore, an entrepreneur can also be defined as an individual who develops the opportunities regarding economy by the procedure of innovation, business skills, funding and people. The stable economic condition of the country will help and motivate the entrepreneur to set up the new business (Byars and Rue 2011). Thus, it can also be said that the entrepreneurial procedure is the particular process that converts an invention into an innovation for earning economic profit. This report represents how a first-time entrepreneur analyzes the market, its competitiveness and its feasibility in order to start a business. Here, a first-time entrepreneur plans to start -up a business in Malaysia and focuses on the service sector. The entrepreneur intends to start-up a full-service restaurant in the country of Malaysia that will provide Asian foods. The reason behind this is that the Malaysia is a popular tourist spot. Moreover, Malaysia has a rich tourism industry, and this helps to bring in more tourists from various countries and continents every year. The growing tourism industry of Malaysia has put a positive impact on the economy of the country. In addition to this, it can be said that the tourism industry has also indirectly put an impact on the food industry and has also affected the other business sectors of the country positively (Armstrong and Armstrong 2011). The increased numbers of tourists of various countries increase the demand for various types of foods in the country and thus it can be said that opening a full-service food restaurant in Malaysia is a good proposal for a start-up business. However, in order to ensure the success o f the particular business, the following feasibility analysis and financial analysis have been performed in detail. Importance of Creativity and Innovation in Entrepreneurship In present days, entrepreneurship is taken as the primary factor that helps in economic development. The entrepreneurs strive hard to develop more opportunities within the sector and provide enormous options of employment and finally provide a positive impact on the revenue generation, per capital income and lifestyle (DeCenzo, Robbins and Verhulst 2013). The other important factor of the entrepreneurship is creativity. It has been found that the main features or characteristics of the process of entrepreneurship are composed of innovation, economic importance, profit maximization, risk taking and job opportunities. Therefore, from these features only, it can be said that innovation is an important factor in case of the entrepreneurial process, as the mind of an entrepreneur revolves around various new ideas and various opportunities for innovation (Armstrong 2014). Entrepreneurship includes the spontaneous examination of present workflows of business and devises the ways to carry th em in a more effective and efficient way, in terms of cost and time. Based on the characteristics of the entrepreneurs, a thorough surveillance of the entrepreneurial process indicates that the creative thinking is the most effective skill for every entrepreneur as this skill of creativity helps the entrepreneur to create or generate new ideas (DelCampo 2011). The skill of creativity allows an individual or an entrepreneur to devise interesting procedures that provides various benefits to the business persons. However, the close analysis indicates that the creativity is an essential factor for the entrepreneurs as this leads to innovation and also creates new ideas for gaining competitive advantage. The entire procedure of entrepreneurship is developed based on the creation skill and on the exploration of new ideas. Therefore, it is said that the ability of an entrepreneur is to generate new ideas and when these new ideas are efficient and feasible it provides the entrepreneur with an edge over the competition. Secondly, coming up with novel ways helps the entrepreneurs to develop or create his own product and thus the unique product or service provided by the entrepreneur helps to improve the particular business. Creativity skill helps the entrepreneur to create ways that will help or guide the entrepreneur to improve the existing service and/ or product. In addition to this, the skill of creativity helps an entrepreneur to start a new business and also to optimize it. Creativity and innovation makes the entrepreneur to think the unthinkable and this helps the entrepreneur to create and discover new products and services for his business. The versatile, unique, new and interesting products and services help the business to run successfully. The innovation and creativity are the skills that help the entrepreneurs to find the same pattern in various or differentiated ways. In addition to this, the development of the new inches takes place through entrepreneursh ip and creativity because the new aspects of the traditional business have already been explored. This change can be occurred by changing the form of the method of delivering the service and / or by changing the form of procedure of manufacturing the product. Thus, it can be said that all these factors can develop a niche market that might have a much potentiality in the business. Feasibility Analysis of the New Venture Concept The feasibility study is an evaluation and an analysis of a proposed project that helps in determining the technical feasibility and the feasibility regarding the estimated cost. This analysis also helps to identify if the project will be profit making or loss making (Dessler 2013). Therefore, before starting-up any business an entrepreneur should perform the feasibility analysis in order to ensure about the success of the business as this analysis indicates the technical feasibility, analyze the estimated cost of a start-up business and also analyze its profitability. Generally this study is taken into consideration when a large amount of sums are at stake (Harzing and Pinnington 2011). In this report, the feasibility analysis of a start up business that is a full-service food restaurant in Malaysia has been performed that will serve Asian foods to the people of the mentioned country that is the inhabitants of Malaysia and the tourists who visit the place. In this report, the feasib ility analysis has been performed on the basis of the new venture concept. Thus the feasibility analysis has been performed in five steps, by focusing on each of the key elements of the proposed start-up business that is a full-service food restaurant in Malaysia. Product / Service Industry Attractiveness Market Attractiveness Organizational Feasibility Financial Feasibility Services The particular entrepreneur intends to start up a business in the service sector. The first time entrepreneur intends to start up a full-service food restaurant in the country Malaysia. The reason behind this is that the population of the country Malaysia has a significant pool of consumers who are active and have evolving habits of eating. The increase in the consumption level of the beverages and the imported food also influence the food industry of the country in a positive direction. The population of the country Malaysia is around 35 million and it has been found that most of the population in the particular country is relatively young and only 32 % of the total population are under 15 years old (Hayton 2011). As per the statistical figure, more than 60 % of the total population of Malaysia is in the income group of middle to high (Ivancevich and Konopaske 2013). This represents the higher purchasing power of the inhabitants of the particular country and this also indicates the increased modern and sophisticated lifestyles of the people of Malaysia. The rate of unemployment in the country is also very low. Therefore, this leads to a greater consumption of various types of foods including the imported food and the beverages from various countries. As the economic condition of Malaysia is high and stable, the lifestyle of the people of the nation is also high and they can easily afford various types of foods from restaurants (Dessler 2013). It has been found that the consumers of the country are increasingly willing to dine out nowadays at the full range of developments that are available in Malaysia. These include - full-service food restaurants, fine dining eateries, casual dining eateries and fast food restaurants. Therefore, it can be said that as the income level of the people of Malaysia is high and the economic condition of the country is stable and growing, their lifestyle have also changed and this has changed their habits of consumption of foods. T his changing nature of the people of the country has positive impact on the business plan of the particular entrepreneur that is of starting up a full-service restaurant in Malaysia. In addition to this, it can also be said that the country has a rich and developed tourism sector and is very popular for its tourists (Dowling, Festing and Engle 2013). The increased numbers of tourists also put positive impact on the food industry. Therefore, it can be said that the business plan regarding providing service in Malaysia i.e. a full-service restaurant is a perfect option. Thus a new business by an entrepreneur and the service of providing Asian foods will be appreciated by all its consumers. Industry Attractiveness The economic condition of Malaysia is well developed due to its enhancing tourism industry. Due to the influence of the tourism industry, the other industries have also been developed. One of these is the food industry. Therefore, it can be said that the food industry has also been developed well in the recent decades (Dessler 2014). The particular industry is much attractive for the particular entrepreneur as by analyzing the food sector of Hotel Restaurant Institutional in Malaysia, it can be said that at present there are about 2095 resorts and hotels that are registered with the Ministry of Tourism and there are about 170,000 rooms available across Malaysia. The occupancy rate in the country is about 75% or more (Prescott and Rothwell 2012). It has been found that in order to attract more international and local Muslims, some of the resorts and hotels have required certification of Halal, of which around 123 hotels have been approved by the National Islamic Authority as Halal (Mo ndy and Mondy 2014). Malaysia has a wider form of dining establishments that includes full service food restaurants, cafes, fast food restaurants, food courts, food stalls, pubs, bars and eat-in bakeries. The particular industry is attractive for the particular entrepreneur as by market survey, it can be said that the demand of the Asian foods is high in the country. This implies that the start-up business of the particular entrepreneur will also run well in the country. Survey suggests that majority of the restaurants provide Asian cuisine along with the Chinese restaurants that dominates the high and mid end restaurants. The other dominating restaurants in Malaysia are Malay, Japanese (various formats/ cuisines), Indian (various cuisines), Thai and Indonesian restaurants that generally dominate the local ones. As the particular sector is rising, the numbers of new entrants is also increasing. However, the existing companies in the particular sector are the main barriers to the n ew entrants, these include Chillis Pub and Grill, Tony Romas, TGI Fridays, Outback, KFC, McDonalds, Songket, Nai Kandar Pelita, Ah Koong Restaurant and many more (Price and Price 2011). Market Attractiveness The key buyers of the proposed business in the service sector are the people of Malaysia that is the inhabitants of the nation and the tourists who visit the place. The size of the potential customer base will be quite large. This is because the population of the country is composed of about 35 million and of this about 60 % of the total population has a high income level (Ivancevich and Konopaske 2013). In addition to this, the numbers of tourists in the country have started to increase with the passage of time. Therefore by combining both it can be said that the size of the potential customer base is much larger for the proposed business. The increased level of income and the well developed economy of the country indicate that the consumers of the country are increasingly willing to dine out (Noe 2014). This indicates the buying behavior of the consumers of the country that implies higher sales of the proposed business. The brand loyalty plays a vital role in every sector, but in M alaysia, the population is high as well as the numbers of restaurants are also more. Thus, as per the demand of various consumers, all the restaurants in the nation generally run well, especially due to the increased numbers of tourists. Therefore, it can be said that there is a huge probability that the proposed business will run well. The target market and the target customers of the proposed business are the tourists and the people of Malaysia who prefer to taste the Asian food or who have willingness to taste the Asian food. Various types of food items will be served by the proposed business. Thus, this will attract more customers and thus the revenue of the firm will increase. The innovation and the new ideas regarding the operation of the business will attract more customers and thus the revenue of the firm will increase in future (Mondy and Mondy 2012). The particular entrepreneur has to perform market survey and market research in order to access the information about the po tential customers. The increased numbers of potential customers indicate the market attractiveness for the proposed business. Organizational Feasibility The particular entrepreneur is a first time entrepreneur. Thus, he does not have any practical knowledge regarding business, but he has theoretical knowledge regarding the business and the management. The entrepreneur will take advice regarding the start-up of the business and the regulation and the operation of the particular proposed business from the people who are experienced in the same field. The entrepreneur might get support from the legal rules, regulations and policies of the government of the country. The unique, healthy, fresh, hot and delicious food will be served by the proposed restaurant and this will be considered as the organizational competency. The required skills that are required by the entrepreneur for running the proposed business successfully include the skill of creativity, innovation, managerial skill, ability to predict, understandability towards the field of business and the market (Mendling and Weidlich 2012). The business will be operated systematically and proper business model will be implemented in order to run the proposed business successfully. The essential resources that are required for launching the new proposed business are the man power, fund and intangible resources like patent, brand name and many more. However, there are various risks associated with the implementation of these resources, these are if the company does not earn more revenue and profit then the company might suffer from making loss. The entrepreneur will invest his own fund as a capital of the proposed business and this will sufficient for running the business for first two years. The brand building, the increased numbers of customers, increased sales, complements to the service and the quality of food will provide energy and will also motivate the entrepreneurs to succeed in future (Rosa and Soffer 2013). Financial Feasibility Start-up Capital: For starting up business, financials are the main elements as the financials or the funds act as the fuel for the operation of the proposed business. The start-up capital costs are as follows: Start-up Expenses Amount (MYR) Legal 7000 Logo 2000 Promotional Materials 5000 Insurance 8000 Computer 2500 Lease Expense 10000 Furniture 6000 Utensils 7500 Total Start Up Capital Required 48000 Therefore, after calculating the start-up expenses, it can be said that the start-up capital is MYR 48,000. Working Capital: The projection of the proposed business has been done for five years. Therefore, the working capital has been calculated for five years. Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Current Assets (MYR) 24000 20000 35000 30000 40000 Current Liabilities (MYR) 10000 7000 12000 15000 18000 Working Capital (MYR) 14000 13000 23000 15000 22000 The projected working capital indicates that the requirement of the working capital for five years is volatile. Depending upon the increase in demand and increase in sales, the working capital of the company has also increased with the passage of time (Robinson 2012). Projected Financial Statements: Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Forecasted Sales Volume 10000 15000 20000 30000 40000 Suggested Prices: Food Items Amount (MYR) Beverages 200 Snacks 1000 Starter 1000 Soups 550 Desserts 500 Main Meal Course: Chinese 900 Indian 1000 Malaysian 500 Thai 700 Japanese 1000 Indonesian 950 Fixed and Variable costs: Costs Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year4 Year5 Fixed Costs (MYR): Rent / Lease 10000 10000 10000 10000 10000 Vehicles 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 Furniture 6000 6000 6000 6000 6000 Utensils 7500 7500 7500 7500 7500 Interior Decoration Expense 3000 3000 3000 3000 3000 Total 28500 28500 28500 28500 28500 Variable Costs (MYR): Electricity 2000 3000 3500 3800 4000 Fuel for Cooking 1000 1500 1700 2000 2400 Salary 3000 3400 3800 4000 4200 Wages 500 600 800 1000 1200 Raw materials 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 Others 500 600 700 800 900 Total 9000 11600 13500 15100 16700 Projected Margin: Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Sales (MYR) 50000 60000 70000 80000 90000 Cost (MYR) 37500 40100 42000 43600 45200 Profit (MYR) 12500 19900 28000 36400 44800 Proposed Strategy and Business Model For running the proposed business successfully, the particular entrepreneur should prepare a business plan. The business plan helps to run the business successfully as the business plan is composed of various business ideas, structure from various different angles that includes finance, marketing and operations. Therefore, for obtaining financing for the business, a written and formal business plan is prepared to represent it to the investor or lender (Mayes and Shank 2012). It has been noted that if the entrepreneur does not require the application of the financing, then at least for assembling, a proper business plan is required for the start-up business as it is considered as the start-up strategy. This helps in detailing the vision of the proposed business and this also helps the entrepreneur to guide the business. The second strategy is to know the customers of the company. This includes the entrepreneur should know about his business target market and target customers. This hel ps in understanding the market and present condition of the firm. Better understanding of the target customers and target market helps the entrepreneur to provide more innovative and creative products and services (Rothwell et al. 2012). The best strategy for knowing the customers of a particular business is the market survey and market research. Data and information can be gathered by performing survey or even by interview. These collected information and data also help in understanding the nature of the customers. Lastly, the particular entrepreneur should set some measurable objectives as these goals encourage the entrepreneur to run the business in a right direction and in a right way (Lindholm et al. 2012). The pre-determined measureable goals help the entrepreneur to adjust the objective of the firm if required. The measurable objectives also help to measure the progress of the business and without setting any goal, an organization or a start-up business can never meet its tar get. For accessing whether the target has been met by the business or not, the entrepreneur should check the measure of the business, the sales and profit report of the business on a daily basis or in a weekly or monthly basis, so that the business can reach its target (Stone 2011). The implementation of proper strategies within a start-up business is not sufficient to run the proposed business successfully in future. The business model that a start-up business should follow is composed of three factors and can be analyzed in details by implementing a set theory. These factors are customer desires and external realities, what the entrepreneur sells and the internal activities and lastly, the objectives of the firm and the financial targets (Kaplan 2012). The sub-set of customer desires and external realties intersect with the subset of what the business sells and the internal activities (Torrington 2011). On the other hand, the subset of customer desires and external realities intersect with the goals of the business and the financial targets. Similarly, the objectives of the business and financial targets intersect with the subset of what the company sells and its internal activities. The intersection point created by all the three subsets help to determine th e profit of the company or the business. When a business or a company follow this particular business model of set theory, the particular business will run successfully and it will also help to achieve the positive financial results regarding the new venture (Weaver 2012). As the three essential factors of the business model are interlinked to each other and intersect at a mid point, it can be said that the particular business model thus helps to provide positive financial result to the particular organization or business. Conditions Help to Avoid Failure In order to avoid any failure in the operation and regulation of the proposed business, the particular entrepreneur should follow the financial analysis model or the financial model development. The financial model development consists of seven steps. These include the client objective, user needs, plan and structure, specifications, build and code, testing and auditing and lastly user review (Wilton 2013). From this it can be said that the particular proposed business should identify the client objective and as per the demand of the consumers the particular business should prepare healthy, tasty and fresh food for capturing more market. However, if the demands and needs of the consumers are fulfilled and satisfied by the consumers, then the customers would start preferring the food and service of the proposed restaurant and thus they would become loyal customers to the firm (Truss, Mankin and Kelliher 2012). The needs of the users are thus considered as an important factor as if th e needs of the consumers are fulfilled then they would become satisfied and thus, sales and profit percentage of the firm would increase. Proper planning and structure is necessary to run the business effectively and efficiently. Accurate planning will help to regulate and operate business easily and this will help the owner of the firm to earn positive cash inflows. Some specifications or unique item of the service should attract more customers and this will lead the financial condition of the business to a positive direction. Examining and auditing of the financial statements of the business will help to identify any negativity within the firm and thus it will provide scope to the owner of the business to modify or to rectify them. This helps to strengthen the financial condition of the firm. The user review also helps the owner of the firm to understand the mentality of its customers to the service and the quality of food provided to them by the company. This review of the consum ers also help to modify the regulations and operations of the firm and thus, it also indirectly helps the firm to run in the right direction in order to earn positive financial values and also to avoid failure in the business (Werner, Schuler and Jackson 2012). Conclusion Therefore, it can be concluded that the particular proposed business plan of setting out a full-service restaurant in Malaysia is a feasible business as it will earn huge profits in future. The feasibility analysis of the business plan indicates that the large population, large percentage of people from higher income group, the lifestyle of the people of the country and the enriched tourism sector will help to run the proposed business successfully in future. In addition to this, the financial analysis of the proposed business have also been performed that includes the projected sales and profit percentage, suggested cost of the various food items, projected margin, fixed and variable costs and forecasted sales volume. All these financial analyses indicate that the total cost of the business at the initial stage and even in the projected five year financial statement is lower than the revenue or the sales of the company for all the projected years. This implies that the particular pr oposed business plan is feasible and will run effectively, efficiently, smoothly and successfully in future and will earn higher return in each of the five projected years starting from the initial year as the demand of the Asian food is much high in Malaysia. References Armstrong, M. (2014).Armstrong's Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. London: Kogan Page. Armstrong, M. and Armstrong, M. (2011).Armstrong's handbook of strategic human resource management. London: Kogan Page. Bohlander, G. and Snell, S. (2013).Principles of human resource management. Australia: South-Western/Cengage Learning. Byars, L. and Rue, L. (2011).Human resource management. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. DeCenzo, D., Robbins, S. and Verhulst, S. (2013).Fundamentals of human resource management. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley Sons. DelCampo, R. (2011).Human resource management demystified. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Dessler, G. (2013).A framework for human resource management. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall. Dessler, G. (2013).Fundamentals of Human Resource Management. Harlow: Pearson Education. Dessler, G. (2013).Human resource management. Boston: Prentice Hall. Dessler, G. (2014).Fundamentals of human resource management. Boston: Pearson. Dowling, P., Festing, M. and Engle, A. (2013).International human resource management. Andover: Cengage Learning. Harzing, A. and Pinnington, A. (2011).International human resource management. London: SAGE. Hayton, J. (2011).Global human resource management casebook. New York, NY: Routledge. Ivancevich, J. and Konopaske, R. (2013).Human resource management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Kaplan, S. (2012).Business model innovation factory. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley Sons. Lindholm, J., Rothwell, W., Yarrish, K. and Zaballero, A. (2012).The encyclopedia of human resource management. Hoboken: John Wiley Sons. Mayes, T. and Shank, T. (2012).Financial analysis with Microsoft Excel. Australia: South-Western. Mendling, J. and Weidlich, M. (2012).Business process model and notation. Berlin: Springer. Mondy, R. and Mondy, J. (2012).Human resource management. Boston: Prentice Hall. Mondy, R. and Mondy, J. (2014).Human resource management. Boston: Pearson. Noe, R. (2014).Fundamentals of human resource management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Prescott, R. and Rothwell, W. (2012).The encyclopedia of human resource management. Hoboken: John Wiley Sons. Price, A. and Price, A. (2011).Human resource management. Andover: Cengage Learning. Robinson, T. (2012).International financial statement analysis. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley Sons. Rosa, M. and Soffer, P. (2013).Business process management workshops. Berlin: Springer. Rothwell, W., Prescott, R., Lindholm, J., Yarrish, K., Zaballero, A. and Benscoter, G. (2012).The encyclopedia of human resource management. San Francisco: Pfeiffer. Stone, R. (2011).Human resource management. Milton, Qld.: John Wiley. Torrington, D. (2011).Human resource management. Harlow, England: Financial Times/Prentice Hall. Truss, C., Mankin, D. and Kelliher, C. (2012).Strategic human resource management. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Weaver, S. (2012).The essentials of financial analysis. New York: McGraw-Hill. Werner, S., Schuler, R. and Jackson, S. (2012).Human resource management. Australia: South-Western Cengage Learning. Wilton, N. (2013).An introduction to human resource management. London: SAGE.

Sources of African History free essay sample

Sources of african history A source of history can be divided into two big groups, remnants and storytelling which usually are called primary and secondary sources. The primary sources, remnants and written documents are counted as more reliable than the oral history. African history has been a challenge for researchers because of scarce written sources in many regions, especially sub – Saharan Africa. Prejudice against black Africans in particular, which goes far back in history, has meant that African history has been dictated by Eurocentric or even racist research. According to many of the historians with a Eurocentric perspective there was no history in Africa, or so to say nothing they would refer to as history before the white man came to the continent, before it was only â€Å"dark† and the high mobility of the sub – Saharan Africa was described by some as â€Å"barbaric tribes senseless circling†. It wasn’t until the 1960: s that African researchers started to write African history themselves, before that the views were strongly Eurocentric. We will write a custom essay sample on Sources of African History or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Previously many argued that Africa simply had no history because of the lack of written documents and the fact that most cultures around sub – Saharan Africa had no written language. When European explorers in the mid – 1800:s were exploring Africa they came upon the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, they refused to believe that Africans had built them, instead they made up theories that it had been developed by Arabs or medieval Europeans who strayed down to the west coast of Africa. The Afro centric movement was created during the 1960: s, one of their goals was to rewrite the African history with a focus on Africans, rather than the Europeans history on the African continent. To solve the problem with the lack of written sources led them to seek alternative sources of information like oral tradition which can be found throughout Africa, linguistics, archeology, anthropology and art. By studying linguistics you can find resemblance to other languages, one example is the Bantu language. It is believed that Bantu languages originated in Nigeria and Cameroon in West Africa. Around 2500 – 3000 years ago began the group of speakers of the Bantu language migrate to the east and south. Many historians believe that the Bantu migration played a significant role in populating the Sub – Saharan area. By using archeology you can also find evidence that proves that the Bantu people were farmers, by studying the soil the historians today argue that the Bantu movement was a gradual, generation to generation spread of agricultural communities in the search of fresh soil and wetter areas. Art, such as rock paintings have been a great help to date prehistoric times, but also to help us understand the temporal spread of cultures across a wide geographical area where you can find rock art. These cave paintings might mark a territory, enact rituals or to record events or stories. This type of historical art can be found at various places on the African continent, from rock paintings and stone carvings we can receive information about ancient times, the people, their society, rituals and lifestyle with the help of archeology we can date these paintings and carvings. Artifacts are also a great source of African history. The term artifact is closely related to the concept of material culture and that may have a cultural interest. Stone tools, pottery vessels and jewellery are examples on these remains, studying them can give us a hint on how they looked, worshipped and what they ate. Another important source of African history is oral tradition. Oral tradition is culture, traditions, events and stories passed on from generation to generation. They may take form in Oral tradition, and oral lore is cultural material and traditions transmitted orally from one generation to another. [1][2] The messages or testimony are verbally transmitted in speech or song and may take the form, for example, of folktales, sayings, ballads, songs, or chants. In this way, it is possible for a society to transmit oral history, oral literature, oral law and other knowledges across generations without a writing system. . . Definition of a source of history A source of history can be divided in to two big groups: remnants and Types of sources Sources of African history

The Essay Experts LinkedIn Advice Covered by U.K. Career Blog!

The Essay Experts LinkedIn Advice Covered by U.K. Career Blog! Last Sunday I was interviewed by Luca Rosi, Editorial Manager at Hays, a leading global professional recruiting group based in the U.K., for his career blog, Keeping ahead of the game. I answered 13 questions and Mr. Rosi published 12 of them in two blog articles on December 1 and 2: How to write a KILLER LinkedIn profile 1 and How to write a KILLER LinkedIn profile 2. If you’re curious to read my answers to the questions below, please visit Luca’s blog. You might also like his most recent entry on how to make an impact at an interview! How to write a KILLER LinkedIn profile 1 Has the role of the traditional CV now diminished given the stellar rise of LinkedIn? Is it as simple as uploading my CV and sprinkling a few keywords to make my profile search friendly? What’s the biggest mistake professionals make with their LinkedIn profiles? What three things can I do today to build my personal online brand? Do I really need 500+connections? What can I do to boost my numbers? If I’m unemployed, should I reveal this in my headline for example? How to write a KILLER LinkedIn profile 2 Would you recommend that I upgrade to a premium account to boost my chances of finding a job? What’s the protocol for recommendations? Surely I shouldn’t have to ask Apart from joining groups (the QA section is no longer), how else can I demonstrate my expertise? How regularly should I be sharing updates and do they all have to be related to my industry? Should I be using more of partner applications such as Slideshare? And finally, what’s the best piece of career advice that anyone has given you? What happened to the 13th question and answer? Here it is: The average age of a LinkedIn user is 41. Is this the platform for graduates or first jobbers? BB: Some of those 41-year-olds are recruiters and hiring managers. So absolutely! Also some new features on LinkedIn are more specifically geared toward younger job seekers. Are there questions you want me to answer? Please post them in the comments!

Project Management Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Project Management - Term Paper Example There is a specified objective of completing the task within 20 days. This is 15 days shy of the existing 35 days within which projects are normally completed. The most fundamental technique to use in achieving the set goal is to eliminate all forms of waste associated with production. There is an estimated cost of 500,000 usd investment fund. There is a very highly taunted objective of improving quality of engines to be produced through a performance analysis process. This is a linear project management process Project Management Institute (2008).. There are however rooms made for handling changes in the scope of the project. The contract shall permit changes to be made in relation to labor issues such as employing new staff to continue from where existing staff exit. There shall also be the introduction of new fund of not more than 25% of the original estimate if the need to pump in more funds arises. It is assumed that should the project be closely delivered according to the objective and target of reducing waste, the company would accumulate more revenue than expected. This is because more pieces of engines can be built with the current budget and more quality engines can be produced within the set time frame (PM Docs,

Cameras make art less valuable Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Cameras make art less valuable - Essay Example nted images but people have started seeing it this way and for this reason Camera Art is becoming more popular and the painted art is becoming less valuable. It is easy to capture the same moment again but is it impossible to capture the same feeling again. With the introduction of camera art the audience is losing the general sense of imagination, a place that exists in real and can be seen by the naked eye. As compared to painted art which cannot be recreated, even if the same image is being reproduced by the same artist it will give another feel all together. The beauty of art is it explains the inner deep emotions of the painter, an image which might or might not exist in the real life, an imagination that might or might not create a meaning. The way we see things is interpretation of what we know or believe about it. From the image of sunset to the creation of the concept of heaven and hell, everything was assumed to be an imagination in the minds of the creator. Even if the sunset can be seen but the color and added creation was what made the painting an art. Art also evolved over time and when the definitions of the concepts changed the same was reflected onto canvas. We see a same person different and complete if we are in love with him, the feeling of love creates a perfect image because everyone wants to see a complete image of the person they fall for. The sight of camera art is limited to what we see in real life, they cannot create images that do not exist, they can create images that are special for one and ordinary for others, they can even create the feel of the place. They limit the imagination of the thinker and audience; they limit it because a person can use his five senses to actually see the place instead of thinking beyond. It isolates the thinking because it can only be thought of way it is projected; the click of the moment explains the essence of the picture taken. It is mechanically recreating of stimuli. When we see a painting we are

The Middle Eastern relations with world powers Essay

The Middle Eastern relations with world powers - Essay Example The relationship between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the United States of America begun nearly a century ago. This relationship is based on mutual respect and common interests – economic, political, technological and social. The Saudi-US friendship has been through numerous conflicts and crises, but, has grown from strength to strength. The origins of this relationship go back to the personal admiration King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al-Saud the Kingdom’s founder, held for President Woodrow Wilson. Oil has always been the major element of the Saudi-US relationship. The Kingdom supplies crude oil to the United States averaging 1.52 million barrels per day. Saudi Arabia received quite a number of US companies, which at first came to provide products and services for the oil industry but later entered into other ventures. When Saudi Arabia embarked on an ambitious development program in the industry, healthcare, education, and agriculture, it sought assistance from th e United States. U.S. experts and companies were closely involved in building up the Kingdom’s modern infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, roads, airports, seaports, industrial cities and telecommunications facilities. From that time, United States has partnered with Saudi Arabia in trade for more than fifty years. At present, America exports goods and services worth billions of dollars to the Kingdom, and Saudi Arabia in return exports a sizable portion of crude oil to the United States.... Oil has always been the major element of the Saudi-US relationship. The Kingdom supplies crude oil to the United States averaging 1.52 million barrels per day. Saudi Arabia received quite a number of US companies, which at first came to provide products and services for the oil industry but later entered into other ventures. When Saudi Arabia embarked on an ambitious development program in industry, health care, education and agriculture, it sought assistance from the United States. U.S. experts and companies were closely involved in building up the Kingdom’s modern infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, roads, airports, seaports, industrial cities and telecommunications facilities. From that time, United States has partnered with Saudi Arabia in trade for more than fifty years. At present, America exports goods and services worth billions of dollars to the Kingdom, and Saudi Arabia in return exports a sizable portion of crude oil to the United States. This commercial a nd economic association has resulted in rapid growth, in two way trade. It has increased from $56.2 million in 1950 to over $34 billion in 2005. Joint ventures between American and Saudi companies in fields such as energy, petrochemicals, manufacturing, finance and telecommunications have been formed. An example is Motiva, which is a joint venture involving Shell Oil Company and Saudi Refining Inc. It is one of the major refining and marketing companies in the United States. The US-Saudi relationship extends beyond oil, business and international politics to the people. Thousands of Americans live and work in Saudi Arabia. In turn, hundreds of

Key Drivers Of Business Process Changes Commerce Essay

Key Drivers Of Business Process Changes Commerce Essay Harmon (2007) explains about key drivers of business process change. He argues that in economically bad times, companies seek to make their processes more efficient and in good times, companies seek to expand their production and enter into new markets. There is much emphasis on improvement of processes to attract new customers and enter into new markets. Another factor which led to improvement of process is the impact of globalisation on the organisation performance especially to those companies that are engaged in the world trade. In order to compete in the global environment, companies are focusing on mergers and acquisitions to acquire new knowledge and technology. In the same vein, due to advancement of the information technology, it is easier for companies to approach customers and suppliers around the world. The breakthrough development in the information technology is the advent of internet; companies are changing their process to go online. When the buyer and seller are avai lable on one click so there is need to consider the process for redesigning. Levels of process change: To carry out the process change, it is necessary identify the levels of changes that are required for each of the process. Process re-engineering This is strategic level change, when major threats or opportunities in the businesss external environment prompt a fundamental rethinking of the large scale processes critical to the operation of the value chain. Process redesign This is intermediate scale of change in operations, appropriate for medium sized processes that require extensive change or improvement. It results in changes in job description or automation of processes.. Process improvement Appropriate for smaller, stable and existing processes which are tactical in nature and require incremental change (ACCA Student Accountant, Business Process Change, Edition 2008, p66-67) Process identification and Evaluation: Process identification is the way to identify the processes which are required to be reengineered. There are many ways in which process that need to be reengineered is determined. Process evaluation: Peter Keen (1997) explains mechanism by which an organisation evaluates the process. He suggests that by asking questions about the process, the identification of processes is possible which are required to be reengineered. First, Does the process represent an organisation to customers, employees and investors? If the answer is yes then that process is important. But if the answer is no then another question needs to be asked. Is the excellency of the process important for the performance of the company? If the answer is yes then we give priority to this process that dose need to be considered. If the answer is no then another question is asked. Does the process is necessary to support other business process? If the answer is yes then again process need to be considered but the importance is supporting process. But if the answer is no then final question is asked whether there is legal conditions apply for this process? If the answer is yes then that process is mandatory and again ne ed to be considered. Again if the answer is no then its management decision whether to continue to operate or abandoned the process. Rosemann (2001) proposes identification of the processes that need to be change or reengineered. There are two dimension proposes by the Rosemann. First, need to reorganise and second dimension is value of process. If the values of the processes are high and recognise needs are also high then process has high priority. If the process value is low but reorganise need is high then that is the second choice that we need to consider. Third set of process that we need to consider is the low value and low need for organising. If the process value is high and need to reorganise is low then reengineer is required to be carefully planned because it has impact on the other process if problem arises. Hammer and Champy (1993) suggest way to improve the process on the basis of dysfunction, importance and feasibility. Dysfunctional is where the process is in deep trouble. If the process is crucial for the customer satisfaction then it is important and feasibility in terms of that is most ready to successful redesign. Porter value chain: Porter value chain also provides the valuable analysis of the activities or processes that need to be changed or where improvement is required. In the business process reengineering, Porter (1985) is considered one of the most important mechanisms. x larger Size: 500  ÃƒÆ'-  500 Type: 13KB GIF http://www.provenmodels.com/files/2825c320f5910a4647fd289cdcf5a780/value_chain_analysis.gif (Porter Value chain Analysis Diagram- source www.google.co.uk) Porter value chain consists of primary activities and secondary activities. As shown in diagram, primary activities are inbound activities, operations, outbound logistics, sales and services. Whereas, secondary activities consist of the procurement, human resources, technology and infrastructure. When the organisation plan for reengineering, it is important to start from the primary activities because these activities are crucial for the success of the company. Business Process Reengineering: The fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical measures of performance such as cost, quality, service and speed. (Hammer-1990) A strategy driven organisational initiative to (re) design of business process to achieve competitive breakthroughs performance, differing in scope from process improvement to radical new process design, contingent upon the degree of socio-technical change required. (Grover and Kettinger1995) Goals of BPR: The rapid adoption and radical change by BPR, despite its failure, is fuelled by promise to make drastic improvement in business performance. The improvement results from: Improved customer satisfaction: Customer satisfaction is one of most important benefits of reengineering. Its results are high level customers satisfaction. Customers are internal and external to the organisation. Reengineering achieves this by making organisational structure that serves through the organisation rather than department. Cost reduction: In the current dynamic environment, cost effective is considered as core competences. Many companies are focusing on how to improve the cost efficiencies. On the other hand, big cost also effects the customers satisfactions. If the companies try to reduce cost then have to compromise on the quality. Reengineering aims to produce leaner and fitter companies which can easily adapt to new product and circumstances. Gover et al (1997), addressed in their journal, Wal-Mart has been reduced restocking time from six weeks to thirty-six hours. Hewlett Packards assembly time for server computers touches new low- four minutes. Taco Bells sales soar from $500 million to $3 billion. The whole credit goes to reengineering for these breakthrough changes. Improved product and service quality: Quality is one of key determinants in making product or services offerings. In the current competitive environment, sales are made on quality rather than price. Sometimes sales are made on the basis of quality rather than price. Reengineering accomplishes this by breaking organisational structure consisting of functions where the work is passed from one function to another as a package. The responsibilities are centralised in one group rather than splitting over different departments. Harnessing skill: The success of the company depends upon the utilising the skills, knowledge and expertise of the workers. In function based, individuals work in their hierarchical layer rather than contributing their knowledge and expertise. Reengineering breaks this barrier by allowing individuals to share their knowledge and empowering them for their tasks. This enables the company to fully exploit workforce skills. Reduced times: By making work flow through and between different departments in functional structure, the business performance wasting time is quite high. The reengineering approach eliminates this wasting time by bringing together those parts of the disparate organisation working on the same task into one group. The whole process is then considered as in one domain allowing everybody in that domain to focus on the effective operations and improvement of the process. Improving value-added: Business reengineering is an effective way to identify and remove those tasks and activities which result in inefficiencies and repetition factors. This allows focusing on the value adding activities that result in creating high value for the organisation and satisfying customers needs. Faster responsiveness: Business success in todays environment depends upon responding to changes. Horton believed that his major management concern for 90s to create company that can manage surprise (Horton-1989). Functional management structures slow down the decision making procedures and hence reduce the ability of managers to deal with surprises. Reengineering encourages empowering business units to take decisions and thus increase the speed with which they react to events. It also increases the speed by the removal of the time-wasting across functional transaction in the production process. Principles of BPR: The principles of BPR are agreed upon and are reviewed to get familiar with Business Process Reengineering: Achieving step change in performance: One common principle that in favour of pioneers of the reengineering is that incremental improvement is not enough in the global competition. Global competition calls for radical improvement in the quality, services, faster response and lower cost. . Davenport points out that reengineering is all about shifting from 5 to 10m percent annual improvement to 50 percent or even higher improvement in few key processes. Firms strive for multiplicative levels of improvements rather than fractional level. (Davenport- 1993). Function vs. Process oriented organisational Structure: Holtham (2001) suggests that careful thinking is required when the company plans to change business process and especially implementing the reengineering approach to improvement. BPR is used where required and when the management has sufficient potential to follow it. Because BPR is not just process change but it results in the radical redesign of the organisation structure. Normally, process improvement changes results in a change from functional structure to the process oriented structure. People who work in the functional structure also support the process orientated structure. Many organisation try to intervened their processes with the functional structure because dont want to lose benefits of the functional specialization. Thus there is move of flexible organisational structure that has both functional and process orientation. The process improvement enables organisation to think through processes and come up with design which are more efficient and effective. It results in wee ding out of the unnecessary steps within the systems. Create customer focus: Reengineering philosophy believes that the customer is key driver behind process improvement. Hammer indicates that the seller has low bargaining power and the customer now tells the supplier where they need, what they want, how they want it and what they are willing to pay (Hammer-1993). This concept also applies to internal processes where the customer is another person, or group within the organisation. Integrating work: The philosophy of reengineering is to eliminate inefficiencies from the processes by eliminating non value- added activities. The remaining activities are simplified and integrated to create new ways of working. Sometimes the solution is achieved by giving one person the authority to handle a spectrum of operations or solution is to create multidisciplinary teams. The solution achieved by giving one person the ability to handle a spectrum of operations or the solution is to create multidisciplinary teams. The overall emphasis is on giving responsibilities for processes in few hands. Developing a process management culture: The functional management based structure is incompatible with the process culture. The working practices, skills and management responsibilities need to be redefined and more productive ways are found for harnessing the expertise of every individual within company. IT and BPR: IT and BPR have no clear relationship. There is emphasise on technological innovations rather than the organisation itself when BPR was not developed (George-1991). These innovations bring reduction in time, processing, information system and storage cost. This makes the technology as independent variable to determine changes in organisation. This researchers group have been used the technology to automate the complicated as is situation of organisations which, as reported earlier, did not have significant improvements in productivity. Parnaby 1991 states that this time, failure is partly because of wrong use of IT to automate over-complex corporate process. However, it is partly fault of IT directors who have failed to raise the importance of IT to senior executive that IT plays in transforming a business. Other researchers emphasis on organisation and BPR, and believe that people deliberately design IT for intended objectives. Kim defines BPR as that an organisation uses the IT to change the way work is being done (Kim-1994). Renkema (1995) implies that A BPR investment is regarded as long term commitment of organisational resources to achieve ambitious business goals through transformation of business processes with IT as an enabling technology. There are many successful cases of major performance improvement of IT enabled BPR in the industry (Alter et al, 1990). This group of researchers believe that IT is depended variable that is planned for and configured by managers. Role of IT in BPR: The role of IT in business process reengineering is two-way: as an Implementer or an Enabler, Lyons (1995). For the first role, it is used to support the mapping, analysis and modelling aspects of BPR and helps in transformation process. The second role is to develop major communication and system infrastructure to support the integration and automation of redesigned work process. There are some technologies which are used as enablers of BPR. Technologies such as: Local Area Networks (LANs) and Electronic Mail (Email), Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Executive Information Systems (EIS), Document Image Processing (DIP). BPR Methodologies: Lucas methodology: Lucas Engineering and Systems talk about manufacturing system redesign. Their argument is that to survive in todays market, it is necessary to set high targets in current competitive market and think for radical change. In their methodology, emphasise on eliminating the non-value added activities which do not add value to the customers and result in bad system operations. Four-step approaches for waste elimination are suggested by them, namely (Lucas-1991): Simplify the systems Eliminate waste Re-organise into Natural Groups Technology improvements Another idea which is introduced here by Lucas is Natural Group. Natural group is defined in their mini guides. A Natural grouping is a multiskilled group or team who hold a whole flow chart and then sit together in one office, area or cell Davenport and Short methodology Davenport addresses five stage approaches to redesign business process by using information technology capabilities (Davenport-1990). Develop Business Vision and Process Objectives- Organisation develops the vision which leads to the redesign objective and in turn results in improvement of process. Some objectives need to be related to the specified business vision like; cost reduction, time reduction and quality. Identify Processes to Be Redesigned- In this stage; there are two major approaches; the exhaustive approach and high impact approach. In the exhaustive approach, attempts are made to identify all processes within the organisations and then priorities depending upon their urgency. In high impact approach, process is redesign which has great impact on the organisation. Understand and Measure Existing Processes- Before redesigning the process, problems are well understood so that there is no chance of repetition. Secondly, accurate measures are used as basis for future improvement. Identify IT Levers- The major role of IT is to improve coordination and information access across the organisational units. The best approach is to use the IT in the early stages of process redesign rather than developing an IT system and matching with an existing system. Design and Build a Prototype of the Process- Final stage is not final design of the process though it is based on the prototype of the design. It is suggested that the redesigned process after agreement by the process owner be implemented on pilot basis and also examined regularly for problems and objectives. The key factors in process redesign and prototype create include IT design tools and understanding generic design criteria. The redesign is fully implemented after final acceptance of the process Rummler- Brenche methodology: Rummeler- Brache (1990) wrote in their book, Improve Performance: How to manage the White Space on the organisation chart. They explained that the organisation as system and worked down from top down to develop a comprehensive picture of how organisations are defined by processes and how people define that process help in accomplishing the activities. Rummler-Brenche (1990), define three level of performance: organisational level, process level and a job or performance level. They introduce the matrix that they obtain by crossing levels with three perspectives. There are nine different concerns that managers need to consider when changing or improving processes they emphasise that approaches that only focus on process or performance level or process management are limited perspective. Goals and Measure Design and Implementation Management Organisation Level Organisational gaols measures of organisational success Organisational and implementation Organisational management Process Level Process goals and measures of process success Process design and implementation Process management Activity or performance level Activity goals and measures of activity success Activity design and implementation Activity management (Rummeler and Braches Performance framework) Process Redesign Patterns: Paul Harmon (2003) describes four basic process redesign patterns: reà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœengineering, simplification, value-added analysis, and gaps and disconnects. Business Process Re-engineering: Re-engineering pattern relates to a fundamental rethinking of existing processes to achieve major dramatic improvements. To achieve radical improvements in efficiency, it starts from scratch without considering the current situation. This approach ignores the existing processes and emphasises starting by asking what the goals of processes to be achieved are and work is carried out to achieve best outcome using the latest technology.BPR is large scale change and therefore high risk of disruption is involved. Re-engineering is best suited when large scales of changes are required. However, the other three can all be applied on a more modest scale, and could therefore be more relevant to the type of practical situation presented on. Simplification: The simplification pattern assumes that most established processes are likely to have developed elements of duplication or redundancy. Process efficiency is only possible by removing these. This approach is useful on large scale business process or more limited business processes. The best starting point for this approach is to identify the process, sub processes or activities in the existing processes and challenging each activity or sub process in the sequence. This process highlights where there is tendency of duplication or redundancy. Many organisations employ simplification for the process redesign because it is less disruptive and risky in nature. Value-added analysis: Value added analysis looks at the processes from the customer point of view identifies the value adding activities which are perceived to be valued by the customers. Customers may be internal or external. This pattern looks at the process (or sub-process) from a customers perspective. A process or activity is said to add value if it meets three criteria: 1: the customer is willing to pay for the output 2: it physically changes or transforms the output 3: it is performed correctly at the first attempt. The process or activities is said to be non value adding if: 1: preparation and set-up 2: control and inspection 3: simply moving a product from one place to another without physically changing it activities that result from delays or failures of any kind. Harmon (2003) suggests that non-value-adding activities are needed to be eliminated as far as possible. Some of these activities are essential (for example set-up activities) for the value-added activity to take place. These essential support activities are value enabling activities and need to be kept. However, these activities are expected to undertaken if these are simple and cost effective which means allowing resources for the value enabling activities to be employed. Gaps and disconnects This pattern was introduced by the Geary Rummler ad Allen Brache in1990. They argue that many of the problems arise because of failure of communication between the business functions. Manufacturing makes some new product economically but marketing and sales are not aware result in failure of whole system. The gaps and disconnects put an emphasis on the careful analysis of how existing processes are being done and before thinking for its improvement. Process improvement by Six Sigma: Yang and EI-Haik(2009) in their book explain six sigma. They argue that six sigma is best approach to bring improvement in the sub processes or activities rather than large scale processes. This approach helps the management to develop the process architecture. If architecture is already in place it helps in manager in identifying the projects which have potential of success by improving process. Six Sigma emphasises that measures at any level should be tied back to higher level process and to the strategic goals as well. There are some phases in a six sigma process improvement project: Define customers requirement for the process or services Measure existing performance and compare with customer requirements Analysis existing process Improve the process design and implement it Control the results and maintain the new performance Absecon Textile-New Jersey based company: One supplier of the contract upholstery fabric has found new ways of manufacturing process which make its efforts more efficient, more profitable and more competitive. Absecon textile based in southern New Jersey implements the lean manufacturing system. After one month implementation of lean manufacture systems processes are getting changed and there is seeing 70 percent reduction in the waste material it needlessly stored. I have heard people say lean manufacturing is applicable to every industry but textile says David Adair, Vice President of the Absecon. We dont believe that. We fully expect that lean manufacturing can give us competitive advantage . (Manufacturing Journal 2003) Marketing: Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customers requirements profitably. (Chartered Institute of Marketing cited in Rowson Pauline 2009) Levison (2007), author of Gurialla Marketing noted: Marketing is not an event, but a process.. It has a beginning, a middle, but never an end, for it a process. You improve it, perfect it, even pause it. But you never stop it completely. Importance of marketing: Marketing has strategic importance in todays competitive environment even the finance department not able to work without integration with the marketing department. The key to success in the current environment is to satisfy the customer needs and business trends by using marketing skills. Due to its importance, different companies employ marketing at different levels depending upon their need but consider it as essential element for business success. The Conference Board (2007) survey of the top CEO Challenge acknowledges the importance of the marketing. The report highlights the marketing challenges that are different at global level. CEO in Europe focuses on more new and responsive ideas. Due to this reason adoption and flexibility to change is more dominant in the Europe rather than Asia and America. The importance of the marketing for building brands and customers loyalty are accepted by all CEOs. Marketing Practices: Coveille et al (2002) in Contemporary marketing Practice Framework addresses five marketing approaches which the company adopts depending upon the customers and industry: Transactional marketing: is based on management of marketing mix to attract and satisfy customers needs and active communications to buyers in the mass market in order to create an arms length transaction. Database marketing: It involves using database technology to create relationship, thus allowing firms to compete differently from the mass market. E-marketing: It involves the use of internet and other technologies to create and settle dialogue between the company and customers. Interaction marketing: It is based on face to face interaction between individuals. This approach is highly practical because both parties customer and market invest resources to develop mutual relationship with each others. Marketing strategy: Marketing strategy is the process by which an organisation communicate its business objectives and strategy into market activity (Paul Field, 2006) Marketing strategy helps to identify the target market, what directions need to be taken and what actions need to be taken to create dependable position in the market. To this end, the core objectives of the marketing strategy are focused on the buyer behaviour and identifying the market that needs to be target and marketing programme moves around the marketing strategy. Weitz and Wensley (1998) defines marketing strategy as, it is an indicator that is specific towards which activities to be targeted and how to develop and exploit the competitive advantage. In order to get the best outcome, strategy requires clear objectives and focus on the organisation corporate goals; it also involves selecting the right customers and developing the marketing mix to implement the marketing strategy successfully. (Varadarajan 1999) A strategic market plan layouts the methods and resources required to achieve organisation goals within a specific market. Marketing department has responsibility to adopt those policies and procedure which can fulfil the customers needs. It takes into account not only marketing but also involves finance, human resources, research and development and production. The concept of strategic business units is used to define areas of consideration in specific marketing plan. Strategic business unit is a division, product line or other profit centre within a parent company. (Dibb et al 2001) Vass 2006 explains some strategies which the textile companies adopts to improve the growth and prosperity of the business. He also believes that marketing is not just about the sales. It is ongoing process of creating and maintaining relationships and measuring results. Marketing managers are required to implement strategy that helps in satisfying customer need and market targets. Market share strategy: Market share strategy is based on gaining the large share in the operating market. The success of this strategy depends upon the market penetration and the customer has to perceive that your offerings are unique. Before implementing this strategy, target market is defined? How the customers perceive your offering in relation to competitors. This information is helpful in targeting the right customers and develops communication links with the existing and potential customers. Market expansion: Seeks to expand the market size. To implement this strategy, markers are sure about the potential customers in the target market and competitors action. Market segmentation: Market segmentation concentrates on segmenting the market according to their homogenous needs and wants. Position strategy: A positioning strategy is psychological. It is designed to create and maintain a specific image in the customers mind. Its all about how the customers think and feel. Product life cycle strategy: The product life cycle strategy is driven by innovation and can apply to brand or to a product category. Its duration may be only for few months or century. Product life has four stages such as introduction, growth, maturity and decline. At the introduction stage, advertising cost is normally highly for making people aware of company offerings Quality: To implement the quality strategy, it is necessary to have better design or offering more durable product or more reliable services or faster delivery. Vass (2006) suggests that marketer should select one or two areas where they are superior to the competition and implement marketing strategy that identifies these specific attributes. Reminder strategy: Strategy is communication based. It targets regular and loyal customers to remind them to make an additional or replacement order. Simplicity strategy: Simplicity emphasis on the customer convenience. Businesses and customers are overwhelmed with the complexity and choices of goods and services available to them, with the product fully functional and features that only a small number of the users ever use. Strategic Marketing Plan and Planning: Planning: Planning is a process for accomplishing purposes. It is a blue print of business growth and a road map of development. It helps in deciding objectives both in quantitative and qualitative terms. It is setting of goals on the basis of objectives and keeping in the resources. A plan helps to avoid losing direction and to uncover the hidden opportunities. An organisational success depends upon careful planning. So preparing a satisfactory plan of the organization is essential because it helps the business in terms of products, management, finance, market and competitions. If appropriate intention is given to the planning then

The Victims of Jack the Ripper Essay -- Research Papers Serial Killer

The Victims of Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper is remembered as one of history’s most famous serial killers. His technique of getting his victims to lay down before he slashed their throats, then disemboweling them in a matter of a minute or two with as little blood flow as possible distinguishes him as one of the most methodical, ruthless killers to ever live. He even performed some of his gruesome murders right in the street and left his victims to be found minutes later by people or policemen passing by. This demonstrates what extremes he would actually go to fulfill his desire for killing. Through my report I will create a brief profile of Jack’s victims as well as explore the methodical and horrendous ways they were murdered. Mary Anne â€Å"Polly† Nichols Mary Anne Nichols was found dead on Aug. 31, 1888 between 3:30 and 4:00 A.M. by a porter on his way to work. At first, it appeared to the porter that the woman was just laying down in the street unconscious. Police officer John Neil was summoned to the scene minutes after the body was found. The light from his lamp revealed that the woman was in fact dead with a slashed throat. Dr. Rees Ralph Llewellyn was performing a surgery when he was called to make an official examination of the body. After the examination was complete he pronounced the woman dead by means of a slashed throat. He also took special note that the body was still warm, indicating that the victim had been dead perhaps only minutes before being discovered. The body was removed to the mortuary shed at the Old Montague Street Workhouse Infirmary to be autopsied. Only then was the unusually large puddle of blood that had collected beneath the body seen. Once at the mortuary, Dr. Llewellyn performed a full autopsy, which revealed more about the manner of the murder that was not acknowledged during the street examination. Not only was her throat slashed, but also her abdominal area and sexual organs had been brutally sliced and mutilated, which explained the large puddle of blood beneath the body. Furthermore, there were many bruises on the sides of her face, which indicated that she had been knocked unconscious before being mutilated. The murder was believed to have been committed with a stout-handled blade of six to eight inches long (Geary, p.7). Mary Anne Nichols was the first victim of Jack the Ripper who was deliberately ... ... handful of prostitutes. Another theory was that maybe he was taking revenge for a family member who was in a similar situation, or that he came from the same situation as some of the children of the prostitutes and was also left by his mother who ended up as a prostitute. Or maybe he just felt that he was merely cleansing society and doing it a favor by killing off a handful of people who he felt were scum who corrupted society. The ideal profile of Jack the Ripper was a single man, probably a doctor, who had bad experiences with prostitutes in the past, and had lived in London long enough to become familiar with its streets and alleys. He was obviously very daring and nerveless to commit such crimes in the streets, because he could have been caught at any time by anyone who happened to be passing by. Bibliography   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Beg, Paul, Martin Fido and Keith Skinner. The Jack the Ripper A-Z. London: Headline Book Publishing, 1991.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Geary, Rick. Jack the Ripper A Journal of the White Chapel Murders. New York: Nantier Beall Minoustchine Publishing, Inc., 1995.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sugden, Philip. The Complete History of Jack the Ripper. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc., 1994.