Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Community Engagement A Form Of Experiential Education

Community engagement pedagogies are synonymous with service learning. Engagement projects are the ones that combine learning goals and community service to enhance both student growth and common good. The National Service Learning Clearinghouse defines it with a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service combining instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility and strengthen the communities. (The National Service Learning Clearinghouse, n.d.) The quote below from Vanderbilt University’s Janet S. Eyler (winner of the 2003 Thomas Ehrlich Faculty Award for Service Learning) and Dwight E. Giles, Jr. defines it as â€Å"a form of experiential education where learning occurs through a cycle of action and reflection as students. . . seek to achieve real objectives for the community and deeper understanding and skills for themselves. In the process, students link personal and social development with academi c and cognitive development. . . experience enhances understanding; understanding leads to more effective action†. (Vanderbilt University, 2015) Community engagement is incorporated into a course or series of courses by way of a project that has both learning and community action goals. This project is designed via collaboration between the community and the classroom. This service learning project gave give me an opportunity to apply course content to community-based activities. Thus giving meShow MoreRelatedCollege Is Not Just About Receiving Good Grades842 Words   |  4 Pagesextracurricular activities such as internships, community involvement and leaderships. The reason why it s important for students to get involved is so they can apply what they learn in the classroom into practice, gain social skills, develop leadership skills and learn time management skills. Moreover, what make it more respected is the skills gained from extracurricular activities and student support programs such as networking, mentorships and experiential learning that help prepare students for theRead MoreThe Epistemological Tradition That Best Fits My Own Perspective878 Words   |  4 Pagesconstructivism. Many aspects of my life have formed my epistemological assumptions such as family, friends, community, education and my own experiences. Epistemology is defined as the theory of knowledge, with respect to its methods, validity, and scope; it is the inquiry of what discerns acceptable belief from opinion (Bates, 2015, section 2.2.1, para 1). I feel that I connect best with experiential cognitivism since I prefer to experience information before internalizing and relating it with what I knowRead MoreThe Importance Of A New Piece Of Equipment Essay1559 Words   |  7 Pagesjob outcome. Learning how to use a new piece of equipment; and/or a personal result, such as extending an individual’s self-esteem (Innovation and Business Skills Australia 2012, p. 2). The re is a growing interest among educators, employers and community leaders in implementing work-based learning into schools as a means of enriching the academic curriculum with in-demand career skills development (Jacobson, 2015, p. 15). Workers and students who participate in Work-based learning (WBL) are exposedRead MoreCommunication And Interviewing Skills Are Important For Entry Level Accountants1228 Words   |  5 Pagescourse of those interviews, not all the individuals contacted are overly cooperative with the student interviewer. This gives the student a much more realistic view of what may happen when he seeks information from the client over the course of an engagement. According to Akers Yahr (2005, p. 5), â€Å"another area of concern was the client’s behavior. Some of the students were surprised that the client was rude or intimidating. They expected the client to be friendly and courteous...some of the studentsRead MoreEssay on Wilderness Therapy and Conve ntional Therapy1696 Words   |  7 Pagesused, the appropriate client populations, multicultural considerations, and the limitations of this therapy. Wilderness therapy is a form of therapy that combines the therapeutic benefits of adventure experiences and activities with traditional models of therapy (Foundations of Adventure Therapy, 2007). Wilderness therapy has a background in experiential education and is conducted in natural settings that â€Å"kinesthetically engage clients on cognitive, affective, and behavioral levels† (Norton et alRead MoreIdentity Should Form a Part of Any Pedagogical Theory and Practice2470 Words   |  10 Pagesin Abbey, 2000). If dialogical relations form the basis of how we understand ourselves in the world, it figures is should also form a part of any pedagogical theory and practice. While this is not the only consideration for a teacher, it provides a centre from which a number of useful educative considerations can be made. Firstly: students come with identities that are informed by many dialogical relations and that they learn by being in social communities. Secondly: dialogue is critic al to the teachingRead MoreBenefits of School vs. Benefits of Work580 Words   |  2 Pagesthe benefits of school vs. the benefits of work with the thesis that attending school is more beneficial than work The school environment School has numerous benefits attached to it. It consists of an organizational learning environment where experiential learning per Dewey and Kurt Lewin occurs as well as learning that centers on reflection. Learning occurs in all contexts. The student interacts with others of like-minded interests and subject study. He is provided with mentors and teachers whoRead MoreMahindra Social Responsibility Interventions1490 Words   |  6 Pagesin the community. The Core Purpose of the Company is to challenge conventional thinking and innovatively use all their resources to drive positive change in the lives of their stakeholders and communities across the world, to enable them to RISE. In line with Mahindra’s Core purpose, the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) vision is to focus efforts within the constituencies of girls, youth and farmers by innovatively supporting them through programs in the domains of education, healthRead MoreService Learning Project740 Words   |   3 Pagesasked 12 local businesses to serve as community partners on the service-learning project; eight agreed to participate. Community partners hosted a Northwest Harvest donation box on-site; clients and customers were asked to donate nonperishable food items. Some community partners elected to donate a door prize to encourage and expand participation in the Highline College food drive. The campus-wide food drive was held at Highline College in August 2015. Community partners and students collected moreRead More Impacts of Service-Learning on College Students Essay1635 Words   |  7 PagesThe functional area of service-learning is currently emerging as an acknowledged department at an institution of higher education. The theoretical roots of service learning go back to John Dewey, and the early twentieth century. However, current research on service-learning pedagogy dates back only to the early 1990’s. Best practices for the field are still being created as more and more new offices are springing up on campuses throughout the United States and institutions internationally. The reason

Monday, December 23, 2019

Age of Reform in America - 1218 Words

American reform movements in the early to mid 1800#8217;s strived at improving our developing society. America was growing larger, and with the expanding population, many new ideas sprang up. Conflicting opinions between the people of the United States caused the emergence of an Age of Reform, where people tried to change things such as the educational system and women#8217;s rights. These movements were the result of our nation#8217;s self-determination and interest in improving the society we live in. Between the 1820#8217;s and 1860#8217;s, Americans were trying new things and promoting different ideas and ways of thinking. Once such idea is that of a utopian society. A utopian society, simple put, means a perfect society.†¦show more content†¦Headed with the slogan, #8220;all men are created equal,#8221; a movement was launched for woman suffrage. On July 19, 1848, a convention was called in Seneca Falls. It was a retelling of the Declaration of Independence, and stated that all men and women are created equal. It was not until the 1920#8217;s that women were finally given the right to vote. Women were beginning to become more scholarly, and many bold steps were made by women, such as keeping maiden names or getting higher jobs. The women#8217;s rights movement demonstrates that steps were taken in order to improve the quality of life for women. Religions are founded on the principle of education of others as well as education of one#8217;s self, yet before the 1800#8217;s America was a largely uneducated country. Few if any philosophers existed, and adept teachers were rare. The 1800#8217;s brought an education revolution upon America, due mainly to the new ideas and concepts being envisioned at the time. Education was becoming a top priority and the Age of Reforms brought an educational system to America. During this period, the most influential person dealing with educational reform was Horace Mann. Horace Mann believed that #8220;education was the only way to #8216;counterwork this tendency to the domination of capital and the servility of labor#8217;#8221; (BrinkleyShow MoreRelated Age Of Reform In America Essay1142 Words   |  5 Pages American reform movements in the early to mid 1800amp;#8217;s strived at improving our developing society. America was growing larger, and with the expanding population, many new ideas sprang up. Conflicting opinions between the people of the United States caused the emergence of an Age of Reform, where people tried to change things such as the educational system and womenamp;#8217;s rights. These movements were the result of our nationamp;#8217;s self-determination and interest in improvingRead MoreThe Progressive Era Of The Gilded Age1455 Words   |  6 PagesThroughout the progressive era there were many reform movements due to the abundance of political, social, and economical corruption in America in the gilded age as seen by political machines like William Marcy tweed and American financiers like J.P. Morgan. Some of the many issues that made themselves present in the gilded age include the large wealth gap, child labor, women’s lack of rights, influx of immigrants, Urb anization, Indian wars, monopolists, political machines, and alcoholism. All ofRead MoreReform Movements in the United States Sought to Expand Democratic Ideals. Assess the Validity of This Statement with Specific Reference to the Years 1825 to 1850.1698 Words   |  7 Pagesideals in the society. In response to sudden changes occurring and traditional values being challenged, various reform movements during 1825-1850 began to focus on democratic ideals. The rise of religious revivals, movements for equal rights and protecting liberties of different social groups, want to advance society technologically, and desire to bring order and control helped reform the society to live up to the nation’s founding ideals. Teaching them (I don’t get who â€Å"them† is) the habits of thriftRead MoreThe Second Great Awakening Essay531 Words   |  3 Pages In the 1830s, 1840s, and beyond, There is a Second Great Awakening. The Second Great Awakening had a decided impact on American society. In the following I will describe what the Great Awakening was and how it changed life in America. In essence, the Great Awakening was a religious awakening. It started in the South. Tent camps were set up that revolve around high spirited meetings that would last for days. These camp meetings were highly emotional and multitudes of people were filledRead MoreDuring the 19th century, America was going through an important transition. The nation was dealing1300 Words   |  6 Pages19th century, America was going through an important transition. The nation was dealing with the aftermath of the civil war and the following reconstruction of the South. The Reconstruction period was the precursor to the period deemed the â€Å"Gilded Age†. The nation saw economic growth and the creation of the mass market. The rise of industrialization and transition to urban living were some of the defining moments of this period. However, the most defining idea of the Gilded Age is Reform: Social, PoliticalRead MoreEssay on American Imperialism1074 Words   |  5 Pagesnbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nb sp;nbsp;Since its inception, America as a nation has developed and progressed according to trends of change that collectively define an era. Like all other eras, the time period of 1875-1925 experienced growth, changes, movements, and new ideals. It is the way that these changes came about that defines this era. Americans started to push for changes in many arenas of life that were previously unchallenged. New experiences and opportunities were also presented to America that caused tributaries in theRead MoreEssay about Hcs 235 Health Care Utilization Option 11347 Words   |  6 PagesHCS 235 January 13, 2013 Health Care Utilization Option 1 Introduction Health care reform in the United States is a hot topic and the source of legislation meant to make health care obtainable to Americans. Recent presidential elections have been platforms used to promote health care reform yet no one can agree on what the resolution will be. This paper will discuss ways recent health care reform measures have expanded or inhibited access to health care. This paper will discuss how changesRead MoreFranklin D. Roosevelt s Impact On American Society1000 Words   |  4 Pagesto the past presidents. He came in with all of these new ideas of change and reform. When Roosevelt was elected, he created a series of reform movements that would deal with the problems in American society. Although many of those reform movements failed, one was successful and still exists today. That movement was the ultimate reform movement called the â€Å"New Deal.† The New Deal is radical considering it provided reforms that included giving the federal government more power, such as: Social SecurityRead MoreEssay on Reform Between 1825 And 18501352 Words   |  6 PagesWhile some citizens of the United States, between 1825 and 1850, believed that reform was foolish and that the nation should stick to its old conduct, reformists in this time period still sought to make the United States a more ideally democratic nation. This was an age of nationalism and pride, and where there was pride in one’s country, there was the aspiration to improve one’s country even further. Many new reformist and abolitionist groups began to form, all attempting to change aspects of theRead MoreThe Revolution Of The United States865 Words   |  4 Pagesinvolvement after the gilded age where there barely was any action taken by the government. While the progressives were becoming more and more popular among politicians and people they brought reform and change to the United States. The progressives brought change through industries, social movements and t he economy. The progressives, (as their name suggests) brought progress to America that forever changed the United States for the better. Without the progressives Americas change to more government

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Teacher Work Sample Part 7 Free Essays

Teacher work Sample: Standard 7 Lauren M. Evins EED/495 May 13, 2012 Professor Mark McCall Teacher Work Sample: Standard 7 Standard 7: Reflections and Self-Evaluation In the education profession, it is necessary for teachers to create lesson plans that adhere to national, state, and district learning standards. The ability to successfully create and implement these lessons that have goals and specific learning objectives is the responsibility of the teacher. We will write a custom essay sample on Teacher Work Sample Part 7 or any similar topic only for you Order Now A way to evaluate the success of your instructional skills is through reflection and self-evaluation. Reflecting on your own teaching, shortcomings as well as successes, is a way to make sense of your own experiences and to gain perspective on the day-to-day workings of your own classroom. † A reflection and self-evaluation will be listed for this Teacher Work Sample. , which will include an analysis of instructional and student learning, and the effectiveness of teacher instruction. Throughout the implementation of my lessons from the Teacher Work Sample the lessons that contributed the most to student learning were the activities that required students to apply their knowledge in activities. These activities include the vocabulary words used in a sentence, the group discussion that allowed students to build on each other’s responses and knowledge, and the group projects that were a collaboration of student creativity. Some of the greatest barriers to achieving the desired learning results were overcoming the additional background knowledge that was needed to teach the unit lessons, which would consequentially be a need for improvement in the pre-assessment and the analysis of the pre-assessment. One factor that would be done to improve the acquisition of the desired learning results and improving student learning would be to spend more time reviewing supplemental and background information for the unit prior to introducing the unit, and creating a more detailed rubric that analyzed students’ prior knowledge. The repeated interruptions and deviations that were taken during lessons required additional modifications in instructional time management and steering the lesson back on path of the learning goals and objectives. Reviewing the seven standards listed in this Teacher Work Sample emphasized key areas of strengths and weaknesses. The strengths of the work sample included Contextual Factors, Learning Goals and Objectives, and Design for Instruction. These strengths allowed a successful creation of goals and objectives that were aligned with Florida State Standards and were achieved with the majority of the student population, as seen in the Analysis of Learning Results. The ability to properly gather data and information in the Contextual Factors helped understand why some students had prior knowledge of Native Americans and why other students has less prior knowledge. The Design for Instruction was implemented with little to no problems; however, the flaws in instruction did not occur from the design they occurred from the Assessment Plan, which was a weakness and needed additional improvement. The Instructional Decision-Making was also a weakness in that student learning responses were not as anticipated regarding Native American background information and an additional need for improvement would include reacting and modifying lessons without deviating greatly from the original goals and objectives. My professional knowledge and skills were adequate to teach this unit, but my performance would have been enhanced if I had better analyzed the pre-assessment that was given at the beginning of the unit. As a professional, I would need to improve my ability to read and analyze assessment results, which could be the difference in student achievement and failure. The most significant learning insight achieved from this unit would be the understanding that despite detailed planning and instructional preparation, modifications in instruction will always arise and it is the teachers responsibility to make the necessary deviations but maintain the unit’s goals and objectives. In general, my analysis and self-reflection would e considered a success with minor weaknesses that would need improvement through workshops, training seminars, and/or with an experienced teacher’s help. Reference Module 6: Assessing teaching and learning. (2006). Retrieved May 12, 2012 from http://www. league. org/gettingresults/web/module6/teaching/teacher_reflections. html How to cite Teacher Work Sample Part 7, Essay examples

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Weeks v Federal Commissioner of Taxation †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Weeks v Federal Commissioner of Taxation. Answer: Introduction The individual who appealed was a past staff member at the workplace of the Australian Taxes. She was looking for new alternatives and was not having any plans of retiring. She had been applying for occasional leaves and due to leaves for long tenures, the work in progress used to get reallocated to her co workers. The reallocation method made her sad as she thought that she was no more efficient in managing the responsibilities. Finding herself worthless and useless, she decided to write an email to the director on the matter related to voluntary redundancy. The Taxation office was against the email at the initial stage and did not consider the fact that the position of the individual had become worthless. But, after the revisiting of the email the approval was made in a formal manner after several amounts of disagreements. After the approval made, the individual had been dismissed and the email accepted. The principle concern of the appellant in the case was that the payment done as a payment regarding redundancy will be non taxable. Thus, the acceptance of the offer was not a major concern for her; she wanted the payment made to be non taxable i.e. nil amount of tax was to be paid by her. She went for appeal as the Commissioner of Tax had claimed an amount of $7,825 as her tax liability. The section under breach The Income Tax Acts have a best dealing towards the taxability related to the redundancy payments. If the genuine act of payment is made on the dismissal of the employees by a company than the same is considered accurate and genuine under the sections 83-175 of the Income Tax Assessment Act. The genuine redundancy requires being more than the payments expected that can derived from the voluntary termination payments. The required case requires the initiation made towards knowing about the genuineness in the character of the case and also the genuine nature of the payment made towards redundancy. The Public Services Act determines the policies that stated the termination to be effective in cases where the employees available would be excess to the required ones in the agency. In cases where the employees do not meet the terms and agreements of the policies and laws of agency, there can be termination of the employees. There are a wide range of changes and alterations that take place within the job structure and the overall workplace. The reason can include the modifications in the approach that include both technological and other aspects of the modern age and thus there can be situations that the employees would become incapable. The incapability arises towards the effective utilization of the present scenarios in the workplace and effective in the carrying on the procedures. There must be various steps that the agency must undertake to support the employees to utilize the modern day approaches and also considering the alternative options in careers. The agency must respect the employees and must let them leave the office and job with dignity and be thankful for the services rendered towards the company and the job done. Finding of the facts There was a dismissal of the individual from the services of the employment and the statement was made by the Tribunal after accurate study and investigation of the case. The Tribunal had studied that the services of the appellant had not been used efficiently. The tribunal also stated the fact that the work of the individual has the ability of being performed only by the individuals of the identical levels and capacities (Colton 2015). There are a variety of arguments that are considered as the requirements of the situations to distinguish the losses in the work. The requirements of the performances of the jobs are also distinguished. There was a statement made as per the rulings and the policies of the Acts related to the Assessment of the Income taxes. Thus, it was stated that the employees cannot be regarded as useless even in the state of the affairs where they would be unable in playing the responsibilities of the past employees. Thus, the selection of the employees must be done in an effective and accurate manner. Court Proceedings The following constituted the question of law: As per the law, the amount paid during the termination of the employees must be considered by the employees. The considerations were made that had a relation with the agency of Australia that had connection with policy of termination. The Public Service Act contained the clauses that stated that the termination of the employees can take place at the time of an excessiveness occurring in the amount of available employees. The amount of money took account of the causes about the payments being treated as the Employee termination payments. The causes also considered the reasons with respect to the redundancy of the payments as per the agency agreements and the same must be considered as the Termination of employee benefits under the Income Tax Assessment Acts. There must be considerations made in regard to the use of the offers in a manner appropriate and significant in nature. The ATO has decided the grounds that must be considered to prove the validity of the payments made at the time of the employees being terminated or removed. The considerations must include the considerations of the facts about whether there is an authority on the part of the agency in the payment making process. The process involves the payments done from the consolidated reserves by the officers. The judgment gave a decision about imposition of appeals that did not form the part of the legal considerations. The judgments of the facts stated that there were a number of appeals that did not form the part of the law and legal considerations. In addition, there was a statement that among three questions forming the part of the rule, there were two significant questions that had a relation with the redundancy of the genuine payments. The laws were implied for the identification and the determination of the termination payments being genuine in nature or not. If the termination payments are contained in the Acts of Public Service and has relation with agency then it is easy to terminate an employee. The given case does not fall under the head of the genuine redundancy and thus the disposition of payments is not a part of the same (Villios 2016). Consideration for the judgment There were arguments imposed and the Tribunal claimed that a lot of discrepancies occurred in the decision making. The Tribunal was distracted before the final declaration of the judgments and the agreements and terms that were presented in the clauses of the Acts and laws in the manner respectively. The redundancy concepts were not wide in nature and character and the same helped in the procedures of the fact findings. The failure of the Tribunal constituted the failure of correct conducting out of the facts and study in detail about the position and status of the individuals under appeal. The findings were criticized along with the carried policies and procedures of the Tribunal. It was considered that the method of collection of the figures and data through the system of writing could lead to errors as there might not be any cross examination investigation or processes undertaken by the Tribunal. The first case that was referred to the Tribunal and had come to the court for the appeal of taxes was that of Dibb and it was referred for the removal of errors. The references were made to remove any errors that formed the part of the law and gathering the important facts about the case that was required on the part of the Tribunal for conducting the appeal. There was also a relation made in the case that had relation with the agreements of the agency. The agreements of the agency were misconstrued by the Tribunal in relation to the same. There was a further statement made that the Tribunal had been responsible in his duties as he had not undertaken any kind of misunderstanding in the conformity and harmony of agency. Thus, finally the Commissioner stated that the individual was not valued that was analyzed by the agreements as per the agency. While on the other hand the commissioner had created imposition of payment of taxes and treated to be a non genuine redundancy payment. Thus, on the basis of above it was analyzed that the issue was based on facts and the same will be helpful towards the identification of the accuracy in the redundancy of payments. There were a number of instabilities and inconsistencies faced by the employees that had a relation towards the redundancy in the payments and also the excess amount in the requirements of agency. There were a number of differentiations among the language and the investigative findings of the Tribunal. There are thus a number of situations having coincidences related to the termination of the employees under the policies of the companies related to the Public Service Act. There were a number of instabilities and inconsistencies in the process adopted by the Tribunal towards the method of fact findings. The court judgments led to the decision that there must be a release of the appeal on the basis of inability of the individual in establishing the errors made by the law of court (Gutman 2016). Conclusion The case in the above discussions stated that the received payments were taxable in nature and under the head of the payments of employee termination by the employers. There were arguments against the payments of genuine redundancy and it was a part of the rules and legislative rulings of the Act of Income Tax Assessment and it was free from the impositions of the tax. In the case of the initial imposition of ruling, the facts were considered incorrect and on further going for the appeal, the same was taken as incorrect from the point of view AAT. Lastly, the federal court of taxes was taken as last resort of appeal. Thus, on the part of the AAT the amount of termination would not be a part of the redundancy payments in genuine nature. The court had an agreement with the decisions made by the AAT and a statement that gave clarity about the relation of the redundancy the voluntary payments. The judgments held that the payments related to the genuine position of the redundancy. The judgments passed gave an appropriate distinction in the services and employees with the amount of redundancy of genuine payments. There was no genuine nature of the terminations of the payments and there will be taxability of the same. Thus, the amount paid should be measured as a genuine redundancy payment not being taxable in nature. The court thus was decisive and had discarded the taxpayers appeal in a nature of The court made a decision and rejected the appeal of the taxpayer in an undisputed character. The court of law in addition held that the payer of tax completed compensation. The same non taxable as the payment was not accurate and fair. Hence, on complete evaluation of the case it was confirmed that she was required to pay the needful amount of tax. References Blchliger, H. (2015). Reforming the Tax on Immovable Property. Colton, C., 2015. Professional misconduct: the case of the medical board of Australia v Tausif (Occupational Discipline). Davis, A. K., Guenther, D. A., Krull, L. K., and Williams, B. M. (2015). Do socially responsible firms pay more taxes?.The Accounting Review,91(1), 47-68. Flynn, M., 2015. Disputing a tax assessment: From objection to hearing: Part two.Brief,42(1), p.16. French, R., 2014. Interpreting the constitution-words, history and change.Monash UL Rev.,40, p.29. Gale, W. G., and Samwick, A. A. (2014). Effects of income tax changes on economic growth. Gutman, H. L. (2016). The Saga of Unfulfilled Business Income Tax Reform.Temp. L. Rev.,89, 267. Hobbs, H., Lynch, A. and Williams, G., 2017. The High Court Under Chief Justice Robert French. Hoffman, W. H., and Smith, J. E. (2014).South-Western Federal Taxation 2015: Individual Income Taxes. Cengage Learning. Leeser, J., Craven, G., Twomey, A., Authorisation, P., Kendall, K., Tax, C.F.I., Paul, J.B., McAllister, I., Mackerras, M. and Del Villar, G., 2015. Upholding the Australian Constitution Volume Twenty-five. Slack, E., and Bird, R. M. (2014). The political economy of property tax reform.OECD Working Papers on Fiscal Federalism, (18), 0_1. Snape, J., and De Souza, J. (2016).Environmental taxation law: policy, contexts and practice. Routledge. Stack, E.M., Grenville, D., Poole, R., Harnett, H. and Horn, E., 2015. Commissioner for Inland Revenue v Lever Brothers and Unilever Ltd: a practical problem of source.Southern African Business Review,19(Special Edition 1), pp.161-182. Taylor, G., and Richardson, G. (2013). The determinants of thinly capitalized tax avoidance structures: Evidence from Australian firms.Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation,22(1), 12-25. Vegh, C. A., and Vuletin, G. (2015). How is tax policy conducted over the business cycle?.American Economic Journal: Economic Policy,7(3), 327-370. Villios, S., 2016. Director penalty noticespromoting a culture of good corporate governance and of successful corporate rescue post insolvency.

Friday, November 29, 2019

Ups Management Styles Essay Example Essay Example

Ups Management Styles Essay Example Paper Ups Management Styles Essay Introduction United Parcel Service â€Å"We run the tightest ship in the shipping business† Laura Andonov Mission Statement â€Å"To guide the company’s efforts to provide responsible, =://essaysafe.com/essay-what-are-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-ethical-behavior-in-business/ class=ilgen data-wpel-link=external rel=nofollow>ethical business behavior and manage business conduct to achieve and maintain compliance with all applicable regulations and policies for all aspects of UPS business worldwide, including all wholly owned subsidiaries. † UPS is a global package delivery business that specializes in not only managing the movement of goods, but the information and funds that moves with those goods in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. UPS’s target market is primarily U. S. companies that ship business to business via ground delivery and whose delivery time is not urgent. Major customers are manufacturers that ship directly to retailers and online bus inesses that ship goods to private households. UPS is a large C corporation, a legal business entity that is separate from its owners and managers. It’s unbounded in terms of shareholders and dividend income is taxed at corporate and personal shareholder levels. The benefit of UPS taking on this form of organization is that the company has limited liability, transferable ownership, will have continuous existence, and has easier access to resources. The disadvantage to this type of organization is that it is expensive to set up, they are usually closely regulated, and taxation is doubled therefore extensive record keeping is essential. In 1907, Jim E. Casey borrowed $100 from a friend and started this Seattle based private messenger and delivery services company. Ups Management Styles Essay Body Paragraphs From there his motivation and innovation turned into one of the largest package delivery companies in the world that delivers more than 15. 1 million packages daily to 7. 9 million customers in more than 200 countries and territories all over the globe. UPS has had 103 years to perfect their business plan. There are numerous strategies and values that have pulled UPS through the years and allowed the company to maintain that competitive edge. UPS is a household name and oftentimes a business’s primary choice in delivery needs due to its extensive U. S. and European ground network operations which makes it easy for their delivery trucks to access every address in the U. S. and Europe from one of hundreds strategically positioned hub locations. The hub design and locations were the end result of a known issue of not having the proper coverage to efficiently reach businesses and households in remote locations in a timely manner. UPS has a definite stability strategy that aims to continue doing what they have been doing, but to continue to expand its number of markets in new developing markets. American businesses are importing more goods due to the lower cost to obtain the finished product/materials and UPS has applied one of their strategies from not only going global, but recently focusing on penetrating Latin America. Latin America’s market volume expanded by 50% early this year and a major problem for them was that their market was growing so rapidly that their delivery companies could no longer keep up with their booming business. Look who jumped in to save the day, why UPS! Not only does UPS have to continually expand, but they also have to be updated with what their competitors are doing. The transportation industry is highly competitive and UPS’s three top competitors are Deutsche Post AG (DHL), United States Postal Service (USPS), and FedEx. All three companies offer similar, if not the exact same services, but pricing and availabilit y depend on regions. I believe the competitive advantage UPS has over these three companies is that they listen to what their customers want and then they deliver exactly that. The initial competitive advantage that credited UPS’s early and continual success is that they always focus on courtesy to their customers, maintain low rates, and their round the clock service. UPS has probably at one point or perhaps frequently performed determined the five competitive forces that establish the industry attractiveness and profitability. The threat of new entrants is very unlikely for UPS. This would be an intimidating market to attempt to infiltrate with UPS and its trailing competitors. Whereas the lack of new entrants is a key advantage, the threat of substitutes in place of other industries products is very high. As mentioned before, UPS has three major competitors that offer similar products at a similar price. This is an area that management has to constantly evaluate. UPS evalu ates what they have to offer the customer verses their other delivery needs counterparts and the customers have a no bargaining power whatsoever. If the customer is unhappy with the service or the pricing, UPS acknowledges that DHL and the FedEx will be waiting with open arms to assist them and attempt to win their loyalty. The bargaining power of the suppliers is also very low due to cut throat competition. If low prices are what the customer wants and they can easily take their business elsewhere, UPS must try to maintain reasonable fees to keep the customers happy as well as be profitable. With examining four out of five forces, we can assume that the rivalry among current industry competitors is intense and management must be aware of what each competitor has up its sleeve at any given time. UPS has successfully managed to defray a lot of their costs by having such a successful website. Customers can do a number of things on the website from their home without having to call and physically come into one of their stores or hub locations and tie up their agents at the counter. One unique thing that you can do on UPS’s website is that you can enter in the senders address, your address, the weight of the item, how fast the package needs to get its destination, and you can print a shipping label from home. The free tracking feature UPS provides has also been a successful product of the website with over 18. 5 million hits daily! The website also allows an anonymous forum for customer suggestions and complaints, thus allowing the company to see what areas they need to make improvements on. By offering this type of open forum it demonstrates that management operates with an omnipotent view. By asking for, listening to, and acting upon customer feedback, managers can anticipate change, develop opportunities, correct poor performance, and continue to lead their organizations. UPS offers incentives for managers to keep up the good work by offering bonuses and stock options when profits are up. In the event if profits are down, someone is pinpointed and held responsible for the loss and is required to do something to correct it. UPS has a strong organizational culture embedded into its daily operations. Employees that work with the public all wear uniforms and ask any one of the 400,000 employees world-wide and each one of them will be able to tell you who the founder was and the early history of the company. At meetings, they still use the same policy manual that they have been using for 90 years. They all know how to treat their customers, their fellow employees, drivers know how to carry their keys, and move away from left-hand turns. It’s the same in China as it is in Turkey. Managers spread the culture around at each location more than any other company out there. Managers at UPS have also managed to attract and retain employees better than any other company as well as integrate a high level of ethics into their operations wh ich is seen as a competitive advantage by its customers. This is achieved by having each employee review the code-of-ethics manual through annual workshops and daily communications, which is updated regularly and provides examples of detailed situations and ethical responses that employees may face. They make it known that there is a hotline to discuss anonymously about ethical issues, which then will be investigated and will be mentioned at the next managers meeting, so they can come up with a way to avoid any further issues of that type. In the 70’s and 80’s UPS was doing so well that they could have stayed domestic and would have still been successful, but founder Jim Casey was in Germany and witnessed how poorly the national post office operated and decided to act upon this incredible opportunity. Casey sent over four of his best executives to access the situation, to see if they did, in fact, need a more efficient delivery service and how they should respond. Case y and his executives did not consider the cultural differences and had an ethnocentric attitude about expanding in the Germany market. They decided to replicate everything from the trucks down to the uniforms and hoped that everything would work out. It did not. First cultural mistake was that in 1976 the unemployment rate in Germany was 3%, so nobody really needed jobs and another cultural difference that they were unaware of is that a truck driver in considered one of the least desirable jobs in Germany, so it was extremely difficult to even get applicants. They sent over American managers and implemented the same brown American uniforms and that was a disaster as well. The American managers weren’t adapting well with the German’s customary operations and the employees and customers were getting upset at the brown uniforms and trucks saying that they reminded them of the brown Nazi uniforms. Casey recognized early on in the game that they took a huge risk and that if they were going to make operations in Germany work they needed to step back and reevaluate everything before proceeding further. From that point on UPS in Germany was build from the ground up by acquiring a small group of driving companies and their already present employees. Another example of cultural differences occurred with employees in Singapore were not compliant when it came to wearing uniforms due to the hot, humid weather and their work ethic is quite different from ours. We will write a custom essay sample on Ups Management Styles Essay Example specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Ups Management Styles Essay Example specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Ups Management Styles Essay Example specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer

Monday, November 25, 2019

Tracer Pain and Staff Member Essay

Tracer Pain and Staff Member Essay Tracer: Pain and Staff Member Essay Surgical Patient Surgical Patient Tracer Worksheet Nightingale Community Hospital – in Year 2 of Audit Cycle MR#__453355______________________ Admission/Service Start Date:___________ Language/Culture:_English_____________ Tracer Surveyor(s): Sequence of Care/Services 1._Surgical Date Admitting/Presenting Dx/Condition: Nursing Unit__________ 2. _Radiology_______________________ 3. _OR_____________________________ 4. _PACU__________________________ Admitted with post-op wound infection Went to surgery for drainage Long term antibiotics Supportive spouse Plan home health at discharge Current Location _Surgical Nsg Unit ___ Questions / Actions Ask the staff member to give you a report on the patient like he/she may give to an oncoming shift. Notes/Deficiencies Identified Tracer Tips Does the staff member know the course of care? Show me the patient’s admission assessment (or initial nursing assessment). When is the assessment done? By whom? Can an LPN do an admission assessment? History and physical not done within 24 hours of admission ( 72 hours) Review admission history Ask nurse about any gaps or blank areas Should be completed by end of shift when pt admitted Ask about med reconciliation process How is care plan generated? Describe the medication reconciliation process. Primary nurse able to verbalize med reconciliation process. Review of chart had evidence of med reconciliation on admission and after surgery Where is your functional assessment? OR What precipitates PT, OT, or SLP referral? Function assessment triggered based on admission assessment but no documentation found Nutritional assessment documented Home med list is obtained and verified at time of admission Med recon done when patient transfers location (OR to floor, floor to floor, ICU to floor, etc) Med Recon is done at discharge- any discrepancies and nurse can hold up discharge Have staff show f/u if a referral was triggered. Where is your nutritional assessment? Have staff show dietitian’s f/u if a referral was triggered. What would precipitate a social work referral? Nurse verbalized indications for social work referral Have staff show social worker’s f/u if a referral was triggered Does this patient have advance directives? Where is it documented? Is a copy of the document in the medical record? Nurse said patient has an advance directive but did not bring it with her. Family was reminded a copy was needed but failed to bring in. If patient does not have Advance Directive, was information provided? What are the patient’s allergies? No allergies Note allergies on all documents where they are documented (ie, H&P, ED, MAR) and whether all sources agree. Does this patient have any cultural/ spiritual needs? Priority Focus Areas (PFA) Addressed: ïÆ' ¾ Assessment & Care/Services ïÆ' ¾Communication Credentialed/Privileged Practitioners Equipment Use ïÆ' ¾ Infection Control Information Mgmt ïÆ' ¾ Medication Mgmt Organization Structure Orientation & Training ïÆ' ¾ Rights & Ethics Physical Environment ïÆ' ¾ Quality Improvement ïÆ' ¾ Patient Safety Staffing Coach staff to avoid responses with â€Å"usually†, â€Å"sometimes,† and other descriptions that could indicate that the practice is not consistent. Questions / Actions Is this patient at risk for skin breakdown problems? Where is it documented? What breakdown prevention measures are taken? Notes/Deficiencies Identified Is this patient at risk for falls? Where is it documented? How is the risk for falls communicated shift to shift? Dept to dept? What precautions have been implemented for this patient? Yes. Documented in the nursing admission assessment. Fall risk is included in handoff form. Precautions: slip proof socks, night light Does this patient have a plan of care? How are care plans updated or changed? How do all disciplines come together for a plan of care? Initial nursing plan of care documented but not updated since surgery. Interdisciplinary Rounds (IDR) or Caring Rounds Are IDR documented? Are

Friday, November 22, 2019

Methodology Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Methodology - Dissertation Example Methodology Qualitative research methodology gives a detailed picture of the data that needs to be a part of the research (Adler 1994). Due to qualitative methodology, the information that needs to be incorporated in the research is descriptive and informational. According to Merrigan and Huston (2004), the qualitative research method functions fine at the preliminary phases of a project as it permits the researcher to bring together information in a way that is evocative and coarse. It is also said that by employing qualitative means, the researcher is not capable to have an unchanging or wholly distinct plan; he may only have an approximation about the plan of the project (Ader, Mellenbergh and Hand 2008). The researcher is capable to identify about the upshot of the project or some measurement of the project with the passage of time, as he constantly employs the qualitative approach for compilation of data (Patton 1990). 1.1 . Research Methodology Qualitative research method and quantitative research methods are very influential in terms of collection of suitable data for any kind of research. Qualitative methods for data collection are used to gather qualitative data. The techniques that are employed for data collection through qualitative methodology are qualitative interviews that are also called in-depth interviews, direct observation, case studies, literature reviews and focus groups (Adler 1994). Qualitative research techniques are used for many educational disciplines for gathering of suitable research data required for the research. These disciplines include history, sociology, anthropology, geography and other social disciplines. (Adler 1994). It is not essential that qualitative research methodology is necessarily adopted for the above-mentioned disciplines but it suits these disciplines more as compared to other disciplines. The restrictions and peripheries of any research can be clearly recognized with the help of qualitative research (Patton 1990). Quantitative research method is used for collection of quantitative data. As far as qualitative research techniques are concerned, they are used for collection of data or information that is uncountable and descriptive but quantitative research techniques gather data or information in a countable order as the collected data is in numeric format. Like qualitative methodology, quantitative methodology also suits some disciplin es or educational areas. These disciplines include accounting, physics, taxonomy, statistics and social sciences (Roessner 2000). The data collection techniques used in quantitative research methodology are with the help of survey forms, tabulations, questionnaire designing, statistical model designs and much more (Roessner 2000). Survey forms and questionnaires are much more used as compared to other techniques of data collection and gathering as they are much convenient to develop and distribute for numeric data collection. The objectives associated with a research are already known to the researcher and he/she works in according to a set plan (Saris and Gallhofer 2007). According to Saris and Gallhofer (2007), the researcher is already aware that the data will be gathered in shape of number format and can be easily employed for statistical evaluation for progress in the research. 1.2. Qualitative Research Method According to Byram and Feng (2006), â€Å"

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

September 11 Attack on America Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

September 11 Attack on America - Research Paper Example A Description of the historical event Analysis of the historical and contemporary causes of the event Analysis of the different historical interpretations of the event Evaluation of the positive and negative outcomes of the event Conclusion September 11 attack on America Introduction September 11 attacks on America remain to be the main memorable event of the twenty first century all over the world. The recent decades have seen scientists, academicians and the theorists conduct comprehensive research in a bid to establish the causes of such a thrilling event as well as the impacts, which some remain unfolded. However, the historical descriptions in regard to this event are quite amazing to the extent of instilling fear on the contemporary society. The issue has long raised a variety of truths as well as controversies since its occurrence as many as try to swallow the event’s bitterness. There are countless historical and contemporary causes of the challenging 9/11, which are i nclusive of the bitterness of the Al-Qaeda towards America for supporting Israel. The demonstration of this bitterness is viewed in the recent incident where America portrayed its deed of killing the then Al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden. The event sets the stage of understanding the extent to which great psychological, social, political, and economic impacts overtook the contemporary America. The discussion in this paper seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of September 11 attacks. A discussion of the historical context in regard to the even will be provided. ... The terrorists are said to have hijacked four passenger Jet airliners that were meant for commercial services and crashed them at various destinations, which included the north and south towers of the world trade center, pentagon house and forth targeted the white house, the location of the American capital. The 9/11 morning dawned in a devastating state when the Al-Qaeda’s hijacked jet airliners. Two airliners were intentionally crashed at the World Trade Center Twin Towers that collapsed within two hours of attack. The third airliner was as well crashed at the Arlington, Virginia pentagon house, while the fourth was directed onto the rural Pennsylvania’s Shanksville. Three thousand people were killed on the sport, and no one survived from the crashing flights, including 60 military officials (Griffin, 2009). The report of the investigations conducted by the Newborn research personnel indicated that there had been prior plans by the terrorist group on the procedure of attacking the entire United States, including the capital city. The attack is always remembered since it resulted in massive deaths of people, who included 60 military officials, a case that has never occurred in any other war or attack in the world. Therefore, the 9/11 attacks left a legacy that all Americans have in mind up to date. The chief suspect at the time was Al-Qaeda under the leadership of Osama bin laden, who denied responsibility of the act. In 2004, he agreed to take responsibility and disclose the act where it became identified worldwide. The history commences with a heavy burst where in May 2011, the then AL-Qaeda leader Osama was found and put to

Monday, November 18, 2019

History of Germany Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

History of Germany - Essay Example Although nominally a league of equals, in practice the empire was dominated by the largest and most powerful state, Prussia. The period of Bismarck was considered a golden era under whom, Germany rose to become one among the greatest powers of the world. The imperial crown was hereditary in the House of Hohenzollern, the kings of Prussia. The last king in the Prussian era was William II. William became internationally known for his aggressive foreign policy positions and strategic blunders which pushed the German Empire into political isolation and later into World War I. Under William II, Germany no longer had long-ruling strong chancellors like Bismarck. William II wanted Germany to have its "place in the sun" like the British Empire and set Germany to begin colonial efforts in Africa and the Pacific. With much territory in Africa colonized, Germans got only a small share. This created a fight for power, which eventually triggered World War I. Emperor William II abdicated the throne and then Government received an armistice on November 11, 1918 which marked the end of World War I. It also signed the Humiliating Versailles treaty. The imperialism was succeeded by the democratic, yet flawed, Weimar Republic. It was doomed from the beginning since even moderates disliked it and extremists on both the left and right loathed it. It eventually brought Nazis led by Adolph Hitler to power. Nazism or National Socialism refers primarily to the ideology and practices of the Nazi Party under Adolph Hitler; and the policies adopted by the government of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. It established a kind of imperialism on Germany and despised Jews and communists. It ruled Germany during the pre-war period and Hitler became "The Fhrer". He started World War II citing the humiliation of Germany in World War II. Germany was defeated by allied forces in the War. Following Germany's defeat in World War II and the beginning of the Cold War, Germany was split, representing the focus of the two global blocs in the east and west. International plans for the unification of Germany were made during the early years following the establishment of the two states, but to no avail. During the summer of 1989, rapid changes took place in East Germany, which ultimately led to German reunification. Only in 1990 would Germany be reunited. Towards end of the Century, Germany became the centre of attraction in European Union. It is one of the most industrialized and developed nations of the world. (The Causes of World War One (2004)) German Education: The German Empire had a strong influence on German culture, including its education. Kingdom of Prussia was among the first countries in the world (if not the first at all) to introduce free and generally compulsory primary education, consisting of an eight-year course of primary education, Volksschule. Under the German Empire the school system became more centralized. More secondary schools were established, and the state had the right to set standards and to supervise the newly established schools. Four different types of secondary schools developed: A nine-year classical Gymnasium (focusing on Latin and Greek or Hebrew, plus one modern language), a nine-year Realgymnasium

Saturday, November 16, 2019

The History Of The Digital Citizenship Information Technology Essay

The History Of The Digital Citizenship Information Technology Essay A digital citizen is a tool which helps teachers, technology leaders and parents to understand what students, children, and technology users should know to use technology the right way and also having knowledge of it. Digital Citizenship is more than just a teaching tool it is a way to prepare technology users for a society full of technology. To be considered a digital citizen you must have any record of you being in touch with electronic devices in the world. These people create blogs and use social networks. Signing up for an e- mail address is the first step into becoming a citizenship for many people. The government uses this tool a lot to transfer and record its information; this is called the e- government. Many governments that do not have this are a disadvantage to them because they cannot organize so well their important information. There is also something called the e- democracy, it involves campaign web sites online. People who do not cooperate so much with technology te nd be isolated socially and not kept up to date in our world. Practically being a digital citizen makes life a lot easier. There are nine themes of digital citizenship. One of these nine themes is digital etiquette. It is defined as the standards of conduct and procedure. People must be taught to be responsible in this area. Another theme is Digital literacy. This is the process of teaching and learning about technology and the use of technology. Schools have been doing a great part in this, but still a lot has to be done. Learners must be taught on how to deal with digital society. Business, military, and medicine are good examples of how technology is being used differently. Another theme of technology is digital communication. This is the electronic exchange of information.à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ One of the significant changes within the digital revolution is a personà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s ability to communicate with other people. In the nineteenth century communication technology was very limited, but by the twenty first century this boosted up. The expanding of communication technology changed everything because people have the ability to keep frequent communication with anyone else, anywhere else. Although people do have to be very aware to whom they talk to because there are a lot of thieves and sexual predators. The fourth theme of digital citizenship is digital access. This is the full electronic participation in society. Technology users need to be alert of internet access and also support it. People should be able to have full access to technology no matter who they are. To become good, productive citizens we need to be committed to digital access. Another theme of digital citizenship is digital commerce. This is the electronic buying and sales of goods. A large portion of the market economy is being held electronically. For example like when people shop cloths online. Unfortunately there are illegal sales electronically, like the sales of pornography and gambling. Our society has to learn to be effective consumers in the new digital economy. The sixth theme of digital citizenship is digital law. This is the electronic responsibility for actions and deeds. This takes care of the ethics of technology in our society. Unethical use makes it a form of theft and crime. This includes for example stealing other peopleà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s information or identity. Hacking into stud and downloading illegal music violates the digital law. The Seventh theme is digital rights and responsibilities. This is the freedoms extended to everyone in a digital world. Just like how in the constitution there is a bill of rights, there is a set of rights for every digital citizen as well. Digital citizens have the right to free speech, privacy and so on. These rights also point to responsibilities as well, people have to use technology in the right manner and not violate these rights. In the digital society these two must fuse together in for everyone to be active well. The eighth theme of citizen ship is digital health and wellness. This is the physical and physiological well being in a digital technology world. Eye safety, repetitive stress syndrome, and sound ergonomic practices are problems that we need to be aware of in the technological world. Physiological issues are becoming more prevalent, like internet addiction. The final theme of digital citizenship is digital security. This is the electronic precautions to guarantee safety. In the digital community there are people who steal and corrupt other people. Therefore people should be careful and not trust other people in the digital world. Like how we have locks on our doors and alarms for fires in our house, we have to have the same for our digital world and have virus protections, backups of data, and surge control for our equipment. This is being a responsible digital citizen. In conclusion, people of our society must get in touch more often with the digital world. There are a lot of benefits for using it, but we always have to be careful in the digital community just like how we are in the non-digital community. Be the best digital citizen you can be. Work Cited Digital Citizenship Resources for Educators. Web. 24 Aug. 2010. . Digital Citizenship Education. Web. 24 Aug. 2010. . Digital Citizenship. Web. 24 Aug. 2010. . Digital Citizen. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 24 Aug. 2010. . Digital Citizen. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 24 Aug. 2010. .

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Attending a Reading by Leon Dash :: Rosa Lee Leon Dash

Rosa Lee and Leon Dash The Reading Brown Series hosted a reading by Leon Dash at the YMCA. Professor Dash was born in 1944 in Massachusetts, but he grew up in the Bronx of New York. He worked as a writer from 1966-1968 for the Washington Post. He was also in the Peace Corp shortly after traveling throughout Africa. He later went back to the Washington Post and has since done studies on various things. I had a hard time trying to find out exactly where the reading was going to take place as I walked around the YMCA. I finally got the guts to walk up to someone and ask for help, the male phenomenon. The event took place in a back room behind the kitchen. The room had four tables put together as to look like two. There were many chairs and few people to fill them as I walked in. There were a handful of people in the room and most seated around the tables set up in a V-shape from the podium. The room slowly started to fill as it came closer to twelve o’clock. As I looked around the room, I saw the â€Å"bleacher section†, a set of 12 chairs to the side of the room away from the speaker nearly filled. Most of those seats seemed to be occupied by students who appeared to be taking notes. The rest of the room had an odd accumulation of people. For a reading based around the commemoration of the Brown vs. Board of Education case, there was only one African American in the room besides the speaker. There were many older white people who gave the impression that they were faculty. A few of them and others brought lunch in on a tray or in a bag, presumably on their lunch break. The room looked as if it was split fifty-fifty between students and faculty. I would guess that there were around 20 to 25 people in the room. The room was large enough and had enough seating to make it seem as if the people were very spread out. There was very little interaction between the people before and during the event. It seemed as though everyone was just eager for the reading to start and finish.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Zara Fast Fashion

1. Features of Zara’s business model that affect its operating economics: †¢Zara owns much of its production and most of its stores, while competitors Gap and H&M own all of their stores but outsource all of their production. Benetton, on the other hand, owns all of its production but goes to market through licensing agreements. †¢Zara places more emphasis on backward vertical integration. Production runs are short and inventory is strictly controlled. This is in contrast to industry trends of high volume production. Zara's product cycle time from the design phase to the manufacturing phase is 4 to 5 weeks while the industry average is 6 to 9 months. The short cycle time enables Zara to commit to a bulk of its product much later than its competitors. 85% of Zara's in-house production occurs after the season has started in contrast to 20% in-house production of traditional retailers. †¢Zara's pricing is lower than its competitors, but profit margins are higher du e to direct efficiencies gained from a shortened, vertically integrated, supply chain. At Zara, a high inventory turnover rate results in minimal obsolescence costs, clearance sales or mark downs. Zara estimated 15%-20% of total sales as markdowns/close-outs vs. 30% to 40% for its competitors. This helps to preserve a strong profit margin and bolster market image as a â€Å"must buy now† destination. †¢Zara's advertising expenses are minimal (avg. 0. 3% of revenue) compared with 3% to 4% for other specialty retailers. These helps lower expenses and preserve strong profit margins. Zara, in turn, invests more money in renovating its storefronts and buying prime real estate for store locations. At Zara, 75% of display merchandise is turned every 3 to 4 weeks which corresponds to the average time between customer visits. The average Zara shopper visits the chain 17 times a year. In contrast, the competition records an average of 3 to 4 customer visits per year. Zara's image creates a â€Å"sense of urgency† and forces loyal customers to check in frequent ly for the latest fashions. 2. Zara’s Quick Response Capabilities – Upstream and Downstream activities: †¢Zara's quick-response capability is based on improving coordination between retail stores and product manufacturers. This coordination allows Zara to respond faster to fashion trends, thus creating a competitive advantage for Zara. Effectively utilizing information technology and vertically-integrated manufacturing facilitates Zara's quick response capability. Upstream Activities: †¢Design Teams continuously track customer preferences via data sent electronically from individual storefronts. Additionally, sales data is sent upstream from the stores to give instant feedback on Zara's new product lines generating replenishment orders for sold product. This instant upstream feedback, coupled with Zara's rapid product development gives Zara a compelling market advantage. †¢Zara sources fabric and finished products from external suppliers using purchasing offices in Europe and Hong Kong. 50% of the fabric remains undyed to facilitate in-season updating via Comditel, a subsidiary of Inditex that manages the dyeing and patterning of unfinished fabric. Delaying production of unfinished fabric allows information flowing upstream to influence Zara's production. 40% of all garments are manufactured internally or by subcontractors located near Zara's headquarters. This 40% represents the most fashionable, time-sensitive garments that Zara considers risky. Zara's local production network facilitates flexibility and risk-taking on fashion trends. Downstream Activities: †¢Zara owns its own distribution center in Arteixo. All merchandise from both internal and external suppliers passes through this distribution center. Shipments occur twice a week to each store. Items move through the center very quickly. For example, a vast majority of items are at the center only a few hours and no item stays at the center for more than three days. †¢On average, Zara spends 0. 3% of its revenue on media advertising, which is focused on opening season and end of season sales. †¢Product cycles through the stores rapidly, with new designs arriving every three weeks. This fast turnover results in a significant reduction of discounted merchandise. †¢Display shelves are sparsely stocked creating a sense of urgency (â€Å"buy now†) in the minds of shoppers, resulting in immediate sales. Location is critical for Zara to attract repeat customers. Stores are occasionally relocated in response to ever-shifting popularity of shopping districts and traffic patterns. 3. Why might Zara fail? Zara could fail due to falling into what is known as the â€Å"growth trap. † In the beginning, Zara established itself as selling medium-quality fashion clothing at affordable prices. Zara went on to gain a competitive advantage in the industry by developing a quick response capability while at the same time maintaining low customer pricing. As Zara begins to expand internationally, the potential to lose their competitive advantage increases. For example, in South America, Zara had to present a high-end rather than a mid-market image. This goes against the image of medium quality fashion at affordable prices that Zara had built and maintained since their inception. As Zara continues to grow, their stores may eventually be found on every street corner around the world. As a result, Zara runs the risk that their products may become less unique in the eyes of the consumer. According to the â€Å"growth trap,† efforts to grow can blur uniqueness, create compromises, reduce fit, and ultimately undermine competitive advantage. In the end, Zara runs the risk of becoming an ordinary retail chain as they lose sight of their competitive advantage and become more like every other retail player. In order to maintain their market share, Zara should remember their roots and focus on the excellence of their existing chain with very minimal increases in selling space. Zara Fast Fashion Inditex – Zara: Fast fashion Case analysis Company Structure and Goals Overview Zara’s vision on growth and global strategy -Building up fixed assets -Vertical integration -No advertising, creating premium stores -Fashion follower – QR to fashion trends -Strongly customer oriented -Stable growth -Markdowns half the average (15% as supposed to 30% ) -Pricing market based Business model: -Vertical operations and downstream activities -Multi-chain concept -Creative design team -Competitive advantage – Sustainable growth As attachment: Porter’s Five forces; Company structure; Financials) Problem Statement Growth challenge – 20% per annum expected, 76% of equity value implicit on Inditex’s stock price was based on expectations on future growth. Failure to deliver expected growth results might cause a serious offset in company’s market capitalization. Room for non-local growth – in average a retailer was present in 10 countries while e. g. a pharmaceutical company averaged operations in 125 countries. Problem statement is: In what geographical area(s) should further Zara expansion follow? Should there be another logistics-distribution centre created as increase of operations might cause dis-economies of scale? Should it acquire additional chains given the complexity of managing those and the risk of own-product-replacements? Preserve the margins; (visible threat to the sustainability of Index’s competitive advantage) Evaluation of the alternative solutions 1. Growth challenge: Notes: not much potential on the local market; -different markets require different positioning -though costs grow as distance grows, prices also change (margins are kept) -50% of all export is to developing countries -Zara shopper visits the store 17 times a year, average is 2-4 times -Creating a climate of scarcity and opportunity in stores Evaluate growth options in different markets: Spain Europe str4 – production in North Africa, turkey and East Europe. US – production in Mexico and the Caribbean subjected to retailing oercapacity, less fashion-forward than Europe, demands larger sizes and exhibits considerable internal variations Japan – no quotas to restrict imports, produced in China. – teenage market segment considered as the trendiest in the world Italy – fashionable, visit stores frequently and spend more on clothing 2. Change in marketing strategy Current: Three types of entering a market: company owned stores, joint ventures, franchising Strategy is standard across the countries -No adv -One big shop central city (capital) Followed by smaller ones (spreading around the country) -Shop windows used excessively -Products do not differ much from country to country -Model is downstream -No knowledge is shared -From design to stores within 4-5 weeks , industry average 9 months -Due to product testing, failure rate only 1% compared to industry average of 10% 3. Change in pricing strategy Current: Prices vary on the different markets, due to transport costs (all supplied from the base in Galicia) – this changes positioning Lower mark-down than industry average Zara: Fast Fashion The Spanish retail chain Zara has unique supply chain management practices that enable it to gain a competitive advantage over other fashion retailers in the industry. Zara’s rapid response time enables the firm to quickly respond to changing fashions while deliberately under producing products. This strategy, which is supported by competencies in logistic management, design and information systems, allows the company to maintain less inventory and higher profit margins and is a key factor to Zara’s success. The firm should continue to add value by seeking new opportunities to expand in the retail market and maintain their sustainable growth. Financial Analysis Being aware of a company’s financial health and profitability of its competitors is highly essential for everyone interested in engaging in business with Inditex. In this part of the paper, through analysis of 4 key ratios and return on invested capital, we are going to discover some of the company’s drivers of sustained competitive advantage. The 4 key ratios will focus mainly on company’s liquidity, activity, solvency and profitability, while ROIC will show how well the company manages the capital invested in operations of the business. In order to measure ability of Inditex to meet its short term obligations and to assess liquidity, it is important to calculate current ratio. As shown in exhibits section below, in 2001, Inditedx had 1. 02 million in current assets, while Gap and H&M had 1. 48 and 3. 4 million Euros in current assets for every Euro in short-term debt. This indicates that Inditex’s main competitors demonstrate greater ability to meet current payments of debt; therefore liquidity is not one of the company’s success drivers. When it comes to comparing company’s sales to various assets categories it is significant to take a look at the total assets turnover. This ratio indicates how efficiently assets are being used to support sale. From 1999-2001, this ratio increased by 1. 2%; however it was still below industry performance. Currently Inditex is industry leader with total assets turnover of 1. 8. This shows that company’s recourses are being well managed and that company is able to realize high level of sales from its investments in property, plant and equipment such as manufacturing facilities. Debt to equity ratio is used for solvency evaluation. The main purpose of this ratio is to show company’s ability to repay long-term creditors. As shown in exhibits section, this ratio decreased from 1999-2001, however, when compared to its rivals, Inditex confirmed to have the best leverage among them. When it comes to company’s financial flexibility and profitability it is highly essential to calculate Net Profit Margin ratio. This ratio measures how successful a company has been at the business of making profit for each euro earned. As presented in the exhibits section, Inditex was and still is an industry leader with Net Profit Margin ratio of 10. 6% in 2001 and 13. 10% in 2010 which means that company has currently â‚ ¬. 3 of net income for every dollar sale. In addition, according to Inditex’s income statement, we could see that company is delivering higher net income due to its ability to keep operating expenses and COGS much lower than competitors. Furthermore, the company is able to gain sustained competitive advantage by making its own products, efficiently covering lower advertising expenses and maintaining cost-effective number of employees per store. In order for Inditex to maintain continuous growth it is important to keep its profit margins at the high level. Last but not least ROIC (Return on Invested Capital) gives a good judgment on how well a company is using its money to generate returns. Inditex ROIC varied through past couple of years but is currently able to earn around 7% on each euro invested. From the exhibit table below, we could conclude that the company is making wiser investment decisions than its competitors. SCP Analysis Zara competes in a monopolistically competitive industry due to the number of players. No business in this type of industry has total control over the market price and there are no barriers to entry and exit. Because of its monopolistically competitive playing grounds, Zara’s conduct is to increase its market power by producing demand for its heterogeneous products. Through differentiation and cost leadership, Zara attempts to increase market demand by offering new items weekly while keeping a low inventory, thus making its products unique and attractive to consumers. Because of its backward vertical integration model, Zara creates a strong synergy throughout its production process. Zara has sustained a competitive advantage globally by expanding into new markets and becoming more efficient. In a onopolistically competitive industry, Zara is expected to make profits in the short run but will break even in the long run because demand will decrease as average total costs increase. This means in the long run, a monopolistically competitive firm, such as Zara, will make zero economic profit (AmosWEB, 2001). Porters Five Forces Barriers to Entry: Due to the recent recession and weak economic market, many new players have avoided entering the retail industry. Zara has taken advantage of this opportunity to be the first to enter into many markets across the world before its competitors. With the economic future improving, Zara will be facing more and more competition especially in the United States. Rather than implementing new strategies on how to differentiate itself even more, Zara will need to focus more on creating brand awareness and staying on top in the game. Zara has been the odd ball in the industry with its creative business model but with more and more retailers quickly catching on and critiquing their business model to match the economy changes, Zara faces intense competition. Unlike other retailers, for example Gap and H&M, Zara needs to fight threats around the globe. In the states, Zara competition is intensified with American retailers because many customers still do not know who Zara is or what it offers. In Europe, Zara is like a Macys for us in the states so the brand awareness is there but competition is still also high. Many retailers in Europe offer the same products as Zara, at the same or similar prices; therefore Zara needs to find ways to keep ahead of competition. Bargaining Power of Buyers: Zara is famous for its business model of just in time inventory. No other retailer can produce a garment from scratch and have it hanging in the stores within weeks than Zara. Zara also distributes large number of shipments to its stores around the world twice a week. All merchandise is shipped from Spain and all stores receive shipment on the same days, Monday and Thursday. Zara produces nearly 16,000 new designs a year which is much more than leading competitors. With the constant changing apparel Zara keeps its inventory levels extremely low. Zara customers know that if they see something in the store to buy it right then and there because tomorrow that garment will not be there. US customers are still adapting to this quick turnaround time. With their advanced technology, Zara knows what its customers want and will deliver that to them within 2 weeks’ time. Bargaining Power of Suppliers: Zara manufactures all its clothing in house. This way it has control of the entire process and can make changes more quickly and efficiently when needed. After the garments are cut and ready for assembly, Zara sends out the fabric to different sewing companies to assemble the pieces. There are many competitors that Zara can choose from when deciding where they want its clothes put together which makes the bargaining power weak. Zara also took control of this process by taking over Comditel. Comditel is in charge of nearly the entire garment process. Once the garments are ready and fully assembled they are then stored in Zara's own distribution centers. From the distribution centers they are then shipped around the globe to the thousands of Zara stores. Like many other aspects of Zara's business model, the distribution center moves even more quickly. Once the garments are in the distribution centers, they only stay there for a maximum of 3 days before be sent out to the appropriate destination. Substitutes: Some may describe Zara as a higher end replica of fashion forward items. The items featured on Prada, Chanel, and St. John runways will be replicated in 2 weeks in Zara stores at a much more affordable price but poorer quality. Therefore, there are not many substitutes that customers can use because a majority of the products are out of the price range of many customers. This is a huge benefit for Zara because its customers are willing to pay a much less price for a lesser quality replica. Competition: Zara's direct competitors include H&M, Gap, and Benetton. H&M offers nearly the same products as Zara to its customers, but a much lower quality and price. For those customers who are price sensitive, H&M would be their choice of retailer. The Gap possesses more competition in the states because it has been around longer and has its loyal customer base which is hesitant to shop elsewhere. Even though these retailers give Zara a run for its money, none of them can keep up with Zara’s business model. Other retailers do not have in house production like Zara and ship their production to other countries for the cheap labor costs. This does save money but it increases time. Time is money so while others are still in production stage, Zara is already selling out of the garment. VRIO Analysis We can use the VRIO framework to determine the competitive potential of Zara’s resources and capabilities. As we analyze Zara’s resources and capabilities, it is evident that Zara has built a highly effective, self-reinforcing business system. Three elements in particular – (1) extensive vertical integration, (2) the company’s flat management structure, and (3) exceptional communication and coordination throughout the business system – allow Zara to successfully execute its â€Å"Very Quick Fashion Follower† business model. Each of the three make the grade of being Valuable, Rare, costly for competitors to Imitate, and for which the company has Organized to take advantage. Extensive Vertical Integration: Zara prides itself in its vertical integration, with near full control over its value chain through to the end-user. The company owns or closely controls its manufacturing and distribution facilities, manages its own logistics and transportation, and wherever possible owns its own stores (except for in markets with high risk or barriers to entry). This integration brings value primarily through speed-to-market, as Zara has achieved significantly shorter cycle times than its peers. Full vertical integration is rare in the apparel industry, which typically sees companies foregoing direct involvement in elements of the value chain (e. g. , H&M outsourced all of its production, and Benetton sold the bulk of its production through licensees). It would be extremely costly for a competitor to imitate Zara’s vertical integration, and even if they were able to do so it is unclear how much or how soon they would profit from it, as much of Zara’s advantage comes from the degree to which it has developed its integrated organization over many years. Flat Management Structure: While the drive, insight, and guidance provided by founder Amancio Ortega and other top executives have obviously been crucial to the success of Inditex, it is the structure and incentives they have put in place that truly drive Zara’s exceptionality. Zara’s management structure is very flat, with autonomy and significant incentive-based compensation for store managers, thus closely aligning their interest with that of the company. This structure adds value to the company through diligent hands-on management at the local level, something so rare that Zara’s CEO noted that the availability of store managers capable of handling these responsibilities was â€Å"the single most important constraint on the rate of store additions. † The structure would be highly difficult for ompetitors to imitate, as it has been built into the culture and processes of the company over several decades. Zara has certainly proven that it is able to organize around the flat structure model – in fact many of the company’s business processes depend on the communication and input of enabled employees at the edges of the business system. Exceptional Communication and Coordination: From early on, Zara developed a focus on com municating and coordinating activities up and down the value chain and across functions. This capability focused on speeding important information on customer preferences and trends to the store network, and feedback on successful and unsuccessful products back up the line to headquarters. Exceptional communication and coordination are crucial to maximizing the value derived from Zara’s vertical integration and flat management structure. A look at the more disjointed businesses systems of peers such as The Gap and Benetton demonstrates how rare it is for all of a company’s capabilities to simultaneously reinforce each other, and how difficult it would be for them to imitate Zara. Zara has successfully organized to coordinate its activities around the fast communication of accurate information – about designs, customers, competitors, and micro- and macroeconomic factors – both up the line to top management and to the edges of the network where store managers and employees interact with its customers. Each of these three capabilities passes the VRIO test, indicating that they are indeed key competencies for Zara. Four Actions Framework In order to understand how Zara created a new value for both the buyer and the company, we utilize the Blue Ocean 4 Forces Analysis. Starting with what factors Zara raised above standard, we see what is also Zara’s key resource, the company’s application of vertical integration. While Zara is involved in both backward and forward integration, what sets it apart is precisely its backward integration into manufacturing. For instance, its competitors Gap and H&M are both practicing forward integration and unlike Zara, outsourcing their production. Zara is also constantly in communication with employees at the edges of its business system such as store managers in order to better identify and track customer preferences and trends. The company encourages increased frequency of customer visits with its short cycle times; customers flock to the stores in order to catch the current fashion trends and product lines. In addition, the company also raised responsibility and accountability for store managers by hiring experienced employees promoted within which the CEO believed was a necessary judgment especially for store additions. Zara increased market saturation leading to better economies of scale thus significantly cutting costs and raising higher awareness and increasing sales. On the other hand, Zara reduced several factors well below the industry standard in order to cut costs and increase customers’ willingness to pay. For instance, the company decreased the failure rate for new products with its intensified product testing program which included store-level personnel in the process. Zara also reduced its cycle time for design which enabled the company to offer the customer new designs in four to five weeks and existing products in two weeks; the industry standard for this process was six months for design and three months for manufacturing. A pioneer in its industry, Zara proudly enjoyed engendering revenues at full price with only 10%-15% of its sales generated at discount prices compared to its European industry at 30%-40%. Lastly, Zara reduced its ad spending below industry standard at 0. 3% of its revenue while its competitors advertised 3%-4%. Although it is relatively unlikely for an apparel company to create factors that its industry has never offered, Zara formed a distinct vision among its competitors. The company was the first within its main rivals to saturate international markets as fast as it did. Zara is a global apparel retailer with a truly international scope. While from 1980’s to 2011 H&M added eight countries to its international expansion, and Gap five, while Zara was at thirty two countries. In the competitive apparel industry, Zara managed to eliminate what its competitors continuously took for granted. The company focused on a flat management system which allowed capturing trend preferences directly from the customer and applying to mass markets. Eliminating the separation between merchandising and manufacturing was especially beneficial to a fast and productive design team. Strategic Vision Based on our analysis, Inditex has proven to be financially stable and can successfully manage its capital invested in its operations. Therefore, to maintain their sustainable growth and continue to add value, Inditex should use their commercial team’s micro/macro evaluations to seek new country market opportunities. They should to continue to use one of the three modes of entry; company-owned stores, joint ventures, and franchises, to open additional stores in European countries that have high apparel markets. Italy, Germany and United Kingdom are markets that show promise, especially Italy because of its high per capita spending on apparel. As discussed in our analysis, one of Zara’s core competencies is its extensive vertical integration, and because the case mentioned a second distribution hub already being built in Zaragoza, Spain, it can support additional European stores without being subject to diseconomies of scale. Increasing the density of Zara’s store locations in Europe will achieve logistic efficiencies. Zara keeps transportation costs low on the supply side, since most of the production takes place in Spain. Efficient distribution and inventory systems help Zara minimize costs. Demand based production means there is very little inventory in Zara’s supply chain, which results in lower working capital requirements and lower supplier opportunity costs. Another market that has potential is the United States. With changing consumer behaviors as a result of globalization, there are growth options available for specialty retailers like Zara. For example, Gap’s current ratio of 2. 18 is higher than Zara’s 1. 71; however Zara’s 13. 10% net profit margin is preferred over Gap’s 8. 21% (as illustrated in Exhibit A-1). Therefore, as long as Zara can maintain its low production and overhead costs, which are high for its competitors, they should be able to compete in the US market. Inditex should invest in prime locations in major cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles to maintain its positioning strategy. Zara should most likely develop a second central distribution center in America. Zara can strategically locate its central distribution center in or near countries where manufacturing can be done with cheap labor cost, such as Mexico. The close proximity of the distribution center to the American market will decrease logistics and help maintain Zara’s model of fast fashion and economies of scale. Internet retailing is another market opportunity that Inditex should consider. Zara can reach consumers faster and easier in the countries they are trying to expand into. This method can also help gauge consumer preferences from country to country. The internet retailing market will increase sales revenues and has a very low business risk considering the products are already being produced for the retail stores. Zara’s online shop would complement its stores, adding an extra level of service for its customers. It would also expand its customer base to reach areas where stores are not located. Patrons can shop from anywhere in the world and at any time of day or night. This essentially means more shoppers and more sales for the business. Based on our analysis, the monopolistically competitive industry structure is not the key factor driving Zara’s significant performance. Zara has leveraged its key resources to combine low price with product differentiation to create value and succeed in this industry structure. Zara has been able to increase the customer’s willingness to pay by constantly rotating its merchandise and creating a climate of scarcity and opportunity for customers. In conclusion, Zara has the potential for sustainable growth due to its competitive advantage and its ability to increase customer’s willingness to pay while decreasing its opportunity cost. The company keeps its operating income high, has a solid business model with unrivaled synergy and has various opportunities for expansion in the retail industry. Zara must continue to re-invent their image in order to stay fresh in the apparel industry and as long as they maintain their core competencies, they will continue to succeed. Zara Fast Fashion Inditex – Zara: Fast fashion Case analysis Company Structure and Goals Overview Zara’s vision on growth and global strategy -Building up fixed assets -Vertical integration -No advertising, creating premium stores -Fashion follower – QR to fashion trends -Strongly customer oriented -Stable growth -Markdowns half the average (15% as supposed to 30% ) -Pricing market based Business model: -Vertical operations and downstream activities -Multi-chain concept -Creative design team -Competitive advantage – Sustainable growth As attachment: Porter’s Five forces; Company structure; Financials) Problem Statement Growth challenge – 20% per annum expected, 76% of equity value implicit on Inditex’s stock price was based on expectations on future growth. Failure to deliver expected growth results might cause a serious offset in company’s market capitalization. Room for non-local growth – in average a retailer was present in 10 countries while e. g. a pharmaceutical company averaged operations in 125 countries. Problem statement is: In what geographical area(s) should further Zara expansion follow? Should there be another logistics-distribution centre created as increase of operations might cause dis-economies of scale? Should it acquire additional chains given the complexity of managing those and the risk of own-product-replacements? Preserve the margins; (visible threat to the sustainability of Index’s competitive advantage) Evaluation of the alternative solutions 1. Growth challenge: Notes: not much potential on the local market; -different markets require different positioning -though costs grow as distance grows, prices also change (margins are kept) -50% of all export is to developing countries -Zara shopper visits the store 17 times a year, average is 2-4 times -Creating a climate of scarcity and opportunity in stores Evaluate growth options in different markets: Spain Europe str4 – production in North Africa, turkey and East Europe. US – production in Mexico and the Caribbean subjected to retailing oercapacity, less fashion-forward than Europe, demands larger sizes and exhibits considerable internal variations Japan – no quotas to restrict imports, produced in China. – teenage market segment considered as the trendiest in the world Italy – fashionable, visit stores frequently and spend more on clothing 2. Change in marketing strategy Current: Three types of entering a market: company owned stores, joint ventures, franchising Strategy is standard across the countries -No adv -One big shop central city (capital) Followed by smaller ones (spreading around the country) -Shop windows used excessively -Products do not differ much from country to country -Model is downstream -No knowledge is shared -From design to stores within 4-5 weeks , industry average 9 months -Due to product testing, failure rate only 1% compared to industry average of 10% 3. Change in pricing strategy Current: Prices vary on the different markets, due to transport costs (all supplied from the base in Galicia) – this changes positioning Lower mark-down than industry average