Dorothy Livesay’s poem “Experience” Essay

Dorothy Livesay’s poem â€Å"Experience† teaches that if one learns solely from outside sources, then one will never know what it is to feel independence and self-growth. By examining the authors personal experiences, the imagery, and the symbolism used the above statement will be proven true. Dorothy’s personal life had a large influence on her opinion about independence and self-growth. Her lengthy career spanning over 5 decades, her involvement with politics and her general travelling not only across Canada but Paris and the soviet union kept her constantly experiencing new environments. This greatly affected her career as a poet, she let herself be influenced by all cultures and her surroundings. She began travelling independently at a young age and co inherently matured quickly, proving the idea that personal experience and learning first hand is essential in fully understanding all aspects of life. Livesay’s comparison of having situations and experiences forced upon you to the idea of eating bitter and stale bread leaving her feeling tired and hollow shows a direct relation to the idea of maturing and growing as a person. â€Å"So I went on my own road, tasting all fruits, all breads.† As she grows up she has everyone around her assuming they know what’s best and force her to follow their ideas without any say. This hurts her ability to be independent and leaves her completely reliant on others and lacking personality and imagination. Realising this as she continues to grow older she decides to travel and experience new ideas and ways of living to learn for herself what’s best for her personally. Although it is not guaranteed that everything you come across will have positive effects on your life, eventually what you’re looking for will come across and you will grow as an individual. In the poem, Livesay uses bread as a symbol for the situations and experiences forced upon you by others, and fruits as the adventures you make and learn from independently. The bread is described as being bitter and stale, leaving her heart feeling empty and unsatisfied†¦as if something was  missing. Once the decision was made to travel and experience everything for herself – both breads and fruits – she felt like that part of her that was missing had been filled and completed. One could infer that the part of her that was missing was her independence and maturity, which she developed as she continued to travel and work. â€Å"Tasting all fruits, all breads: And if some were bitter, others were sweet. So I learned, how the heart is fed.† Dorothy Livesay’s personal life following the idea of independence and growth through travelling alone and learning first hand, the imagery developed in the descriptions of how the bread and fruits taste, and the use of symbolism turning the idea of bread into undesirable events and fruits being the idea of self-growth and maturity show that the core message in Dorothy Livesay’s poem â€Å"Experience† is one cannot grow and mature as a person if they learn solely from outside sources.

Cloud computing Essay

1. How does Salesforce.com use cloud computing? Salesforce.com provides customer relationship management and other software applications using the software-as-a-service business model over the Internet. Cloud computing, also known as on-demand computing, eliminates the need for a business to make large up-front hardware and software investments and reduces the time to implement new programs. Subscribers to Salesforce.com don’t have to purchase or maintain any hardware (albeit personal computing devices) nor do they have to install any special operating systems, database servers, or application servers. Other than the monthly user subscription fee, businesses reduce their licensing and maintenance fees. Users access the Salesforce.com cloud through a standard Web browser or a mobile handheld device. Businesses using the Salesforce.com’s cloud have an easier time scaling their system as they increase or decrease their workforce – they adjust the number of subscriptions to the cloud. Salesforce.com offers some customization of its software so a business can adjust the software to unique business processes. It offers three types of clouds: Sales cloud, service cloud, and the custom cloud. The sales and service clouds help businesses improve sales and customer service. The custom cloud provides a venue for customers to develop their own applications for use within the broader Salesforce network. 2. What are some of the challenges facing Salesforce as it continues its growth? How well will it be able to meet those challenges? Salesforce.com faces the challenge of increased competition from traditional software methods and new services from current companies that try to replicate Salesforce.com’s business model. It also faces the challenge of expanding its services into other areas that allow business users to complete more necessary tasks. It is uncertain whether Salesforce.com will be able to meet the challenges. By implementing new, beneficial services that other CRM products do not offer, Salesforce.com can overcome the competition from leading service providers. Because Salesforce.com is partnered with Google, the implementation of new services, such as Gmail, Google Docs, Google Talk, and Google Calendar will be easy and cost-effective. 3. What kinds of businesses could benefit from switching to Salesforce and why? Agricultural, construction, manufacturing, retail, information, and real estate businesses could all benefit from switching to Salesforce. Each of these business types requires a method for keeping records of sales and handling sales information. All of the sales information could be stored in one place, Salesforce.com, and be managed by any authorized business employee. 4. What factors would you take into account in deciding whether to use Salesforce.com for your business? I would mainly consider the fact that â€Å"renting† the use of software, rather than purchasing a tangible copy, would save my business a significant amount of funds. The installation of software and the installation/configuration of hardware would be unnecessary, which would also decrease the amount of time to implement the software into the business. With Salesforce.com, the implementation time can be as little as a few days, unlike purchasing a copy of the product, which can take months. I would also consider the possibility of service outages and whether they would drastically affect the performance of my business. 5. Could a company run its entire business using Salesforce.com and App Exchange? Explain your answer. A company could run its entire business using the combination of Salesforce.com and App Exchange. Salesforce.com supports applications or add-ons that are capable of the following functions: Sales, Marketing, Manufacturing, Finance and Administration, Human Resources. The latter functions are the necessities to run a business. App Exchange also allows functions like IT Management and Partner Relationship Management. These functions add to the list of services that are necessary or beneficial to running a business

Behavioral and Cognitive Learning

In behavioral theory, learning involves changes or modifications in our behavior which had in turn been influenced, strengthened or weakened by the environment or other external influences. The introduction of reinforcers greatly impacts behavior. Cognitive theory, on the other hand, posits that individuals are actively involved in the learning process. Rather than external influences, learning depends on already existing prior knowledge.Following this logic, this means that each student after a straight lecture will leave the room carrying with him different sets of new knowledge. A major difference between the two theories is that proponents of behaviorists suggest that learning is involuntary while cognitive learning contends that people are in control of their own learning. For believers of the behavioral theory, the approach to training would be the regular use of contiguity and reinforcers.Contiguity is based on association of experiences that occur in sequence. This is much li ke Pavlov’s dog which salivates in the presence of food. When food was preceded by the ringing of a bell, the dog soon salivates at the ring of the bell. Introduction of reinforcers is another method employed by the behaviorists. This involves a reward-and-punishment scheme on ending or strengthening behavior. Hence, if you do well as a participant, you would probably receive a positive reinforcement so as to further strengthen such behavior.For trainers who employ the cognitive learning theories, they will most likely provide lessons organized in a way that would take into consideration a student’s experience and stage of development such that prerequisite trainings may have to be recommended to be taken first before moving on into an advanced stage. General skills will be taught first, reasons and motivations for tasks will usually be provided and group work promoted. Reference Michigan State University. (2005). Teach online. Retrieved January 15, 2008, from http://t eachvu. vu. msu. edu/public/designers/what_is_learning/index. php? page_num=5. Behavioral And Cognitive Learning In behavioral theory, learning involves changes or modifications in our behavior which had in turn been influenced, strengthened or weakened by the environment or other external influences. The introduction of reinforcers greatly impacts behavior. Cognitive theory, on the other hand, posits that individuals are actively involved in the learning process. Rather than external influences, learning depends on already existing prior knowledge.Following this logic, this means that each student after a straight lecture will leave the room carrying with him different sets of new knowledge. A major difference between the two theories is that proponents of behaviorists suggest that learning is involuntary while cognitive learning contends that people are in control of their own learning. For believers of the behavioral theory, the approach to training would be the regular use of contiguity and reinforcers.Contiguity is based on association of experiences that occur in sequence. This is much li ke Pavlov’s dog which salivates in the presence of food. When food was preceded by the ringing of a bell, the dog soon salivates at the ring of the bell. Introduction of reinforcers is another method employed by the behaviorists. This involves a reward-and-punishment scheme on ending or strengthening behavior. Hence, if you do well as a participant, you would probably receive a positive reinforcement so as to further strengthen such behavior.For trainers who employ the cognitive learning theories, they will most likely provide lessons organized in a way that would take into consideration a student’s experience and stage of development such that prerequisite trainings may have to be recommended to be taken first before moving on into an advanced stage. General skills will be taught first, reasons and motivations for tasks will usually be provided and group work promoted. Reference Michigan State University. (2005). Teach online. Retrieved January 15, 2008, from http://t eachvu. vu. msu. edu/public/design

The impact of language on Friday life in Foe Essay

The impact of language on Friday life in Foe - Essay Example Upon arrival in England, Susan offers to accommodate Friday (McGrath 1). She had a desire to document her experiences while on the Island, but is limited in her language skills. Thus, she requests Daniel Foe, a writer, for assistance. This mission is not fully accomplished since Foe, being the language expert, chooses what he thinks is entertaining to write about, thus frustrating Susan’s efforts to have her story told (Caracciolo 105). Language is one of the themes in J. M. Coetzee’s book Foe. Language is key and paramount in any communication and accurate or inaccurate presentation of issues through language as a tool of communication can impact positively or negatively on the message being communicated. If not well presented, it could give the wrong message and impression about the content value of any work of art. Language gives a person power to communicate adequately. By Daniel Foe suppressing and omitting part of Susan’s story does an immense disservice to what she, in reality, wants to communicate. Lack of proper and/or appropriate language skills and knowledge can also be a significant impediment (Caracciolo 105). This is the case with Susan when she is frustrated by Foe for choosing to incorporate the truth about her, but feeling the book bibliography with fiction. Susan’s case highlights the power of language because, if she was well equipped with proper writing skills, she would have been in a better position to write her own story. In her frustration, she attempts to write the story herself but fails due to her lack of proper writing skills. Through the character of Susan, Coetzee is highlighting the plight of the voiceless. Since Susan cannot communicate well, she is left helpless, thus representing the people in society who cannot be heard because of their incapability to communicate effectively (McGrath 1). Foe, on the other hand, represents the people who tyrannize the underprivileged by downplaying their issues resu lting in them not being heard at all. Using the theme of language, Coetzee brings out the plight of those who are oppressed because of their language handicap and the oppressors like Daniel Foe who ensures that the oppressed remain downtrodden. Coetzee uses another character, Friday, to further the theme of language in his book. He is said to be mute because, according to his master Crusoe, his tongue was chopped off by his previous master. This can be interpreted to show the extend oppressors would go to silence the marginalized in the society. Cutting off his tongue totally stops and impairs the downtrodden such as Friday form speaking or having a say in matters concerning or affecting them (Woelert 118). The writer being from South Africa may through these characters be highlighting the brutality of the Apartheid system. It can be construed as a way that those in authority used to silence the minority. His inability to speak because his tongue was cut off by his colonial masters totally limits his language communication skills and ability. Friday brings to mind not only the plight of the Africans in South Africa, but also the unvoiced oppressed people in the society. Crusoe is another character in the novel whose refusal to talk about his past can be seen as to portray Coetzee’s language theme on non verbal communication. He is in a position to tell his story but instead chooses not to in comparison to Friday who if given a chance may be willing

A Raisin in the Sun Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

A Raisin in the Sun - Research Paper Example Amid these struggles, hope was the only reason why the middle black class kept up with the struggle. When the Younger family in the play, A Raisin in the Sun, faced with numerous economic challenges receives insurance premiums of their father, it rekindles their hope of having a better life. However, the money comes as a blessing in disguise. Not only does it take the family through a rocky trial, it also revealed of the cracks among the family members. With $10000, they envisioned a full transformation of their lifestyles. The money overwhelms then in such significant levels that they fall apart on how to use the fortune. Lena, their mother favors the idea of a home, opting to buy a house in a white neighborhood, while Beneatha hoped to receive money for her school. It was however Walter’s idea that pulled them back to their initial economic status, of hopelessness, after losing the rest of the money in a liquor business scum. This essay analyses Walter Lee’s character , a married man full of determination, hard work and highly ambitious, but at the same time, too stubborn and trusting that he cost the family its fortune. The author portrays Walter Lee as a passionate man bursting with energy, but equally desperate, bound by shackles of poverty (Hansberry and Langston 8). Having tasted the bitterness of poverty, Walter is highly determines save his family form the captivity of poverty. Working as a chauffeur, he holds on to their belief that one day, he would be in a position to transform the family’s lifestyle. He envisioned taking them from a house, squeezed enough that it denied them peace and comfort. He even reveals his dreams and fantasies to the family as he announces, â€Å"I have bigger dreams. I want to be more! When I drive downtown I pass cool, fancy restaurants where boys younger than I am work million-dollar deals.† As he dedicatedly ferried his boss in his errands, he felt much obliged to go by his duties, carrying on with his dreams and hopes. It was however his wife Ruth, who filled his thoughts. He could not understand why she could not wear pearls and have the luxuries that every other women in the United States had. Therefore, his dreams revolved around plans of giving her such life. The much efforts he puts however does not seem to bear fruits, as he ends up broke. The little salary he receives from his job cannot win the family the basic lifestyle. When news about Ruth’s pregnancy comes, he desperately starts looking for an opportunity to make it in life. His heavy efforts and lack of success makes him a bitter man. Totally, he is disgusted with his life, especially because he works for a rich white man. Consequently, this demeans him significantly, making him feel less than a man. He even openly shows his dissatisfaction with his job, saying that, â€Å"I drive a man around and say "yes, sir" and "no, sir" all day long!† (Piechocki 51). This is his high level of dissatisfact ion. At his thirties, an age where men are in total control of their lives, he cannot provide for his family. It is his desire to succeed that pulls him to the edge, making him prone to abuse and misuse. Struggling to find a way of providing for his family, he lands a deal with a number of his friends that appears not only lucrative, but also promising; a liquor business that his family is totally against. A desperate person would buy any idea coming his way, so long as it shows some hopes of

School Gun Debate Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

School Gun Debate - Research Proposal Example   However, these enacted laws have laid down some very specific conditions that must be met by educators before they are given a permit to carry these weapons to school. In Georgia and the state of Missouri students and teachers can carry concealed guns to their campuses (Severson, 15). However, the condition is that these guns must be under lock, inside a car. In Massachusetts, Nevada and Louisiana, teachers can carry guns to their schools, as long as they have a gun permit from the state, and a written permission from leading administrators of the school. In Hawaii, and New Hampshire, teachers can carry guns to their school environments, on condition that they have a permit that allows them to carry these weapons (Severson, 16). ... However, the laws of these states do not allow students to carry such kind of weapons to school. Texas also allows teachers to carry guns to school, however, under very strict terms. According to their Children’s Protection Act, teachers can ac t as school marshals (Severson, 21). To obtain this position, they have to take and pass a series of mental tests. They also have to receive training on the efficient methods of handling a weapon, and the response in case of an attack. The argument advanced by these states in allowing teachers to carry these weapons is that there will be an increase in security within the school environment. Arming teachers with guns will enhance security within the school environment because they will protect students against armed attackers in case it happens. When they have guns, an armed attacker will be discouraged from attacking the school (Cook, 2021). This is because he or she will expect some resistance. In case of an attack, every minute and second counts. Calling the police and waiting for their arrival is not effective in protecting students and armed attackers from being killed or injured. This is because before the police arrive, an armed attacker would have killed many people. This wi ll only happen if the attacker does not face any resistance. For example, if the nearest police unit is 13 minutes away. This will mean that before the police arrive, an attacker will have 13 minutes to kill and injure unarmed students and teachers. This is because he or she won’t meet any resistance. However, if teachers had weapons, the attacker will face resistance, and this might lead to the protection of the students and teachers lives.

Mass media and child labour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 11250 words

Mass media and child labour - Essay Example The overall image that emerges from the literature on both topics was that child labour is a very real problem and that the media has the power to try and help eradicate the worst forms of it. Therefore, the objective of this dissertation was to examine to what extent the mass media as a communication tool influence society’s perception on businesses involved in child labour. This was done by using qualitative research methods in the form of six individual in-depth interviews and two focus groups made up of three children in each. The purpose of which to answer the deeper, more probing questions of; (1) If media exposure to the issue of child labour influences the public’s opinion on the companies involved; (2) What industry has the highest visibility in the media and (3) Is it important to consumers whether or not a company practices Corporate Social Responsibility. The finding revealed that media exposure to the issue of child labour did in fact influence how they viewed the companies that were being named. Furthermore, that the industry that the respondents viewed as being more visible in the media was that of retail. Lastly, it was extremely important to them for companies to act ethically. The implications of this dissertation is that it reveals the little power one individual has on influencing the practices of a company as despite the empathy that one feels alternative chooses are not readily available. Nonetheless, this dissertation for companies should worry them as the same way in which riots broke out after Primark’s scandal was broadcast the same could follow suit. However, this dissertation goes further to show companies that it need not be hard or expensive to implement best practice procedure to ensure that nowhere in their supply chain is a company that is associated with child labour. Corporate communication encompasses a number

Human Resources Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Human Resources - Research Paper Example The function that oversees the employees concerns is called Human resource management at the workplace. In the organization, all employees are viewed as vital enterprise assets and their value is enhances by gradual development. Therefore, enterprises always engage themselves in a barrage of practicing human resources to capitalize on human assets. Organizations apply technics in governing human resources as suggested by (Renkly, 2004). The first technic is to classify employees in into demographic groups. In this trend, workforce or populations characteristic are categorized using age, social class and even gender. The trend unquestionably has effects in relations to offering of pension, packages of insurance and annual leaves. Another technic in managing human resources is to understand its diverse characteristics especially their culture. Strategic workforce planning Strategic human planning should address alignment of organizations human capital program with their current mission , emerging mission and programmatic objectives. Human resource management should develop long-term strategies for acquiring, training and developing workers to attain programmed goals. Approaches of managing human resources may vary from one manager to another or from one enterprise to another. However, there are some principals that guide managers in coming up with strategic workforce plan (Seijts, 2006). The principals address key issues to be considered irrespective of the context in which the planning is done. First, the top managers, workers and the stakeholders must involve themselves in communicating, developing and implementation of the strategic workforce plan. This will help supervisors, and employees’ agency managers understand the need to work as a team. It ensures entire agency understands benefits of changes as defined in the strategic workforce plan. Clear communications create transparent procedures and policies that help in utilization of human capital (Pinkl eton& Austin, 2006). Role of human resources in an organization The human resource management team in the organization has a mandate to manage employees in the organization. There are limitations and the advantages in of this function. The departments ensure all staff follows the general direction, rule and regulations of the work place. The departments constant remind and clarify the means set towards attainment of organizations goals. The department also is responsible for creating compensations or incentives to be awarded to employees in order to act as a motivation (Heneman& Judge, 2006). Human resource manager act as employees sponsor and advocate (Williams& Gilmore, 2009). The managers play an important role towards organizational success. The knowledge about advocacy of people is an essential skill that managers need to have. The managers foster effective methods in setting of goals and empowering workers through assigning them with responsibilities. This helps in creating or der in the organization. Professionals in human resources help establish culture and climate of the organization. The environment creates the commitment and efficiency in serving the customers. In this role, human resources manager provide the overall talent management strategies. The manager also develops opportunity and create workers assistance program (Jackson, 1992). The frequent evaluation of the organizatio

Advantages of using cement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Advantages of using cement - Essay Example ement, including calcium, iron, silicon, and aluminum (â€Å"How Cement is†) are readily available and the chemical reaction required to make cement is easy to set, cement is found everywhere. The wonderful aspect of these ingredients is that their combination in different percentages and under different conditions leads to the manufacturing of cement with different properties and color. These days, a lot of varieties of cement are produced that vary with respect to color, strength, texture, and setting time. The tendency in cement to be manufactured in different varieties makes it a very useful material in architecture. The different colors of cement are used for aesthetic purposes, whether between bricks, stones, or wall tiles. Certain varieties of cement are so fine and have such beautiful colors that they do not require any additional coatings of paint or varnish over them to look presentable. This saves the cost of the constructors. Cements used in architecture are either hydraulic or non-hydraulic. Both varieties are made by addition of certain admixtures in the ingredients during the process of manufacturing cement. Hydraulic cement is manufactured by replacing part of cement in the concrete with pozzolanas. This activates the setting of cement in wet conditions, and enhances the tendency of the hardened concrete to deter chemical attack. On the other hand, use of non-hydraulic cement in concrete prevents it from setting in the wet conditions. This is a very useful property as it increases the setting time of concrete, as may be required to form architectural elements of certain shapes and styles. Cement finds its biggest use in mortar and concrete. Mortar is used as a binding material in bricks and blocks. Concrete is used to form hard surfaces like floors and roofs. The quality that makes cement particularly suitable for inclusion in the mortar and concrete is its high capability of binding the materials together and achieve strengths that cannot be

How the Vietnam war changed the u.s Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

How the Vietnam war changed the u.s - Essay Example They are of the view that it changed the manner in which the American society perceived their Constitutional rights, the media, as well as the government (Lawrence, 2008). While the War torn the country apart to some extent, it brought the country in a different and new ways. The controversial nature of the war spurred a huge many sources of protest, against how power is used by the government, how far could the freedom of expression be stretched, and mainly against the war itself (Franklin, 2000). In order to understand the effects of the Vietnam War in to the American society, this paper will discuss how the war changed the U.S. At the beginning of the Vietnam War, majority of the American public believed that the United States involvement in the war was justified. Most of the Americans supported the containment strategy as a way of protecting the interests of the United States (Nulty, 2007). They saw the need for thousands of the Americans to fight and protect their country. However, as the war progressed, Americans realized that the whole concept of the Vietnam War was flawed. As a result of this realization, there were demonstrations and protests across America against the war. The defeat of the United States in the war severely demoralized the American people. The citizens of America had liked to perceive themselves and their country as being invincible and therefore losing the war meant that their self confidence as well as pride would be lost (Hagopian, 2009). The war led to a reappraisal of America’s glory and power, as well as dampening the self confidence of the American people. It also led to economic woes and increased debts considering the huge amount of resources that was used in during the war. The eventualities of the war weakened the public support in the American government, as well as the competence and honesty of its leaders. A high degree of suspicion and skepticism were the main characterized

Business Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business Strategy - Essay Example This will range from an individual to an organisation. A contractor of a construction project can subcontract the electricity wiring to the subcontractor. Recommendation as a subcontractor or main contractor The amount of resources available would determine whether a company or an individual can be the main contractor or the subcontractor. The private family owned company would be better off operating as a sub contractor rather than a main contractor or even carrying out both the activities of the main contractor and the subcontractor. The operations of the company as evidenced by the financial statements indicate large amounts of sum that has been used to transact the liabilities. As much as the liabilities still run lower than the assets, the margin is very small and would not guarantee that the company will not incur losses soon. A company would consider being a main contractor or a subcontractor depending on the balance between the assets and liabilities. This financial statement is important to determine the profitability and the liquidity of the company. A subcontractor may decide to operate so not only because of the limit of resources but because the subcontractor is more specialised in a given section of the contract than the main contractor. The company’s decision to become a main or subcontractor should be based on the health and safety of the employees and workers of the organisation which would have been provided to give a judgement that is based on all the factors that affect the operation of the compan

Assessment Portfolio and Analysis Essay Example for Free

Assessment Portfolio and Analysis Essay The purpose of assessment. b.Your plan for including assessment when working with children. c.How you can use assessment to document children’s work. d.How you will use children’s interests and ideas when assessing. Assessment Portfolio and Analysis The mission is to help children/students to better themselves and be able to finish any task that they have started to the fullest. The goal is to determine where the child is at developmentally/educationally. I will learn where the child stands, what they already know and how farther they can be pushed to achieving our goal. According to the text, â€Å"Assessment is the process of gathering information about children from several forms of evidence, then organizing and interpreting that information† (Wortham, S.C. (2012). I know that it is the teacher’s responsibility to test the students, from that the teacher will be able to understand where each individual child stands. My plan for including assessment when working with children is to be able to carefully be assess the child and take my time. I will make accurate decisions regarding the child and will include the child’s parents as well for their input. One way that I can use assessment to document the child’s work is through portfolio. According to teacher.scholastic.com, â€Å"These purposeful collections of childrens work illustrate their efforts, progress, and achievements over time. Teachers and children can compile the collections together from work completed in the classroom. As they talk together about the childs interests and progress, they develop new activities for the child to focus on.† (http://teacher.scholastic.com/professional/assessment/perfassess.htm)

Homelessness Act 2002 Analysis

Homelessness Act 2002 Analysis Assessing the new homelessness strategies introduced by the Homelessness Act 2002: are the housing needs of the young homeless in the UK closer to being adequately addressed? Chapters Introduction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Page 3 Homelessness Act 2002 Young People†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Page 5 Distinctive Qualities of ‘Youth Homelessness’†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Page 10 Local Authorities and Discretion Post-2002:†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..Page 12 Lack of Monitoring Procedures / Inadequacy of Performance Indicators†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.Page 12 Diversity or Chaos under the Homelessness Act 2002†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.Page 15 Priority Need†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Page 18 Conclusion†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Page 20 Bibliography†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Page 21 ‘We have weapons of mass destruction we have to address here at home. Poverty is a weapon of mass destruction. Homelessness is a weapon of mass destruction. Unemployment is a weapon of mass destruction.’ Dennis Kucinich[1] Introduction Property, as a jurisprudential concept, holds a lot of sway in liberal philosophical thought. We see property as a central theme for such institutional writers as Locke, Hegel, Kant and Nozick who see Property Rights as going to the centre of ‘sanctioned behavioural relations among men’[2]. Thus in a purely philosophical manner the Homeless are truly disenfranchised from the underlying rationale of law. This pervasive attitude also leads to a disenfranchisement across a number of important social spheres such as voting, raising money and unemployment benefit However, we recognise limits on all property rights in order to help disadvantaged, for example the Family Law Act 1996 recognises rights for a spouse who suffers domestic abuse[3]. This work is concerned to look at the quantitative and qualitative outcomes for young[4] homeless people achieved by the statutory framework, how does this demographic fare given their no-property status? The importance of this review cannot be underestimated. In the U.K. it is a general problem which ‘despite economic prosperity, a private housing market boom, and a raft of legislation and homelessness initiatives, recorded levels of homelessness in the U.K. remain stubbornly high’[5] and in recent years the problem was more prosaically described as ‘taking us back towards the deep social divisions of Victorian society a moment in history than no one wants to see repeated’[6] However, despite it’s persistent nature and damaging social effects there is a dearth of real academic research on the topic as a whole. This work hopes to contribute to an area which desperately needs quality academic attention. Secondly, this review is prompted by similar government observations that suggest a review of the legislative apparatus is timely: ‘It is our view that there should not be homeless people in the UK in 2004. A home is a fundamental right which should not be denied to anyone living in as affluent and ambitious a society as our own.’[7] The Select Committee then goes onto argue that ‘a review of the workings of the 2002 Act would identify the weak spots for the government’[8]. This work will carry out such a review. However, given the limitation of space it focuses on the young homeless. In recent years this demographic has been receiving more academic and media attention than others simply because of the prevalence of youth homelessness within England – in 2004 it was estimated that up to 52,000 young people between the ages of 16-25 were homeless and at any rate that this demographic accounts for a quarter of all the homeless throughout the U.K.[9]. However, whilst there may be a reasonable degree of peripheral awareness of this subject as a social problem which has particular risks and difficulties associated with it there has been no current published research on the effectiveness of the homeless strategies, implemented under the Homelessness Act 2002, as it applies to this demographic. This work will attempt to fill this void and give some guidance on the direction of any review or reform of the legislative apparatus. Homelessness Act 2002 Young People The Homelessness Act 2002 was the culmination of a significant policy from New Labour which, obviously, therefore provides the underlying rationale of the statute. If we are to understand what reforms to the content or rationale are required from our qualitative and quantitative analyses of the operation of the statute we need to first understand what the existing structure represents. Whilst it is fair to say that ‘the UK has a lengthy history of voluntary and statutory provision for homeless people’[10] statutory intervention on a large scale was not comprehensively implemented until the introduction of the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977. However, for many commentators this legislation was seen as ‘an ineffective and inadequate means of resolving the problems of many homeless persons’[11]. There were numerous problems with the legislation which we will briefly prà ©cis so as to provide a comparator to the 2002 Act. A large degree of discretionary decision-making was left in the hands of local housing authorities[12] which meant that groups of homeless people who didn’t satisfy the ‘priority need’ criteria or other statutory requirements for other groups of homeless people had virtually no protection[13]. The 1977 Act setup a two-tiered approach which imposed different duties on the local authority at each level. Its initial duties operated when an individual made an application to the local housing authority which indicated a possibility that the person may either be homeless or threatened with homelessness[14]. Accommodation would then only be provided if the local authority had done an investigation and had reasonable grounds for believing the facts of the application and the person fell into a category of ‘priority need’. Otherwise the duty was one of advice and appropriate assistance[15]. Furthermore, the extent of the duty to provide accommodation only covered a ‘period of time reasonable to enable the applicant to secure housing on his own’[16]. The system setup had a narrowing effect in that there were large groups of people, typically non-parent single individuals[17], who had to rely on charity or voluntary services to provide any kind of accommodation. This system was argued to have lead to ‘an unprecedented increase in street homelessness in the U .K.’[18]. The period between the 1980’s and 1997 was mirrored by an exponential growth in NGO agencies providing support to the homeless in stark contrast to the complete lack of statutory change, although consolidation did occur in the Housing Act 1996. There were Government sponsored programmes such as the ‘Rough Sleepers Initiative’ and ‘Supporting People’ which transcended many professions such as housing, health, social work, education and employment. These multi-agency initiatives have been seen as vital to the ending of homelessness however there was always a fear over the disjointed and inefficient nature of these many statutory and voluntary agencies as well as confusion to the individual faced with homelessness[19]. As of 5th May 2006 there is a new UK government department for Communities and Local Government, taking over from the Homelessness Directorate within the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, which is now in charge of overseeing the current framework. The Labour Government came to power in 1997 on the back of a manifesto pledge that they would ‘impose a new duty on local authorities to protect those who are homeless through no fault of their own and are in priority need’[20]. The DETR[21] published the Housing Green Paper in April 2000 which outlined the intention of the government this was then introduced in the form of the Homes Bill which fell because of the proroguement of parliament for the general election. However, this was quickly followed by another bill that in time became the Homelessness Act 2002 that received Royal Assent on 26th February 2002 The 2002 Act made some very significant changes to the pre-existent statutory framework detailed above[22]. The central provision was a requirement placed upon local authorities to carry out a review of homelessness in their area and publish strategies to overcome this within 12 months of the passing of the Act and to be renewed every five years[23]. These included audits of current levels of homelessness, programs for combating, preventing or alleviating homelessness. The information gathered under the review was then to be scrutinised and the strategy would build upon any strengths and remedy weaknesses[24]. This was part of a clearer focus on devolving responsibility for tackling homelessness at a local level however the Act did also modify the pre-existent law by amending the Housing Act 1996. Whilst not implementing a duty it did give local housing authorities the discretionary power to give unintentionally homeless applicants not in priority need accommodation whereas the duty before was advice and assistance. The latter duty still exists but is more clearly defined and requires an investigation into the individual’s circumstances and needs. The hope of the government was that these ‘two provisions combined†¦can be used by applicants to argue that local authorities should consider referrals of applicants not in priority need to registered social landlords’[25]. There was formerly a two year time limit on the duty to provide housing but the Act now requires more than simply time lapsing including refusal of unsuitable accommodation, intentional homelessness or a change in circumstances[26]. This provision will introduce a lot more equity into the law and its arbitrary time limits. The largest change to the law was undoubtedly wrought through ss.13 – 16 which completely change the rules on allocation of a property in particular the power of the local authorities to power to exclude specific groups from priority need and reduce other priority[27]. Exclusion is permitted to individuals subject to immigration control or those deemed unsuitable by reason of their ‘unacceptable behaviour’[28]. Behaviour in general is also permitted as a reason for reducing the priority of an individual[29]. Local Authorities are still provided with discretion to create an allocation scheme but in determining preferences to be given in that scheme the definition of homelessness was widened to include all homeless, even those who are intentionally so or are not in priority need. The idea here is that in allocating available housing to all homeless people, rather than those that the local authority has a pre-existent duty to provide accommodation to, will clearly be more equitable[30]. For the sake of brevity the other main changes are bullet-pointed: Local authorities are able to offer assured tenancies and assured short-hold tenancies provided by private landlords in order to meet their duty to provide accommodation. However, refusal of such an offer doesn’t discharge the duty of the local authority as it normally would. The protections surrounding domestic violence are extended to those not only actually suffering but also those threatened with violence. A requirement that social security services’ cooperate with housing authorities this is to combat those families that are intentionally homeless with children. In summary the 2002 Act placed a much higher emphasis on the responsibility of local authorities through the review and strategy requirements whilst also making relatively minor amendments to the pre-existent structure which were principally designed to extend local authorities duties and powers regarding the homeless. A large part of this work will concentrate on the discretion of local authorities as detailed above in particular looking at whether the Act had created disparity between local authorities and a lack of meaningful monitoring of the operation of discretion or whether the approach by local authorities has lead to more flexibility and choice for individuals. This will be a qualitative assessment of the impact of the Act however we will also have regard to substantive aspects and ask whether the definitions of ‘priority need’ and ‘homelessness’[31] adequately cater for the urgent need of young, 16-25 year old, persons. It is worth just noting at t his point that the Act and the surrounding government publications do not mention youth homelessness as a target but homelessness in general. It is therefore accepted that we may be critiquing the Act for things outside its original remit however given the importance of this demographic any failing will be considered a large one. Distinctive Qualities of ‘Youth Homelessness’ The fundamental question for this work is to assess whether or not the Homelessness Act 2002 has to any degree moved the U.K. closer to addressing the needs of young homeless persons. However, in doing this what we have to be aware of is that ‘homeless people are a heterogeneous group with diverse social, economic and health needs’[32]. The exposition of these particularistic needs has not always been made explicit but to some degree it needs to be done so for this work to be of any importance. In other words, what are the specific needs of the youth homeless demographic? This is a difficult question and in itself could form the basis of a much larger work however it is possible to glean from some sources that there are a few predominant needs of the youth demographic which we can use to evaluate the effectiveness of the measures under the 2002 Act. One clear need is that of information, whilst always important the issue is more acute in youth homelessness given their relative inexperience and lack of social awareness[33]. As a logical corollary to this it would include training staff and volunteers on how to relate such information to children[34]. In general this is necessary because unlike other demographics there is a lack of self-sufficiency or financial resources[35], extremely high emotional and financial exploitability leading to higher risk of mental illness or disease of some form[36]. The problems with self-sufficiency and financial resources are explained because a youth group will tend to have little education, qualifications or job exper ience. This is coupled with the fact that they will have little or no experience of independent living which prevents them from doing even the most basic of things[37]. This has been recognised by a number of commentators who argue that ‘the problems of long term homelessness are to an extent due to lack of skills, knowledge and social development’[38]. Finally, another prominent need for the youth homelessness is not just the provision of accommodation but is the need for further support after the allocation of accommodation, of any kind. It has been argued that this is a particular need of youth homeless and that provision of such support must be ‘flexible, appropriate and geared to need’[39]. The foregoing is not meant to be an authoritative statement but a guide to what we will be analysing in the rest of this work. In order to assess the Homelessness Act 2002 we will be looking at how local authorities and the statute are capable of meeting some of these needs that we have outlined above. Local Authorities and Discretion Post-2002 As we saw, above, the local authorities have a great deal of control and discretion in publishing a strategy and creating there own allocation criteria. The importance of this is that the young homeless tend not to fall into an explicit category of those in ‘priority need’, as we shall see, and therefore the operation of local authorities under the Act become of the utmost importance to assessing the effectiveness of the legislative structure. In determining this we are looking at three separate but inter-related areas that might impact on the effectiveness of providing a coherent approach to youth homelessness. Thus if we look at needs such as information provided to the young – there is a clear danger that if there is a disjointed approach across local authorities then the quality of life enjoyed by those young people who fall into homelessness will become a post-code lottery. Lack of Monitoring Procedures / Inadequacy of Performance Indicators The first specific area that this research wants to uncover is whether or not the lack of monitoring provisions leads to an inconsistent application which consequently fails young homeless people. Furthermore, are the indicators used by government to monitor local authority initiatives helpful? The joining up of local authorities under the 2002 Act was a specific aim and the government stated ‘While the Government will join-up policy at the national level, local authorities will need to do so locally’[40]. This was supposed to be achieved by an alliance between supra-local bodies such as the Housing Corporation, Local Government Association and National Housing Federation[41]. They all recommended the adoption of a partnership between housing associations and local authorities to help implement the strategies required under the 2002 Act. However, with this many bodies involved it is hard to monitor the success of the Act especially as the local authorities are under no d uty to monitor the success. However, in an indirect way a lack of monitoring will cause severe difficulty for the Local Authority in reviewing current and future levels of homelessness in accordance with their strategy. This is because the raw information will not be in an accessible form, it will be spread across many different agencies or it may not be gathered at all[42] Shelter has campaigned for the wider introduction of ‘multi-agency monitoring’[43] which derives from governments ‘Homelessness Strategies: A Good Practice handbook’[44]. The idea of a MAM is that a lead agency, usually a local authority, will take charge of running the scheme and have a department dedicated to the maintenance of it. The scheme operates as follows: ‘All agencies use common forms to collect information, asking the same questions, and using the same data entry codes. A MAM scheme uses a unique identifier for each individual when recording the information onto a central database’[45]. The advantages of this are the ability to identify demographics and look at how policy and initiatives impacts on them. In that way the local authority can look at numerous independent variables such as person of first contact, place of first contact, popularity of various services and many other incredibly important pieces of information. However, th e handbook is a recommendation and is not mandatory by any means and it is therefore unsurprising that the Housing Quality Network Services (HQNS) recommended in 2004 that more guidance on the ‘minimum requirement for monitoring to ensure best practice’[46] be introduced by the government. The HQNS service highlighted that producing an action plan including plans for monitoring and having performance indicators was ‘a weak point in many strategies’[47] who failed to set out in any substantive detail how they were going to go about monitoring homelessness. However, in fairness there are other councils who have mentioned MAM’s[48] in their strategies but even there these are prospective and thin on detail[49]. The difficulty for this work is in assessing the effectiveness and the dedication to these limited stated aims without direct access to primary resources. Thus this work must defer to the conclusions of the quantitative research done by the HQNS that makes explicit that whilst many strategies mention monitoring few have much detail or concrete plans for how a MAM would be set-up The picture that arises, therefore, is that the lack of mandatory minimum monitoring requirement’s is not being counteracted by pro-active councils around the country therefore in that way it fails to achieve the goals of having effective reviews and strategies. As the Bath North East Somerset strategy stated ‘A strategy is only as good as the information that supports it’[50]. The fact that a government produced report which generally heralded the whole process of producing a review and strategy as a success mentioned data collection and monitoring as a problem on several occasions highlights that this could be a significant problem in targeting the strategies in any meaningful sense at youth homelessness. This has a knock-on effect on performance indicators. The government had encouraged local authorities to introduce performance indicators[51] and in 2005 they introduced The Local Government (Best Value) Performance Indicators and Performance Standards (England) Order 2005[52]. This followed a wide consultation on the issue. It applied this to all local authorities and measures performance by reference to five criteria: Average length of stay in bed and breakfast or hostel accommodation by households including dependent children or pregnant women. Number of rough sleepers on a single night within authority’s area. Percentage increase / decrease from year to year of statistic 1. Number of families for which housing advice casework intervention resolved their homeless situation; and Proportion of repeat homeless people.[53] Quite apart from the fact that, on a formal level, none of these mention youth homelessness but at another level the performance indicators will be useless if the monitoring procedures are as inadequate as the HQNS review suggests. Whilst it is impossible to be specific about the impact in quantitative terms we can discuss the issue in qualitative terms. We can see that there is an almost blind-spot by the government of youth homelessness in relation to monitoring information and how that translates into performance indicators. Diversity or Chaos under the Homelessness Act 2002 As we saw in our description of the Act the basic framework set-out is that ‘strategy is led from central government departments†¦but local housing authorities are key to planning and service delivery, irrespective of their political complexion’[54]. The reason for this was made clear in the government green paper which eventually lead to the 2002 Act: ‘Central Government can set the framework for housing policies. But the delivery of those policies must be tailored to a variety of local circumstances.’[55] This devolving of responsibility for implementation of strategy to local authorities is clearly designed to avoid a top-down homogenous approach to community-sensitive issues such as homelessness however the question for this work is how this has worked in relation to young people. It is integral to see whether this devolution has lead to innovative solutions which fit the needs of young people and also to see whether this leads to a post-code lotter y because of regional discrepancies. Primarily, we can draw comparative conclusions from a very useful survey of Scottish Local Authorities carried out in 2004 which looked at which authorities were addressing youth homelessness specifically as a problem[56]. The study was carried out only one year after The Homelessness, etc. (Scotland) Act 2003 and thus many strategies were in draft format and some weren’t available at all but the conclusions are stark. As far as having clear aims and objectives in relation to young people the survey only found one strategy that had these specifically stated. There was a much larger emphasis on prevention rather than aiding those already homeless thus twenty-seven strategies dealt with provision of information on services for homelessness in schools. Worryingly there were no strategies that assessed the general availability of affordable housing for young people but as we mentioned one of the major needs of young homeless people was provision of ongoing support and this was ide ntified as an objective in the strategies of twenty-six of the local authorities however only six took this any further and proposed aid in relation to education, training or employment. We will recall that lack of those skills is seen as endemic to youth homelessness and it seemed it was poorly addressed. The conclusions of the SCSH as a whole were that ‘†¦youth issues are generally not well addressed in the homelessness strategies, aside from one or two exceptions’[57] and worryingly one of the least well addressed issues was having a specific youth homelessness policy within the general homelessness policy. It is hard to make direct generalisations to England with regard to this study but it is suggestive that youth-specific issues are not as high in the list of priorities of many local authorities as perhaps other demographics such as those suffering domestic abuse or pregnant woman. In a similar study, which had a much wider remit, the ODPM had argued that in English Homelessness Strategies ‘†¦Young people, either single or in families, are a key priority in most parts of the country.’[58] However it noticed a disparity in other demographics such as single people and gypsies / travellers. However, what is worrying about this can be highlighted in a study of the strategies of Bromley and Lewisham Councils. In Bromley it is true to say that ‘Vulnerable Young People’ is one of the specific client groups that were included in their strategy and included plans for the development of specific support services[59]. Thus it created a new team within the council to specifically deal with young people and their needs as well as arranging funding for new supported accommodation facilities as a form of initial accommodation for young people[60]. However, the problem is that such services are de-limited and targeted solely at 16 and 17 year old s. However, our review of young people’s needs indicated that 16 – 25 years olds all felt similar disadvantages. This was also the case in Lewisham Council[61] who talk about vulnerable young people as a group including those leaving care and 16 / 17 year olds. This, as we shall discuss below, is largely in response to the government’s widening of ‘priority need’ in the Homelessness Act 2002 to cover 16 and 17 year olds. This is undoubtedly a step-forward but the approach is undermined because it skews focus onto these two age groups. The other thing that is striking about both of these strategies is the lack of plans specifically to provide information to young people[62], statistics about youth homelessness and nothing about education, training or employment opportunities or schemes for young people. Having looked at these two large councils, Scotland and the overall review carried out by the ODPM there are a number of conclusions that we can make. Firstly, disparity between the councils doesn’t seem to be a large problem as far as young people are concerned. However, the approach does seem homogenous and inadequate to cater to the wider 16 – 25 demographic all of whom experience similar needs[63] as well as making up 25% of all homeless rough sleepers in the U.K.[64]. There seems little of this sensitivity to local issues and the government’s focus on 16 and 17 year olds has skewed the debate to a degree and in fact lead to poorer recognition of the needs of 16 – 25 year old homeless people. The major problem with this is that following the abolition of housing lists and the qualifying / non-qualifying groups division that existed pre-2002, above, local authorities have discretion to target groups. Those groups seem unlikely to be a holistic treatment of 16 – 25 year olds. Priority Need The importance of being categorised as homeless and in priority need is extremely high. It is the difference between having the possibility of interim accommodation offered and the council having a duty to provide long-term accommodation, as we saw in the second section. Thus for all demographics qualification into these categories will be keenly contested and we must see to what degree young people are catered for. We don’t have the space to carry out a thorough review of both subjects however a brief prà ©cis will again highlight the impact

The Competitiveness In The Food Industry Marketing Essay

The Competitiveness In The Food Industry Marketing Essay Melville, N. et al. (2004) defined the value of information technology in the organizations as the organizational performance impacts of information technology at both the intermediate process level and the organization-wide level, and comprising both efficiency impacts and competitive impacts. The company performance by using it could affect positively with the customers and with the competitors both at the mid level process and the organisational level process. Adding value to the business comes in the form of cost reduction and by improving the quality of customer service. What is cost reduction and how it could be achieved? The total expenditure of company for the purpose of maintaining its inventory management effectively, staffs work schedules and their salary records and relations with the customers. We could drastically reduce this cost by using customised software. By using IT we could implement effective software for track down of the inventory, thus it saves huge money for spending on man power. And even in customer service we could easily reduce the cost by proving a global call centre rather than manpower at each site. What is information technology? According to Hitt, L. Ms (1999) research, the information technology has been defined: as computers as well as related digital communication technology, it has the broad power to reduce the costs and save time for information processing. Information technology could help company in many ways, such as: Data resource management: Data resource management is managerial activity. It is useful in managing data sources between the company and its stake holders. Inventory management: By using specific software for the tracking products available in our storage area we could plan what we need for the day or for the coming days, and we can plan and interact with our suppliers and order for the raw material as accordingly. Customer relationship management: Normally called with acronym CRM is huge success when it comes to the interactions with the clients and customers. The primary purpose of the CRM is to track down the buying behaviour of the customers like what they are buying, which product is bought down by which age group, what type of products are selling in that particular area etc, etc, thus we can plan our business needs effectively. How this IT could useful in our particular company and how can we get competitive advantage with this? Our company: History: Nandos  is a  casual dining restaurant   founded in 1987 by Robert Brozin and Fernando Duarte from  South Africa  with a  Portuguese/Mozambican  theme. Nandos was Chickenland  earlier and they renamed it to Nandos after Duarte. Nandos operates in 28 countries and on five continents.  It specializes in  chicken  dishes with either lemon and herb, medium, hot or extra hot  Peri-Peri  marinades (properly known as  Galinha à   Africana). In some countries, Nandos has other flavour options like mango and lime, lemon and herb, or Mediterranean. The restaurant incorporated influences from former Portuguese colonists from  Mozambique, many of whom had settled on the south-eastern side of Johannesburg, after their homelands independence in 1975. It has branches all over the world. Primarily focused on English speaking countries now it spreads all over the world where the people prefer spicy chicken. It is famous for its peri-peri chicken which is its own brand. It has 230 branches across UK and it has nearly 6600 employed in all these branches. It primarily focus on its culture. It was awarded no. 1 in food industry by Sunday times. And it has an investor award. Task1: Porters five force model: File:Porters five forces.PNG A graphical representation of Porters Five Forces Bargaining power of supplier: the majority of supply is from Faccenda and Freemans of Newent and small supply from Holland and Germany. Nandos has its own name in the industry although it does matter the raw materials. As long as the supplier is happy with the business there would be no problem, the suppliers are pretty famous in their respective fields as they have very much contracts in their hands. Although We can say the bargaining power of the suppliers is low. The Nandos requires huge volumes of raw materials when one supplier step down another one could take up. And there are many suppliers available it would be easy to us to go for another supplier but it is not easy to supplier to loose Nandos. It is win- win situations Threat of new entrants: There is lot market for the food industry and particularly for chicken food as it widely eaten there so much scope for new markets. Nandos has its own name and it has niche market there and there would be no affect if any new restaurant comes in. Nandos is more concentrated on its culture and being best than the bigger it is very difficult to new entrants to compete with the Nandos. So we can say the threat of new entrants is comparatively low. Threat of substitute products or services: Items like Portuguese vinaigrette and some cooking sauces, pasta sauces could not stand in the market because of some brand companies in the particular item field. Instead Nandos concentrated on some other items like marinades and peri-peri sauces where it has its own influence. The price factor is very important to not to lose the customer. The customer always looks for the cheap price for the same product. Considering the food products of Nandos, they are pretty famous for its taste rather than cost thus we can say the threat is low. Bargaining power of customers: The power of customer is defined by the volume of them and their information like their age, sex and location etc.etc. Nandos has niche market which caters for the lovers of spicy food. These customers are generally young and adult. Nandos has its brand that their chicken is best in their competitors so the customer will not want to go for other restaurant. And there are not substitutes available with this spicy range with other restaurants we can confidently say that our customers bargaining power is low. Existing rivalry: If want to talk about the particular branch which is Stratford, Nandos we are dealing the primary competitors are The Fox, the Indian gate, Pizzahut, Carrebian scene and the Mukhan. All of these restaurants are highly preferable and they have their best in the particular food. We can say like Pizzahut is famous for its pizza, the Indian gateway for its Indian food although they provide chicken items. None of them are comparable when it comes to the spicy chicken or peri-peri chicken. Nandos provides huge range variety of products than to other competitors. The price options are also very reasonable when compare to the international brand like Pizzahut or very local The Indain gateway. Therefore we can say the the existing rivalry is low. The intensity of rivalry for Nandos is influenced by No of restaurants: increases rivalry because more restaurants must compete for the same customers and resources. The rivalry intensifies if the firms have similar market share, leading to a struggle for market leadership. Task 2: Value chain model: http://enduragement.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/porter-value-chain.png The Value Chain framework of Michael Porter is a model that helps to analyze specific activities through which firms can create value and competitive advantage. The value chain helps an organization identify how it creates value for customers and locate where its sources of competitive advantage lie. Value chain models can be created in both qualitative and quantitative forms. Many organizations do not consciously make decisions to optimize the sources of advantage resident in their value chain and in so doing, risk losing competitive advantage. What is Value Chain Analysis? A value chain is a chain of value added activities; products pass through the activities in a chain, gaining value at each stage. Value chain allows alignment of processes with customers. This generates a quality advantage. Value chain focuses cost management efforts. It provides for efficient processes which improves the timeliness of operations. The steps in Vaule chain model are: Inbound logistics: Inbound logistics of Nandos deals with receiving goods, storing them . for this we use an dinventory control management system. It deals with everything related to goods and its transportation. This inbound is very important to maintain the warehouse products available effectively without interrupting the business to customers. Outbound logistics: inbound logistics deals with the good coming upto the warehouse where as the outbound logistics deals with the products reaching to customers. Nandos has the dedicated transportation service to delivery its products to reach its restaurants on time. It uses PDAs to track down its vehicles on road where they are at particular time so the restaurants and head office knows when they will reach the destination. This allows the restaurants to plan accordingly. Marketing and sales: To attract customers Nandos approaches in very innovative yet cost effective manner. It provides customers to win prizes when the make orders at restaurants. Some of its promotions include gift cards, Go PERi-lectric with a pair of tickets to Irelands Electric Picnic, Brighton Pride and Win a PERi-tastic prize Tickets to the LED festival, Win A Footie Chicken-Fest etc, etc. And Nandos spend considerable amount of money to promote irs restaurants aggressively through print media and electroninc media. In 2010, Advertising Age magazine named Nandos as one of the worlds top 30 hottest marketing brands. Service: The service mainly here defined as the interaction with customers and the service we provide to them. The better the service the better the chances to increase its brand value. Procurement: Procurement mainly deals with the requirement of raw materials, space to setup restaurants, kitchen machinery etc. Technology Development: The technology development is to support value chain activities such as design, strategies and tactics , research and development, processing etc. We discuss about this in next task. Human Resource Management Human resource management is primarily associated with staff recruiting, staff schedules and salary maintenance and maintaining compensation and benefits to its employees and staff. Firm Infrastructure The infrastructure associates with hierarchical process of the firm. It Includes management, planning, finance, legal issues, public relations, accounting and quality management, etc. Task 3: How IT can be used to develop business: I will use Value Chain analysis to explain how IT help Nandos add value to themselves and obtain competitive advantage in food industry. Value Chain analysis consist of primary activities and support activities, which are detailed from below: The IT can be used to increases the knowledge of profit zones where there is no profit, It increases the knowledge of forward and/or backward integration opportunities, identifies value process and Identifies win-win alliance opportunities As consultant for Nandos restaurant we need to advise them to use value chain models for implementing cost comparison between the companies to other competitors. What is Strategy? And How Does Porters Value Chain Model Fit With Strategy? Strategy is your business direction; and the how, why, what, who and when of following that direction. Most businesses analyze their own internal cost structures but most do not analyze their competitors structures. The five Ps of nandos to follow to get competitive advantage are: Plan: Portugese chiken all over the world Ploy: not to face competitors but to find a strong market i.e. customers Position: best rather than biggest Pattern: culture Perspective: wants to develop in countries where chiken, spicy and English speaking customers You only get an edge over rivals by having or doing something that they cant have or do. Computers have revolutionized the food and beverage industry as they have nearly every other industry. A key management concern of any food and beverage business is the profit margin. In this vital area of business, computers have also proven to be an indispensable tool. Computer systems help manage the entire food service process from ordering the ingredients needed to produce menu items, to forecasting the amount of items to prepare for each dining period based on historical patterns. This helps to reduce wasted food, which is very expensive and comes out of the businesses profit. It also helps in preparing menu items before hand, which reduces customer wait time The information system should mention the following steps: People Data Networks, Hardware, Software. It costs us to implement any new information technologies in our system. So we have to analyse what is our need and how it would affect the system and how it drive the sales. No better understanding of the system will lead very bad results thus company should go to losses. The technologies we advice to Nandos to implement: Online ordering system: since the Nandos is major food restaurant, it does not have any online ordering system or telephone order system for the customers to order when they are at work or at home. It is not possible to everyone to come to the restaurant to eat in or take way. Some are older some are busy or the restaurtant are really far from home etc. If we could develop a e-commerce website which allows customer to buy online and we could deliver it to them as soon as possible it would definitely drive our sales at very huge level. Our main competitors for this area Pizzahut have these both online and telephone order service. The people who like Nandos and cannot come to the restaurant will opt for the service like this provided by our competitors. The investment and maintenance for a e-commerce website for Nandos may not cost more and the return on investment(ROI) could be get back easily as the sales come from online orders are solely because of website. Presently we have website for Nandos which gives the information about the Nandos available restaurant and their menus with their physical address. We can develop a website the offers online orders and we can integrate this to the already available website. Mobile application: as the technology rigorously increasing on day to day manner, the people using high end mobile phones is always on the high. Phone manufactures like Nokia, iPhone and Samsung offers third party applications to the mobile customers. If we could develop mobile application thus it features all available information yet briefly it would hugely improve the sales. If we could features restaurant addresses and online order facility it will be useful because the phone is always handy wherever the customer so he could check it and go to the nearest restaurant to his location. Software program: we could develop software solely for the purpose to gather critical information which needed to choose a site where we want to setup any additional restaurants by verifying the demographics and the distance to other available restaurants and customers information particularly related to food business. The program analyse the area and provides the detailed scenario about how many people lives there and their age group and any eating habits particularly they have. So that we could make decision depending on the information available. For this application to work out very well we need to get census data from government or third party providers or we may take out a survey which cost us a bit which is one time investment. We can also use the data mining techniques depend on the available data thus any already existed restaurant may affect our business or not. Inventory control: Every day there are lots of raw material comes in lots of material goes out in warehouse. If we use a n inventory management application we could easily track down the data available. Therefore we find out what type of item we have stock and what not we have. It helps us to order new material effectively. Thus we could reduce the food wastage. In a long run it could save several thousand pounds to the company. Communication communication between the head office to restaurants through e-mails etc. Etc. CRM software is very useful for this service. HR job recruitment: information technology is very useful when it comes recruit,emt and human resource management. We could advertise online for the vacancies we have and can accept application made online. Thus it reduces paper publicity cost and paper cost for the applications. Custom software could take all the tasks related to hr. Loyalty cards: to drive sales very high we introduce loyalty cards which allow regular customers to get free bees. We could offer them discount prices or occasional offers to them. And by adding this loyalty cards to the technology we could get the customer details so that we could plan them accordingly what they bought, what their age group etc. Etc. And we could send them promotional offers or discount coupons if we have their personal address or e-mail id. Information technology make out of home dining a more enjoyable experience for the customer and a more profitable manageable experience for business managers and owners. With the aid of Information technology we are not only able to stream line our business processes but we are also able to get constant information in real time that is up to the minute and up to date. In todays business environment we could consider IT as part of the Organization.

Francis Bacon :: Biography

He went to Trinity College when he was twelve years old. He wrote more than thirty philosophical works. He was elected to the House of Commons in 1584. Who is this intelligent person? Francis Bacon. Intelligent and daring, Francis Bacon wrote many letters to important people and philosophical works. Bacon was born in London, England on January 22, 1561. His father was Sir Nicholas Bacon who was a lord keeper of the great seal and his mother was Lady Anne Coke Bacon. She was daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, who was the tutor to the Tudor royal family. He was the sixth child in the family (â€Å"Francis Bacon† par 1). Bacon was home schooled until he was twelve years old by John Walsall who had graduated Oxford after he attended Trinity College in Cambridge for three years before going to Gray’s Inn in London (â€Å"Francis Bacon† par 2). After college from 1527 to 1578, Bacon traveled with Sir Amias Paulet to Paris. Sir Amias Paulet was the English Ambassador for Paris. During this time, Bacon learned a lot about politics. He was on a mission to study civil law, state politics and language. To learn he traveled to place like Spain, Italy, Tours, Poitiers and Blois (â€Å"Francis Bacon† Par 2). During this time he also worked on some routine diplomatic tasks. He did this until the sudden death of his father. When his father died he returned to England. Bacon interrupted his studies for a position in the diplomatic service in France (Simpson Par 3). He has written over thirty philosophical works. Most of these works are incomplete. They were taken as intervals between Parliament and the Courts (Meyrick Par 1). He was elected into the House of Commons in 1584 and served until 1614 (Simpson Par 1). He rose to the highest political office under James I. Bacon took role of mediator in February 1611. This was the last session of Parliament held under James I (â€Å"Francis Bacon† Par 2). He was one of the leading figures in natural philosophy. He was a lawyer, member of Parliament and Queens Council. He wrote questions about law, state and religion (â€Å"Francis Bacon† Par 1). On May 10, 1606 Bacon married Alice Barnham, who was a young rich lady. They were engaged for three years. He was forty-five and Alice was only fourteen years old. On April 9, 1626 Bacon died outside of London from pneumonia while experimenting with refrigerated foods.

Culture in Willy Russells Educating Rita Essay -- Educating Rita Essay

Over the last few weeks I have been reading a play by an author called Willy Russell, it is called Educating Rita. The play begins by introducing the two main characters, Frank and Rita. Rita is a young woman in her mid twenty?s, living in a working class culture. Rita is not happy with the way her life is going, she wants to be seen as more middle class, so she decided to take a course at the Open University to study litterateur. Frank on the other hand is Rita?s tutor at the university also middle aged alcoholic living in a middle class culture. Frank is unhappy with the way things are going in his life, his wife has left him due to an argument over poetry and he is now living with a younger tutor named Julia. The play unfolds as Frank and Rita?s cultures clash together. Educating Rita was first performed in the 1980s. This was a particularly strange time for people in Britain because there was a great deal of civil unrest, this meant the people were not happy with the way the government was running the country. There was also a mining strike and unemployment was very hi...

“Oh the places you’ll go” Dr Seuss and The Road Not Taken Robert Frost Essay

Congratulations! Today is your day. You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away.† These opening lines mark the commencement of the imaginative journey through the world created by Dr. Seuss in his picture book, â€Å"†Oh the Places You’ll go!† ,an allegory of Life and its possibilities. Robert Frost also explores the same concept in his poem The Road not Taken. It is clear from both texts a journey of the imagination influences and shapes one’s perspective of the world and often results in transformation. â€Å"Oh the Places you’ll Go† motivates personal growth through gaining an understanding of the complexities of life, inspiring optimism and perseverance. The Road Not Taken however emphasizes the significance of decisions one makes in their life and how such decisions are the catalysts to the person they become. In the characteristic style of Dr. Seuss, ‘oh the places you’ll go’; is written in rhyme with a light tone. The language is simple, utilizing many metaphors, both visually and written. The imaginative journey alludes to all aspects of life; the positives through grinning purple elephants while the negatives are personified into â€Å"Hakken Kraks†. The author rejoices in everyone’s potential to fulfill their dreams: â€Å"You’ll be on your way up! / You’ll be seeing great sights!† While at the same time, he is realistic about the pitfalls of life: â€Å"grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place† This distinctive style with the balance of absurdity and the relative indifference to the philosophical message being unveiled is what heightens the books appeal to a wide audience. Hence the imaginative journey is not subject to age constraints and as a result, both young and old are able to experience growth or a change in their perspectives. â€Å"Oh The Places You’ll Go† has no distinct characters, except for the direct address ‘you’, supported by a young figure, the indicative of ‘you’ who visually carries out the imaginative journey, over colorful checkerboard landscapes, through mazelike streets. A direct personal link is established and the responder is able to literally perceive the imaginative journey. The Road Not Taken also achieves a personal connection through its style of first person, creating intimacy and the imagery of the road. From this we see the imaginative journey assists the reader in becoming personally involved with the text, the reader is able to engage with the story and hence draw insights and a greater understanding of the issues. Despite â€Å"Oh The Places you’ll Go† portraying both the positive and negative aspects of life, the imaginative journey ends with a return to reality and the optimistic message, ‘And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed!’ Although labeled with the warning â€Å"to be dexterous and deft. And NEVER mix up your right foot with your left.† In contrast to the enthusiastic tone of Dr. Seuss, â€Å"The Road Not Taken†, is contemplative and its message more cautious, to think hard about any forks in the road, for it could â€Å"make all the difference.† He suggests that perhaps journeys have no ending as â€Å"way leads on to way,† one choice is followed by another and it is simply impossible to recreate the past. Hence we can see how one can change as a result of an imaginative journey, even if there is not a destination.

Associates Capstone Essay

Executive succinctIn going with some of things regarding purchase the demarcation I recollect Mike should lease for certain that the deep br demand tree berry entrepot is up to code. He should confabulation to officials ab verboten required standards, for running a coffee berry buy at, licenses the unalike laws for having the entrepot in Sunnydale, Illinois, wholly of de furcate be c in each(a) for and exit help to go on the eatery running beseemingly inside and out. It is excessively authoritative that he appraises each file cabinet for in alone in on the whole employees making received completely documents that argon studyed for hire atomic number 18 thither, reading through and seeing the residuum in their duties and the performance prior to him buying the shop and respond gibely and whatever decisions he arrests with each one or if hiring sensitive document e rattling last(predicate) that is through with(p) to cover himself within the l aw. Going through the task files and reading the comments unwrapn by customers is important for this go forth help to give a demeanor him proper information on what is c argon and dislike about the coffee shop and making a curriculum to budge things or catch up with b atomic number 18-assed things to sustainment them satisfied and coming back, for ex as accepting credit cards for payments as well as specie.Going more(prenominal) than into the duty files checking on the finances and explanation is important to be for certain all is accounted for, profits are creation reconcile and what the next plan would be according to what is found. This pass on besides help in what they are spending for supplies and necessities and where he tramp save money and use it for early(a)(a) things hireed, withal go over the income phonation to see where they sewer change prices and build better ideas compare the coffee shop to the competitors place and prices. Also make au t hentic all appliances are up to smelling and by rights clutches according to code. subsequently reviewing all of these things an going forward making a proper line of merchandise plan and procedures of moving forward go out give Mike a the right way ran note with happy customers coming in and employees radiant to keep it running and making profits.RegulationsIn reviewing some of the personnel files on the employees it seems you lead sop up to definitely put unitedly a club/employee/personnel manual. This leave alone help with the government regulations for the State in which the coffee shop is in and it leave also spell out what the friendship leave behind expect of the employees and what they expect in terms of benefits and different topics related to employment. (The carry through idiots Guide to scratch Your proclaim Business, page 203). Be reliable that when creating this manual you wipe out included all the necessary rules that you want and intend to en force, (no insobriety on the job, no smoking in the educateplace, excessive tardiness, or absenteeism, no familiar harassment, no discrimination in the workplace, no stealing and all other rules that volition be enforced, so have a meeting with the current employees and any new employee to review before getting started and have them each sign it to keep in their personnel files. This will let them fill out that you intend to enforce these rules and if non followed the consequences could be termination.ManagementFirst thing I would do is acquire a business plan, Mike is considered the Strategic Manager for the coffee shop and he will need to create a plan, forge it, mite it and control the outcome of all that will happen within the business. He will need to focus on the coherent term goals of the shop and once he has these advise move forward in communicating with the employees. He will then need to meet with each of the employees on an individual basis to go over their files, be sure to update them with all proper paperwork and they are legal to work. When discussing things with them do not hire up personal topics marital status, race, religion, and so on for this would be a usurpation and is not permitted during any type of interview or meeting with an existing employee or new employee.You can let them hunch over the skinny things about works for you at the shop and counter fit some things that are not so good, make sure the employee get bys what work they will be doing and agrees to it and they will be able to perform these duties, you can also see if they have questions regarding the manual and gain care of it at that moment have them sign indicating they have read and check it. I think he should also review the break room and reasonable it up putting up the proper documents on the board and fill up downwards all that unnecessary stuff on it. He accede to have stick on the proper documents of the law with minimum wage and healt h. The tho other thing up there could be the schedule and notes of reminders of what needs to be do. He then should take care of the stock room and situation to have them both mightily cleaned up things in right places. formerly all these things have been accomplished it will make for a better organized vault of heaven and easier for him to control and lead his employees and have a well established running coffee shop.Finance and AccountingReviewing the finances is important it seems they have a very higher(prenominal) salary expense (for a coffee shop) and supplies expense that needs attending to. This inwardness checking with other suppliers and their prices. As for the salaries we would need to go over everyones positions held and the salary they are beingness give and make sure it fits with their positions and pay scale. As I go along going through the files I observe the income tax/employment tax and other forms were still from 2006, need to get all those updated fr om previous possessor or get them interpreted care of and all fiscal and payroll taxes to date. Not filing properly for state taxes/employment/unemployment is a violation and subject to penalties. I would also review the loan that was taken out on the freezer and be sure all payments had been do previously on measure and see what the payoff is, he may be able to save monies on paying it off then paying the extra interest each month. Once all of these are reviewed and items that need financial aid either corrected or forms modify out and all things brought to date, Mike will have a better intelligence of the numbers and all within in the business to get him started and ready to go. ferment the decisions on what actions need to be taken to achieve these goals. This is part of the strategic cookery of the long term goals for the company it covers major portions of the company. Organizing, Joe will have to get organize the departments, get the right people in place, create the proper systems needed to properly run the company, bring together all resources needed to have it run properly. presently he will have to take these and lead his employees under him to want to be there and work and give there all, with motivation and communication. He will suffer good contact with them to give them what they need to keep the company running properly with all he has organized.Proper jumper cable of employees will help to give more of themselves to produce quality work by giving guidance and inspiration to them. preeminent takes place in umteen areas of the business not but from the top, also from teams, divisions and departments. He will also set determine and mission with his leading. Now the last part of the management function is controlling, taking all of the planning, organizing and leading and controlling it to keep it functional. on the whole the other functions isnt the success of the company it is the monitoring the performance and make changes wher e necessary. He needs to make sure the plans are being used and goals are being met within the company, also needs feedback in all areas so that he can make changes, to processes, procedures where needed.Financial StatementsChecking to be sure all the financial literary arguments have been do and balanced is very important. In checking the business files it seems they balanced but not all were completed, this will help to know where the business stands and where changes could be made. There are 4 parts to the financial avowals, income affirmation, balance tacking, cash flows and owners justness. I only noticed 2 of the 4 mentioned in the business files each one of these statements has its own meaning that should be understood even if Mike plans to have someone else handle it, income statement will let him know whether or not the business is profitable, it totals the tax revenue and then subtracts the expenses associated with making that revenue results being the pretax profit and after taxes are paid net income.These statements can be done monthly, yearly, quarterly or year to date, I think for Mike monthly would be good for it will show how some(prenominal) he has sold and what it cost to create the sales each month. The balance sheet is a snapshot of how things are at a particular moment, shows the amount of assets and liabilities at a particular point and time, where his income statement shows the flow of money in and out of the company in a specialised time frame. His cash flow statement could be the most important for it will tell him whether or not he has enough cash to pay the bills. This statement will reflect investments, borrowing, etc. and other balance sheet changes. The key contend is that he will need to keep more cash coming in than going out especially with just starting out. His owners equity will be the portion of the balance sheet which shows what is left over when all liabilities are subtracted from all assets. This is the number he wants to maximize because it can reflect the phonograph record value of his company. Once Mike has reviewed all of these and are updated he will know what changes will need to be made within the coffee shop from umteen points.Problem SolvingProblem firmness of purpose and decision making are very important factors in every managers or persons within their business, even in the umber Shop for Mike. He will have things that happen or a chance(a) basis and even on an hourly basis in which his skills as the owner and manger are in demand. He may at first with many as a answerion to things react once morest it, which can cause a downward spiral. He may look at the past and use the old way to fix a current conundrum and that usually doesnt work. Mike will need to have a plan approach and then execute it.By doing this he will avoid having the comparable problem over and over again and use doesnt continually pass a different problem the akin way as the other. There are a few ap proaches he can take, he can define the problem, look at the potential causes, find different ways to solving the problem, choose which resolving is best, make the action plan and then monitor and verify the base. By doing these things it will help to ensure all is working properly as it should after the solution has been decided. Mike can use these basic steps in his new agency as Owner/Manager of the umber Shop, making this plan to solve a problem and the decision will make for a better team in the Coffee Shop.Reference(s)Management, Bateman and Snell, Chapter 1 and Chapter 4, 2010 http//ezinearticles.com/?Top-Level-of-Management&id=20181389 The Complete Idiots Guide to Starting Your Own Business, Fourth Edition by Edward Paulson http//www.brighthub.com/ mogul/project-management/article/87158.aspx