The Key to Happiness

The key to Happiness Is the glass half empty, or is it half full? A true optimist would say that the glass is half full. That is because an optimist will always lean towards the more positive option. Optimism is defined as â€Å" the inclination to look at the bright side of any situation, and expect the best possible outcome from any series of events. Anyone can be optimistic, some people choose optimism as a way of life, it can reduce stress producing a better quality of life, and if used on a regular basis optimism can be the key to happiness.Anyone at all can practice optimism. To be an optimist all one has to do is choose to see the positive side of a situation. Its like the saying, â€Å"Count your blessings. † A person may feel that they have nothing to be positive about, but when they are reminded of the positive things in their lives they tend to forget about the negative. Optimism can be developed when one has realistic goals and expectations. Optimists don’t fall into a trap of feeling hopeless, instead they strive for growth and positive change. Being optimistic is not about pretending that everything is okay.It is about thinking positively when things go wrong, learning from them, and moving forward. Optimism can be incorporated into any activity that takes place on any given day and if used on a regular basis, people will see a positive change in their lives. Optimism can produce a better quality of life. Anxiety and negative emotions can take its toll on the body, it can affect your cardiovascular and your immune system. Having an optimistic attitude can protect against these effects. Research has shown the people who choose to have an optimistic attitude about their future behave differently.Optimists have been known to exercise more, smoke less and eat healthier. When they fall ill, optimists are more likely to participate actively in their treatment. Some would say, â€Å"A healthy mind, means a healthy body. † Optimists are better able to handle difficult situations with the ups and downs of daily living. Optimists tend to be more creative and harder workers. They are not afraid of there pasts or their futures. They understand that not everything can be changed, they accept that and move on. Optimism is the key to happiness. It helps us appreciate everything we have in life.It is within appreciation that we find happiness. Optimism is full of positive possibilities. It leads a person to happiness by reducing stress and pulling people towards a more positive future. Helen Keller wrote an essay on Optimism in 1903. She wrote, â€Å"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway to the human spirt. † This is a true statement because having faith in ones self will encourage that person to set new goals in their lives and better yet help them have the will power to achieve them.It is wi th a pessimistic attitude that people give up too quickly on their goals or possibly never even set them to begin with. With optimism comes hope, perseverance, and self confidence. It is with hope that one strives for a better tomorrow. It is perseverance that wills a person to keep trying. Confidence gives people the ability to believe that everything will turn out all right. All of these things portray optimism. Making yourself happy by seeing the better side of situations in life will lead to success. Optimism in everything they do will bring out the best qualities and skills in a person, and this will lead to true happiness.

Analysis Of Club Meds Essay

Club Mediterranee was created in 1950 under the law of 1901, through the initiative of a former member of the Belgian water polo team, Gerald Blitz. The idea came to him following a visit to his sister in 1949 at the Olympic Village of Calvi, in Corsica. It was formed along a quite singular concept, that of offering â€Å"all inclusive â€Å"holidays. Sixty years later, Club Med annually welcomes over 1.7 million guests from all over the world, to around 90CM villages in seaside and mountain locations. To cater its guests, also called GM’s (â€Å"Gentils members† or gracious members). Each holiday village has its own structure that is exclusive to club med: the structure is composed of the following The Gentils Organisateurs (GO’s) or gracious organizers. A staff category, including entertainers, group leaders, but also others. Job functions including heads of maintenance, swimming instructors, cooks, human resource directors and many others The gracious employees (GE) who include the waiters and gardeners and usually come from the country hosting the club. Both gracious organizers and gracious employees may be seasonal workers or permanently employed depending on the length of the time that the club has been open. Pillars behind the club’s performance The club has a unique type of staff organization, which is part of the unchangeable pillar of the club. It has exceptional quality of its locations, which distinguishes it from its competitors making the club to be more successful. The club has also managed to find and secure the most beautiful and well-preserved sites in the world, thus contributing to an added competitive advantage. The club ranks its villages in five categories (tridents) according to their locations, their infrastructures and the services offered. Their establishment of the villages ranges from simple huts to a 5-trident establishment. The villages with huts and those currently classified up to three tridents are scheduled to gradually disappear, making a way for additional up-market villages, more in keeping with the club’s new strategy. The first Club Med village was a temporary tent located in the Alcudia in the Balearic Islands. To help him launch his first session, he sought assistance from his friends who he had managed during the pre-war sports. On the club’s first season, they operated on a leased plot near Palma. The tents and the basic cooking necessities were bought in an American army surplus store in Germany. Blitz idea was to involve guests in the successful running of the village. This concept facilitated meeting people and abolishing financial and class barriers for the duration of the holiday through a multitude of activities, sports and excursions. This eventually led for Blitz contacting the Trigano et Fils for additional materials, tents and camping equipment. This eventually led to him meeting Gilbert Trigano his elder brother, a few years later they joined forces and in 1963, he actually became the chairperson and the managing director. (Zaleznik, 1997). In 1952, club med also built its first village with huts in Greece. The construction of a number of further hut villages followed, then more robust constructions in bricks and mortar, more similar to hotels. The first club was built in Agadir under the encouragement of King Hassan II. In 1960, the club almost went bankrupt under the management of the burner. It was saved by Edmond de Rothschild, who came to own 35% shares. In 1966, for the first time, the club was listed on the Paris Stock Exchange. At the beginning of the seventies, the club’s finances were still wanting and Gilbert Trigano, the manager at the time had to seek a considerable injection of new capital. This was when nine new shareholders, including Gianni Agnelli gained a majority of the company’s capital. His participation led to the opening of the first village in Italy. He remained in possession of 23.9% of the capital up to until 2004. A major innovation was introduced afterwards with the first †˜Mini Club Med† a special children’s club catering to all ages, from babies to teenagers. This formed a strong pillar of the enterprise and that is even today, an important criterion for comparing with the competitors. The club later launched a public promotional campaign, which led to the opening of a new club in Brazil in 1979 preceded by the USA during the following year. Four years later the club opened premises in Wall Street, where its shares were listed. In 1980’s the club launched its first sailing ship the â€Å"Club Med I†, and two years later, they launched â€Å"Club Med II†. They also acquired an airline afterwards. Due to these acquisitions, the club started experiencing crisis due to a drop in guest numbers and also its debts increased which three years later, Gilbert Trigano decided to hand over the leadership to his son, Serge. The leadership by Serge ended with huge losses up to 113 million euros in 1996 and 150 million euros in 1977. He was replaced by Phillipe Bourguignon whose ambition was to transform a company of holiday villages to a company of services. There followed the launch of a new promotional campaign that also marked a key date in the history of Club Med (Spring, 2002). In the 20th century, there began renovation of the villages and more competitive price positioning. A number of innovations emerged with the creation of Med World, a venue for concerts and evening entertainment, where the guests could meet up before or after their holidays. In 2001, Oyyo Club concept was created and it aimed at a younger population (18-25 years). In the same year, the Gymnase club was acquired and turned into the Club Med Gym. This year the club was debuted on the internet. The years 2000 resulted in both extreme sailing competitions and participation in hypermarkets through a range of sportswear. Club’s Current Operations                      In 2000, the turnover had grown by 28% compared to the previous years and the operating profits rose to 103 million euros. However the villages were disinfected in the year 2002/2003 leading to a deficit of 6 million euros. This led to the replacement of the manager, Pierre Bourguignon by Henri Giscard d’Estaing. An upheaval occurred later in the shareholding structure. The club sold 28.9% of the share stock to the Accor group, which led to the launch of a new strategy: to make Club Med the leader in up-market, convivial and multi-cultural holidays. This meant that the club would no longer be a mass package holiday organization aiming for high volumes, but rather high-end organization reflecting its exceptional locations. It would continue to be convivial and multicultural. This global strategy is reflected in villages created to be refined in the fact that the villages are now designed by renowned architects and designers, generosity in the attention given to the children with supervision, entertainment and ensured activities for all groups and offering the guests a choice in their preferred means of transport, offering a choice in the wide range of activity options, between sports course spa treatment weeks etc. This strategy led to the abandonment of villages that did not correspond to the new strategy (villages with huts to those with 2 tridents) in order to concentrate on the three and four tridents that offer a return on investment of 9 to 15%. The club sold some of its villages and this enabled it to clear debts and was able to finance the success of the remaining villages. Between 2004 and 2008, over 50 villages were closed down and 20 new ones opened. Today, Club Med manages 80 villages around the world. Club Med communicated its new strategy by launching a new advertising and communication campaign in 2005, under the signature: â€Å"There is still so much world to discover† (Discover new worlds, discover new people), also called the â€Å"Faces Campaign†. It was aimed showing in concrete terms that Club Med had evolved and positioned itself towards the top end of the market. In 2007, a new advertising campaign reinforced their upmarket positioning with the signature. This promotional campaign sought to show tangible proof of this up scaling. The second event was the launching of the first 5-trident Club with the opening of a second village in Mauritius. Classification of the villages reached a new standard, demonstrating the determination to aim higher end of the market. 2007-2008: there were challenges like unfavorable environment that included soaring of petrol prices and a financial crisis. The club had also to face a decreasing accommodation capacity due to the ne w focus on certain villages and reduced opening periods of the 2 and 3-trident villages. It also succeeded in escaping from debts in this year with net profit of 1 million euros after four years of losses. The shareholding base was still fluctuating with the Accor group selling a large percentage of its holdings, remaining with less than 9 % and still it was planning to discontinue its investment. The company is having difficulty in realizing profits since they increased their tariffs, which eventually led to a rapid loss of customers. Up to the year 2009, the group was still in deficit due to real estate charges connected to the closure of certain villages. The commercial potential of Club Med remains essentially in Asia. The Asian market represents a large share of the 60 million potential customers worldwide. The transformation of the club into a global specialist in all – inclusive, up-market and multicultural holidays is real as the chairperson, Henri Giscard d’Estaing is confident in the strategies that he applied. The club is now offering the most accessible, up-market holiday. Asia was responsible for the club’s turnover in 2006-2007, whereby it was estimated that 26 million out of the 60 million potential customers are Asians. Despite the unfavorable environmental context in Asia, i.e. The tsunami of 2004, an outbreak of avian flu and terrorist at tacks, the customers in this region continue increasing.The developers of the internet; greater customer loyalty and a lengthening of the average duration of stays have boosted the levels of growth in Asia. The club also has extended to china and in 2006, they opened a new agency in Canton, thus consolidating its commercial development strategy with the Chinese, as they were the population that was spending an increasing amount of time and money on holidays. Although the club is investigating all opportunities for development, including extending to other countries like the Philippines and Indonesia, the management is also counting on the Asians travelling outside of their home zone. Although the Asian continent has as many cultures as it has countries, it seems to share the same attitudes concerning holidays. Studies carried out has shown that behavior is very similar across the continent, in particular with regard to Club Meds population. To achieve the Asian market targets, the club involves two aspects: The first is the duration of the holidays: Asians do not have many days’ holidays and they therefore spend only four or five days in the club on average. This holiday consumption necessarily influences the club’s occupation rates. Another aspect is the lifestyle adopted by the Asians. They appreciate all activities including archery, kayaking, aqua gym etc. They are always happiest indoors with the air conditioning. They thus adore Club Med as it offers all these activities and adds the karaoke. Studies have been done to investigate on the ways to attract customers worldwide and preserve the current ones with the primary family target implied to goods and services. These are: The offer must be refined in the right locations, high quality villages, a dedicated team, and a high cuisine as well. Studies also show the importance of the all-inclusive formula with the need to suit the whole family, and a flexibility of services to match the inclinations of all. Rooms’ should be extremely comfortable and with modern communication facilities. CITATION Chr97 l 1033 (Clayton, 1997) Club Med is not faced with direct competition in terms positioning. In Asia, for example, the competition is situated essentially on the traditional luxury market. However, sometimes the competition is local. For example, although in Bintan, Club Meds major competitor is Banyan Tree. In order to satisfy customer demand and potential customers while at the same time affirming its new strategy, Club Med has orchestrated its actions around innovation, renovation and service. Club Med has invested over 50 million euros in the renovation of its villages in the Asia-pacific area, where it has ten villages after having closed down five that no longer met the standards of top-end establishments. Apart from the village and room aspect, the activities and the organization have also been reconsidered according to customer expectations. The children’s supervised entertainment and activities, one of the pillars of Club Med has been systematically reconsidered and more widely deployed. Other infrastructures for catering to children have been set in place or renovated. A baby Club Med has been opened in Bali together with a password for teenagers and the renovation of the Petit Club Med and Mini Club Med. Apart from the children’s supervised activities and entertainment, the upscaling of service is particularly demanding in Asia, where regional standards are higher than the rest of the world. The club has used local advertising, communications systems to market their operations. Making the transition from a volume culture to a valuable culture is not without repercussions on the employees’ attitudes. This is the reason why Club Meds human resources have been closely linked to its strategy, which is reflected in the Club’s drive to attract and keep talented employees. Leading to several, initiatives being implemented in terms of recruitment, training and career management. GM Feedback, a major indicator of strategic success is the level of satisfaction shows that the criterion â€Å"Intention to return† is particularly high in Asia overall, which is encouraging for future years. This intention is because of the excellent marks given by customers to the criteria of child supervision/ entertainment, the general atmosphere and the GO teams. In order to measure the impact of the changes, The Research Pacific Group carried out a study. Although criticism persists, it tends to focus on three dimensions: the price, now considered too high: the comfort of the rooms, that could be still improved, and the lack of freedom. (Franco, 1972) The study essentially highlights is the enthusiasm of potential customers for Club Med, in that the mentality that Club Med is a rather old-fashioned type of resort, but rather as the ideal holiday venue for the family, where a multitude of activities and discover a special atmosphere. Another study endeavored to measure t he perception of Club Med via an internet buzz, Club Med is ranked third among the island’s resorts, in the Indonesian islands of Bintan. This position was won thanks to the service, children’s services, the GO team and the variety of activities offered. This position clearly shows that Club Med has joined the upper crust with its luxury hotels, and is confirmed by another example in Bali where Club Med has been ranked fifth. This satisfactory ranking was made possible thanks to service in a broad sense, which includes cleanliness, the GO team and the activities offered. Recent figures published show that turnover has increased 1.9%, in spite of a context of economic crisis affecting all operators in the sector. Business is growing in all zones; while the capacity, as scheduled, has been decreased by 3.1%. Asia recorded 5.2 % (highest growth), Although Club Med benefits globally from the region’s economic dynamism, and it is nevertheless slowed down by up scaling operations that have been accompanied by an 11% average increase in price. The new strategy is attracting new customers, from the point of view of quality; the â€Å"family† strategy engaged by Club Med is working since recruitment is made essentially on this target, with 63% of the Asian clientele structure made up of families (Hart, 1990). Issues And Recommendations In Club Med                      Throughout the past sixty years, Club Med has never really had a chance to profit from a break and the relaxation it succeeds in offering its own guests. The geopolitical climate has often caused difficulties, like the Gulf War of 1990-1991 or the terrorist attack of Bali in 2002, but it also evident that the company has created its own problems. The consistency and coherence of the current strategy are the first for close to 15years and there has been criticism and more obstacles than in any other company (E, 1985). Club Med has an aura of great brand, out of the ordinary, enthusing the public and at the same time receiving all sorts of more or less negative comments. The fame enjoyed by Club Med since its beginning has never weakened and both the customers and the non –customers all over the world have heard about the Club Med and are capable of saying a few words about it. Evidently, this has contributed to its international recognition bu t it has also complicated its task since it has been trying to effect a repositioning; changing mentalities is a longer and more complex task than changing strategy. Three principle challenges seem to stand out for the future of Club Med: environmental, political and organizational. The first challenge is environmental. The whole history of Club Med has been intimately linked to natural disasters, pandemics and financial crises. For example, in Asia the region has suffered from Tsunami, an outbreak of avian flu and terrorist attacks. This is the law of tourism, but it has affected Club Made even more now than in the past, since it’s owns the majority of its villages and its overheads weigh heavily on its balance sheet. This challenge is particularly taken into account in the new strategy where the type of clientele targeted is, for example less sensitive to the financial hazards. Moreover, all new constructions are realized taking into account the possible risks of a Tsunami or an earthquake in areas at risk (WILEY, 1983). Another challenge is political in two senses. The first is connected to the environmental aspect. The challenge of political decisions in the countries where Club Med is active is considerable. The prevailing laws, local requirements and legal obligations to make the taking of risks inevitable in emerging countries, risks that will necessarily have an impact on the financial results. At the same time, by not taking these risks, the Club may be exposing itself to overtaking by the competition that could undermine its historic position as the pioneer. (Hart, 1990) The second sense of the political challenge lies in its singular position in France. Since the club’s activities have been in the headlines, with the opening of villages to movements of capital in its shareholding structure, the worlds of business, politics and the media have been taking an inordinate interest, more so than they would have done for any other company of this size. Club MED has often taken advantage of t his position, which has frequently enabled it to build villages in areas where building permits are difficult to obtain, but at the same time every strategy, it advances is commented, analyzed, dissected and criticized before the new village has been opened. The Club Med also face the organizational challenge, which gives rise to a number of problematic issues. The first is that of resources and ambitions. Club Med is striving to become the world leader of â€Å"all- inclusive† top end, convivial and multicultural holidays. The product it is developing today seems to fit this strategy, but the question remains whether the club has sufficient resources to realize its ambitions, and whether it has the resources to undertake a planetary strategy with the financial capacity of a large SME. Given its large size, it’s also questionable whether the club is capable of succeeding on the three great markets of Europe, Asia-pacific and America. No holiday village operator could succeed and its competitors are often regional operators. With this, there arises a significant question of whether the club will have to give way to a worldwide operator in the short term to medium term as Accor did. This is hastened by the fact that the clubà ¢â‚¬â„¢s capital is fluctuating thus making it an easy prey for tourism experts and others. This last challenge seems to be the most complex to resolve. The problem of service issue in the club’s upscaling operation and the general size of the club is questionable. There has been many cases of failures in the leadership. CITATION Zal97 l 1033 (Zaleznik, 1997) As in the year during the management by Serge Trigano, the club was operating at losses and this eventually led to its slow growth to the upscaling market. The decisions made by the managers also were wanting as in the case of the increase in the tariffs, which eventually led to a hemorrhage of customers. The club, after the closure of some of its villages, it started operating at losses due to the huge real estate charges involved. The decision taken to launch an airline also affected the club negatively as they recorded a loss of 60 million euros. The strategy adopted in the year 2000, although it managed to bring in a huge turnover, there were attached costs penalizing Club Med and its customers found difficulty in recognizing exactly where the club stood in the club stood in the market. This led to losses in that business year. The disinfection of villages in the year 2002/2003 led to difficulties within the club and they recorded tremendous deficits. During this period, the club also lost the majority of its shareholders. During the year 2007-2008, Club Med had to adjust to an unfavorable environment. Soaring petrol prices followed by a financial crisis. The club also faced a decreasing accommodation capacity due to its decision to focus on certain villages and reduced opening periods for the 2- and 3- trident villages. During this period, the shareholding base continued reducing as their main shareholder; the Accor group sold a large percentage of its holdings and was still planning to continue its divestment. The club also has another major weakness: its focus is entirely on the Asian market. It is developing strategies and making acute efforts to improve their position in the Asian market. This has minimized their profits. If the club would target, setting up villages in many parts of the world they would be at a better competitive advantage to its competitors. Understanding what Club Med has become through its new strategies is a main challenge. The club explains its concepts and how it operates in Asian markets. This is usually in conflict as these same Asians have prospects of what they would like to see. I.e. Their needs and expectations are not e European the same as those of the European counterparts regarding the fundamental criterion of the quality of service provided. Recommendations                      Effective use of technology, which can be done in terms of two methods, which are Promotion, and online marketing. In regards to promotion, Club Med can offer package deals to the customers in which each package deal comes with its own unique set of activities, perfect location, breath-taking cuisines and culture friendly yet involved. In the case of online marketing since advertisement is only done locally, Cub Med can target the international community since this era we are is digitally driven. Online marketing would draw untapped enthusiasm from tourist seeking thrill and social travelling. Experiencing other cultures would be the main attraction since it has numerous tridents that offer different reception of cultures. Globalization has made it possible for the introduction of a small representation of culture in different countries such as the presence of china town in the New York. Club Med could benefit from representation of other tridents in the same tridents since its focus is in Asia. Club Med can represent the other tridents in the Asian one enough to create a need of satisfaction. This could help market the other tridents. Club Med can also reduce their tariffs imposed on the customers. This would lead to increased customer turnover and eventually they would register enormous profits. They should also adopt an efficient product mix to attract the number of potential shareholders. The club could also work on improving their infrastructure for catering for all age groups. They could provide better communication appliances in the customer’s rooms to make them comfortable. This would satisfy their customers and thus no chance of losing them to their competitors (E, 1985). Club Med could also channel its efforts to target on a larger market scope rather than coming up with strategies to favour the Asian continent. They should establish various villages in many places in the world. This would ensure that they get a high turnover. Their forthcoming tridents should be located in environmentally viable locations to minimize the chances of disasters and events like terrorist attacks. They should also have some basic guidelines that every decision made by any director should be first screened, voted in by the majority shareholders, vetted and test for market efficiency. This would reduce the chances of managers making ambiguous decisions and coming up with inappropriate strategies that would lead to huge losses, which strains the recovery. To effectively cater for the Asian community, which lacks holidays, Club Med could come up with a strategy that would introduce festivities, such as Cultural nights, music festivals, amongst others. This would influence the preferences of the Asian community positively in hindsight during holidays. They should also seek to renovate their villages and add to them many ideas of interactive workshops with babies and parents. This would ensure that they are at par with the local com petition. (WILEY, 1983) References Clayton, C. (1997). The Innovator’s Dilemma. New York: Havard Business School Pres. E, M. (1985). Competitive Advantage. Free press. Club Mà ©diterranà ©e. (N.d.). Retrieved November 26, 2014, from http://medlibrary.org/medwiki/Club_Mà ©diterranà ©e Destination News – Hotel, Resort & Spa North America. (2009, September 21). Airguide Online. Franco, V., & Perl, M. (1972). The Club MediterraneÃŒ e (Abridged. Ed.). London: Shepheard-Walwyn. Hart, C. (1990). Club Med (A) (Rev. 11/15/90. ed.). Boston, Mass.: President and Fellows of Harvard College :. Pavlovic, T. (n.d.). Club Mà ©diterranà ©e: One of the most optimal formulas of club vacation in sport and recreation tourism. Journal of the Geographical Institute Jovan Cviji?, SASA, 203-211. WILEY, J. (1983). Noel Managing Strategic change:Technical,political,and cultural dynamics. New York. Zaleznik, A. (1997). Managers and leaders . New York: Havard Business Review. (n.d.). Retrieved November 26, 2014, from http://inpublic.globenewswire.com/2013/06/25/Club Mà ©diterranà ©e Gaillon Invest improves the terms of its offer on the securities of the company HUG1711730.html Source document

Antitrust practices Essay Example for Free

Antitrust practices Essay Antitrust practices are practices carried on by businesses that end up destroying perfect competition in the market. Antitrust laws are laws prepared to seek and promote healthy market competition by preventing anti-competitive practices by companies. Some of the illegal practices that constitute to antitrust behavior include corporate mergers, monopolies and price fixing conspiracies (Bailey, 2010). The Clayton Act of 1914 was passed by the U.S Congress. It was an antitrust law that was amended to stop and prevent practices that led to unhealthy competition in the market. The Clayton Act was amended in order to complement an earlier version of the antitrust law referred to as the Sherman antitrust Act of 1980. This was a federal law that sought to prevent practices that were harmful to consumers such as cartels, monopolies and other unfair business practices (California Association of REALTORS, 2005). One of the recent firms to be investigated for antitrust behavior is Google Company that leads the online searching industry. According to Weiss (2014), the firm recently was being investigated by Competition Commission of India (CCI) for claims that it abused its dominance in the online search engine industry by mainly promoting its own services over those of its rivals. This reason is considered to create unhealthy competition in the business as the search engine company dominates its rivals in what is considered almost a monopolistic market. Antitrust behavior brings about both pecuniary and non-pecuniary costs. Since it damages healthy competition in the market, monopolies can result and this has adverse effects to the prices of commodities. The products end up becoming costly and expensive for the customers and, therefore, affecting the society negatively (Bailey, 2010). On the other hand, antitrust behavior leads to the output of products falling below the market competitive le vel and this is mainly witnessed in monopolistic markets. Then again, the antitrust practices can be costly for any company that has engaged in them since if investigations prove that the company is guilty of the said acts then heavy penalties can be imposed on them. Furthermore, this can ruin the reputation of any company and, therefore, ending up losing its customers (Bailey, 2010). Monopolies and oligopolies are not always good for the society. Their presence in any market simply means they have all the power to control the prices of their products and services. This is not favorable to the customers since prices can always go up any time especially when the demand for certain commodities is high. One good example of an oligopoly is the Coca Cola and Pepsi Companies. These are the world’s largest beverage companies and demand for their products is never decreasing. However, these two companies represent a market with few suppliers while the consumers are many. They have all the power to dictate their products’ prices and the consumers have no power whatsoever (Hovenkamp, 2011). On the other hand, some government monopolies can be considered beneficial to the members of the society. Many governments in the current world control the production and supply of electricity and other forms of energy. This is useful because the governments aim at providin g such services to the citizens at affordable prices and across the countries. It is the responsibility of the government to enhance infrastructure development in the country and, therefore, running such sectors of the economy can be beneficial to consumers. In conclusion, it is important to point out that antitrust practices are unwanted behaviors since they destroy healthy competition among businesses. However, the law is strict on companies that engage in these practices and heavy penalties can be imposed on them. Antitrust practices include price fixing, corporate mergers and creation of monopolies (Reeves, 2010). Antitrust practices. (2016, Feb 28). We have essays on the following topics that may be of interest to you

Entrepreneurship in the Global Environment - Comparing Entrepreneurs Assignment

Entrepreneurship in the Global Environment - Comparing Entrepreneurs from different Industries- Ratan Tata & Warren Buffett - Assignment Example Ratan began his schooling at Campion School and finished the secondary education at John Connon School. He later joined Cornell University for a Bachelor of Science in structural engineering thereby graduating in 1962. Ratan joined the Harvard Business School in 1975 for an Advanced Management Program. Tata’s career beginnings in 1961 involved shoveling limestone and managing the blast furnace at Tata Steel. Thirty years later, J.R.D stepped down as the director of Tata Sons thereby endorsing Ratan as his successor. Ratan’s superb management and entrepreneurial skills created significant success for the company. For instance, the conglomerate acquired Tetley, Jaguar land Rover, and Corus thereby transforming from an Indian Company to a global one. The company currently sources 65% of its revenues from abroad. Ratan highly participated in the creation of Tata Nano, the world’s least costly passenger car. On December 2012, Ratan retired from his chief executive responsibility thereby becoming a chairman emeritus of Tata Group. Ratan continues making new deals and eyeing the evolving business opportunities such as e-commerce. He has also continued a close working relationship with the British Jaguar Land Rover Company. Ratan Tata has other duties both in India and abroad. For instance, he is a member and a contributor in the country’s Trade and Industry ministry. In addition, he is part of the jury of Pritzker Architecture Prize, which is considered an influential prize giving program for architectures. Globally, Ratan possesses key duties. For instance, he is a dean’s advisor at Harvard Business School. His significant contributions to the contemporary society has made earn numerous awards. In 2008, the Government of India awarded Ratan Padma Vibhushan, which is one of the highest civilian honors. Warren Buffett was born in Omaha, in 1930. He is among the three children of the late Congressman, Howard Buffett. Howard

Mexicos Incomplete Transition to Democracy Essay

Mexicos Incomplete Transition to Democracy - Essay Example Whereas U.S. newspapers assert Caldern the victor, Mexican electoral establishment have up till now to do so, be familiar with the hearing that is evaluation quarrel as the concluding arbiter intended for the race. The precedent months in Mexico have been noticeable by a drive of dread adjacent to Lpez Obrador. What conventional depict as an alarm opportunity is the awfully issue that would have through nearly all to strengthen the country's transition toward democracy: a diplomatic transitory of power crossways ideological lines. When Vicente Fox succeed the most recent presidential ballot vote in 2000, his victory finished additional than seven decades of single-party domination and interrupt a number of the conventional backing set of connections that had distinct Mexican politics. Up till now Fox added the similar variety of market- tilting economic neoliberalism endorse intended for two decades by means of widespread-rule Institutional Revolutionary Party, which attached by the PAN to go by NAFTA in the near the beginning 1990s. As in numerous countries all through Latin America, neoliberalism has disastrous to transport for Mexico. Backside at what time he was on the movement trail, Fox guarantee that he would generate economic expansion of seven percent for each year; the authentic standard was 1.8 percent. Constant through the economy selection up in the initial quarter of 2006, Mexico has not distinguish somewhere near the one million fresh jobs per year that Fox oath. As a substitute, precipitous inequality, unrelenting poverty, and extreme anxiety have determined countless Mexican settler north in search of prospect in the post-NAFTA period cross the threshold Lpez Obrador. The middle-left presidential contender turns out to be an enormously well-liked stature as mayor of Mexico City by really paying consideration to the needs of the deprived. He get underway innovative public works along with shaped pensions plus subsidies designed for the elderly, solitary mothers, and the immobilize. All the way th rough nearly the entire presidential chase, Lpez Obrador census as the obvious frontrunner. He give your word to end particular privileges in addition to sweetheart agreement for the well-off, to lift proceeds by stalk an outbreak of elite tax avoidance, and to enlarge his communal programs countrywide. Lpez Obrador's approaching conquest presented impressive elementary intended for democracy: the prospect of genuine revolutionize. During the months foremost up to the voting, Lpez Obrador's political opponent brawl his contention with unremitting fear-mongering. yet subsequent to electoral bureaucrat talking to the PAN and enforced the party to draw campaign commercial that identify Lpez Obrador a "hazard to Mexico" as well as that declare artificial links with Hugo Chvez, accurate-wing dealing groups chuck the identical sucker thump in surrounding two. They furnish a sequence of "non-supporter" very last-miniature attack advertisement that demonstrate descriptions of the Venezuelan organizer and, wink, affirmed that "Mexico doesn't necessitate an authoritarian." In the meantime, U.S. expert admirer the flames through thinning out threatening allegation of "populism," and opinionated advisor voyage south of the boundary to assist plot the temperament assassination. By means of

Compare and contrast The Andy Griffith Show and I Love Lucy Essay

Compare and contrast The Andy Griffith Show and I Love Lucy - Essay Example There are no crimes for Andy to solve, and most of his work involves mediating, philosophizing and calming his cousin Deputy Barney. On the other hand, I love Lucy is the daily life story of a couple, Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. The two are married and bring out the contradiction in intercultural marriages that were quite strange at the time of this show. Lucy is an American woman whereas Ricky is a Cuban man. Lucy is a housewife and undergoes many funny and weird occurrences in her life. She makes many mistakes and Ricky is always excited when this happens as he gets a chance to correct her. The couple lives a real married life that also involves sensational moments aside from the funny occurrences that occur often. The couple lives in a simple home in a neighborhood that is filled with friendly people in terms of neighbors. The pace of the I Love Lucy show is fast and jovial, with neighbors moving from door to door without having to knock. The environment they live in and the lives they live allow them to interact freely and with ease. The pace of the show is lively through the musical performances by Ricky Ricardo. Lucy attempts to join some of these dances so as to enjoy them with her husband. This rather quick pace contradicts that of the Andy Griffith Show. This show is characterized by a slow pace that can be described as sleepy. This pace is because the life of Andy is not marked by crimes and subsequent investigations that make up the ordinary life of a Sheriff. He spends his time meditating and talking to his cousin Barney. He also solves problems with neighbors and gains a lot of popularity in the neighborhood. The setting of the I Love Lucy show is in the 1950s. It depicts a good environment in a black and white show. This film is set in an American environment that still finds it strange to have Americans married to non-Americans. Lucy’s husband is a Cuban, and couple shows the possibility

Effects of Continuing Education on Nursing Profession Research Paper

Effects of Continuing Education on Nursing Profession - Research Paper Example Obstetricians that have advanced in their area of specialization showed increased knowledge and capability to handle situations at hand, Johnston states that, nurses who were involved on mandatory continuation of learning, showed positive change in terms of behavior and practice. The level of referral drastically reduced after nurses were involved in the mandatory continuation on education (Johnston et al, 2009). According to the study, it explained that nurses acquired more knowledge regarding their specialty; the increased knowledge and positive attitude toward patients care enable them to perform their tasks more effective. Therefore, there were little referral compared before involvement in the studies. The study also indicates that, the program of mandatory continuing education acted as motivator among nurses, hence appreciated their work more, and show high level of competency (Emerson, 2007). ii. Continuation of education and the qualities of care delivery There have been diff erent studies that have been conducted to evaluate the impact of continuing studies on the level of care delivery. Most survey conducted showed positive link between the level in the quality care delivery and increased level of education. According to the survey done by Moini, most of nurses who were involved in a program of voluntary mandatory education; showed high quality care delivery after enrollment to education. The researcher stated that, adult voluntary learning was the best way to advance individual level of education. Through identification of individuals need in a particular area, they will voluntarily enroll on continuation of education to upgrade their skills in the area required, hence, improving the... This essay stresses that international nursing bodies have encouraged nurses to continue with their studies to remain competent and deliver improved care. There are different factors that have influenced nurse’s decisions on continuation of education. These factors include; individual decision, organization decision and professional decision. Dynamics that influenced a nurse’s decision on continuation of the study, will affect the outcome of study in positive or negative manner. For effective continuation of studies nurse are require to participate fully in the study. As the paper discusses most survey conducted showed positive link between the level in the quality care delivery and increased level of education. According to the survey done by Moini, most of nurses who were involved in a program of voluntary mandatory education; showed high quality care delivery after enrollment to education. The researcher stated that, adult voluntary learning was the best way to advance individual level of education. Through identification of individuals need in a particular area, they will voluntarily enroll on continuation of education to upgrade their skills in the area required, hence, improving the quality of care delivery. According to the survey done among nurses who either voluntarily or involved in compulsory continuing education; the study showed that, 67% of the nurses were involved to studying a new area, and not building on what they previously acquired.

Childhood Obesity in the United States Research Paper

Childhood Obesity in the United States - Research Paper Example Introduction It is obvious to note that no one will feel comfortable when he or she is obese. Since one, this will make you not to go through daily chores perfectly due to overweight. Secondly, one might incur chronic disease such as the pressure and diabetes. With that, the need to fight and eradicate it should be geared up by the non-governmental organizations, government, schools, and volunteers. United States is one of those countries that face this challenge, and the worse part of it is that according to statistics, the number of those children affected is increasing. That is why, in this essay, several writers are giving their views and the need to fight obese to the last minute. Actually according to â€Å"The Kid's Doctor: Family routines can reduce childhood obesity. Family Relation,† a journal published by the database of American pediatrics, it is worth noting that it entirely validate the significance of family routines (Hubbard Sue 2013). Having put that across, t he above article constitutes the researchers from university of Ohio State, where they deeply analyzed household routines in relation to child obesity, a problem that has been ever escalating. Here, the whole research entailed 8,500 children under the age of four years. The outcomes were alarming in that, almost 18 percent of the children were diagnosed with obesity. Due to this high number of affected children, Hubbard, the author affirms that it forced the researchers to inquire the cause of this veering phenomenon. After analysis, it became known that a number of household routines gears up a predicator of the obesity in the United Stated. It follows that this household routines are viewed as easy to initiate in that its accomplishment does not actually entail a cost. For instance, families that have established good or considerable routines family meals, this has proved to be a positive to children since it results in improved academic results in children, risk of using drugs an d alcohol, attention as well as overall wellbeing. Generally, luck of family eating together, proper sleep just to mention but a few has constituted to the issue of increased obesity in children in the US, this is according to the above article. Conclusively, in the efforts to try to give out a solution, Hubbard affirms that teens should be made to follow a certain healthy schedule for instance, they should b made to not when to go to sleep. Secondly, he reminds the parents that children under the age of two years should be denied the chance of watching television, and those above the age of two should watch television but in not more than two hours. Although, it is difficult to understand its co-relation with obesity, the truth is that this author followed the direction by the American Academic of Pediatrics. According to â€Å"school snack food rules clamp down on calories, fat†, an article by Anderson and Butcher, they actually based their argument on the research they did on the foods sold in the U.S schools (Anderson & Butcher, 2006). They argue that the snacks sold in the U.S school have actually increased the rate at which children obesity is engulfing children. According to them, they affirm that most of these foods are over-fatted; they have a lot of sugar as well as salt. They based their argument upon the rules given by the federal State regarding the quality of

Abortion in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Abortion in America - Essay Example The first instance was of Connecticut which criminalized abortion in the year 1821. Even in the cases of rape and incest, filing a police first investigation report was a prerequisite. However a woman with the name of Norma L. Mcorvay filed a petition against the abortion laws which fueled up the great debate of pro-life vs. pro-choice In June 1969, Mcorvay found out that she was pregnant with her third child and immediately decided to have an abortion. However due to its criminalization she could not get it done at any hospital. She was advised to register as a rape victim, however it did not happen there was no police report about the alleged incident. In 1970, two lawyers by the name of Coffee and Weddington filed a petition against the laws criminalizing abortion. The lawyers represented Mccorvay under the alias of Jane Roe while the Texas state was represented by Henry Wade (Mohr). Before the start of the legal proceedings, Roe conceded that she had not been raped and that case was actually meant as a plea to grant freedom to women regarding their personal choices. After multiple hearings a decision was finally announced on January 22, 1973. The court made abortion one of the fundamental rights under the US constitution, marking the beginning of a new era (Hoffer and Hoffer). There were many proposals including the proposal of viability which said that a woman can only have abortion until the fetus in her womb is not viable. By viable, it meant that the fetus could survive outside the mother’s body. However much of the freedom was granted to women and she could have an abortion after consulting a physician. . The case raised a fiery debate not only in the judicial circles but also among political and social groups. On one hand, the decision was heralded as a victory for women rights while on the other hand it came out as a blow to the believers of pro-life. The decision was controversial and still a large population of the country believes that it s hould be reverted. Perhaps the biggest shock to the whole pro-life vs. pro-choice debate was dealt by Mcorvay herself when she revealed in 1995 that she had become a proponent of pro-life (Bergel). Since then she has spoken openly against abortion and even filed petitions to overturn the decision, which did not yield any conclusive result. In the light of the above arguments, it can fairly easily be said that the matter is a very complicated one because abortion does not only affect the physical well-being of women but also psychological and emotional well-being. Therefore there needs to be a thorough study of the statistical data about people’s opinions as well as a sound scientific study before any further decision in this regard is taken. Although both sides of the debate has very strong points, I believe that abortion should not be legalized unless in the most extremes of cases. There are many forms of contraception available including, early morning pill and condoms; the refore unwanted pregnancies can easily be avoided if these contraceptive measures are taken. Legalization of abortion actually demeans the reproductive function of sex and projects it only as a means of having pleasure. This encourages unprotected sexual intercourse since unwanted conception can easily be aborted causing a greater number of people to be at a risk of contacting sexually transmitted diseases. Since legalization of abortion poses more of a threat rather than relief to the general well-being of women, it should only is legal in extreme cases. For example, in a situation like rape where the conception actually reminds the women of the trauma and puts a negative impact on her psychological well-being, abortion should be legalized. Also in some pregnancies, some extreme

American women history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

American women history - Essay Example Taking the perspectives of Margaret Fuller, Horatio Storer and Caroll Smith-Rosenberg, who have expressed their views on gender differences, and the impact of abortion on the social order in 19th century America, this essay will chronicle the opposing views on women and how the women’s rights movement was borne out of such controversies. This essay will argue for the illegality and immorality of abortion while explaining how such a fact has been exploited to debase women and uplift men and how the woman’s movement has struggled to fight for gender balance. "Is it not enough," cries the sorrowful trader, "that you have done all you could to break up the national Union, and thus destroy the prosperity of our country, but now you must be trying to break up family union, to take my wife away from the cradle, and the kitchen hearth, to vote at polls, and preach from a pulpit! Of course, if she does such things, she cannot attend to those of her own sphere. She is happy enough as she is. She has more leisure than I have, every means of improvement, every indulgence. "No, but I know she is. She is too amiable to wish what would make me unhappy, and too judicious to wish to step beyond the sphere of her sex. I will never consent to have our peace disturbed by any such discussions.† â€Å"It having now been shown, directly and by temporary assumption, that the law and public sentiment, both by their theory and their practice, alike deny to unjustifiable abortion the imputation of crime, it remains for us to discuss this question abstractly, and to prove, not merely that they are wrong, but the offence is one of the deepest guilt, a crime SECOND TO NONE† (64) â€Å"Women... must develop their own sexual power within the home, control the frequency of intercourse, dominate the sexual act. Significantly, these women condemned abortion as bitterly as the AMA had.

Greek Art in Ancient Greece and Faraway Lands Essay Example for Free

Greek Art in Ancient Greece and Faraway Lands Essay The classical period of Greece (490 – 323 B. C. ) saw the artists perfecting their style. Following Alexander’s conquests, ancient Greece entered the Hellenistic period (323 – 31 B. C. ) (â€Å"Timeline of Ancient Greece†). Of course, Alexander the Great was not the only god of the ancient Greek civilization. Ancient Greeks worshipped plenty of gods that were believed to have appeared to them in human form with extraordinary strength and beauty (â€Å"Culture†). Professor Harris describes Euhemerus as the philosopher responsible for presenting Greek myths as simple stories to his readers. Euhemerus’ interpretation of Greek mythology was considered radical in his times. It was he who wrote that Greek gods and goddesses were human beings to begin with. Because of their extraordinary feats or the cultural and/or social value that they added to life in ancient Greece, their ordinary humanity was turned into godhood in the minds of ancient Greeks (Harris). Thus, ancient Greek gods and goddesses were portrayed in painted scenes on stone, vases, and also with bronze and terracotta sculptures for the sake of remembrance. Although many of the ancient Greek temples honored multiple gods and goddesses, certain places showed greater reverence to a sole deity or a pair of gods, e. g. Olympia’s Zeus, and Eleusis’ Demeter and Persephone (â€Å"Culture†). For reasons described above, the ancient Greeks downplayed the divine aspects of their gods by giving them a typically human form, as the example of the Torso of Apollo reveals (See Appendix I). Made in 2nd century AD, the Torso of Apollo of marble shows young Apollo, â€Å"the Greek god of light, music, archery, healing, atonement, prophecy, and flocks and herds† (â€Å"Torso of Apollo†). The figure was popular with both Greeks and ancient Romans. It is an unclothed manifestation of perfection, splendor and courage with Apollo wearing a belt over one of his shoulders to which a case for holding arrows was fastened at his back (â€Å"Torso of Apollo†). By showing the god as distinctly human, the artist inspires into viewers the spirit to take Apollo for a courageous model and turn into heroes themselves. After all, Apollo was not only a gentle lover of the arts but also domineering to the extent that he was cruel to those who challenged his supremacy among ordinary mortals (Ingfei, 2002, p. 9; â€Å"Apollo†). What is more, he was intelligent and handsome enough to be taken as a model by the ancient Greeks. With the sun as his special symbol, Apollo did not only show physical courage but was also a supporter of intellectual pursuits (Leadbetter, 2004; Regula, 2009). He was known as the god of poetry, medicine, and intellectually enquiry to boot (Leadbetter). In other words, he was next to perfect. Athena Parthenos, too, was considered immaculate in ancient Greece. The Parthenon is a classical temple dedicated to the woman, considered the goddess of wisdom (See Appendix II). The temple was built between 447 – 432 B. C. on the Acropolis, which is in the capital city of ancient Greece, Athens. It has survived despite severe damage over the centuries (â€Å"Art,† 2008). Perikles, the famous politician of Athens, had championed the construction of the Parthenon (â€Å"The Parthenon†). Some of the architectural features of the temple have been described thus: †¦[R]ectangular floor plan with a series of low steps on every side, and a colonnade (8 x 17) of Doric columns extending around the periphery of the entire structure. Each entrance has an additional six columns in front of it. The larger of the two interior rooms, the naos, housed the cult statue. The smaller room (the opisthodomos) was used as a treasury. (â€Å"The Parthenon†) The temple was constructed with marble, and mainly represented the Doric order with features of the Ionic order incorporated in its sculptural program (Kerr, 1995). The Doric order gave Parthenon its series of ninety two metopes (with panels of sculptured reliefs depicting law and order and struggle); and triglyphs on its entablature. Additionally, the Doric order made the temple a peripteral, simple-looking structure with short and thick columns (â€Å"The Parthenon†). The â€Å"continuous sculpted frieze† of the Parthenon represents the Ionic order, however (â€Å"The Parthenon†). There are four tall and slim columns of the temple, too, that represent this architectural order which happens to support the opisthodomos’ roof at the Parthenon. The capitals or the columns’ tops that are built using the Ionic order have volutes, which are the names of the curlicues special to this order (â€Å"The Parthenon†). Above the metopes and triglyphs of the temple lie the pedimental sculptures, one of which shows the birth of Zeus – yet another god for the ancient Greeks (â€Å"The Parthenon†). The frieze of the temple, running â€Å"around the upper edge of the temple wall† and inside from the metopes and the triglyphs shows day to day life in ancient Greece, the rituals of the Greeks, processions, musicians, gods and goddesses, and much more (â€Å"The Parthenon†). Indeed, the place of the frieze in the sculptural program of the temple is unique, seeing as it does not only portray real life and beliefs of the ancient Greeks, but also gives the Parthenon a central place in the life of Athens. The temple was, after all, a place where religious festivals as well as sacrifices were held. Moreover, this temple gave Athena Parthenos a special place to stay for the protection and welfare of the Athenians (â€Å"The Parthenon: Religion, Art, and Politics†). Whether or not the ancient Greeks would consider it Athena Parthenos’ blessing that took ancient Greek art styles to faraway lands, the fact is that even the ancient art of the Nabataeans and the Arabs experienced the influence of Greek artists. Vries Osinga (2005) state that â€Å"[t]he Nabataeans at their height spread as far north as Damascus, to the coast of the Mediterranean at Gaza in the east and to Madain Salih in the south. † But, the Nabataean kingdom came under Roman rule in the year 106 A. D. It became an Arabian province at the time (Vries Osinga). The Nabataeans were caravan drivers on a large scale. Roman traders visited Petra even before the Nabataean kingdom was taken over by the Romans. These traders came to conclude transportation agreements with the Nabataeans. The latter traveled around the world with merchandise – â€Å"between the Red Sea and the Nile, and sometimes as far away as the Delta† (Sartre, Porter, Rawlings, 2005, p. 268). Unsurprisingly, therefore, their temples expose a variety of influences on the hearts and minds of the Nabataeans (Vries Osinga). Vries Osinga write: The many structures are so diverse that it is difficult to categorize them, at least without oversimplifying or overlooking what may be important details. Philip Hammond, who excavated the Temple of the Winged Lions, concludes that it might be more faithful to the diversity of the temples to see them not as derivatives of Iranian temples, Roman temples or other, but to recognize the borrowing of constructional and decorative technique and to concentrate on why each was unique. (Vries Oringa) Sartre, Porter Rawlings write that Nabataeans were so influenced by Greek art – following the Roman invasion – that they spread that influence in many parts of Arabia. Nude heroes of the Greeks have been found in Arabia and believed to have been conveyed there by the Nabataeans (Sartre, Porter Rawlings, p. 269). However, Vries Oringa have uncovered Egyptian influence in the temples of Nabataeans to boot. Describing one of the most significant temples left by the Nabataeans, the authors state: [T]he Wadi Rum temple took its layout from Egyptian models, specifically the Egyptian Temple Dayr Chelouit. The only reference to the Roman world would be columns of the Wadi Rum Temple. Dharih might also be kin to the Egyptian Temple of Coptos, while the Qasr al-Bint and the Temple of the Winged Lions find construction parallels there also (Vries Oringa). Then again, Greek and/or Roman influence seems to be most profound. Although temple plans of the Nabataeans do not appear typically Roman, decoration outside of the temples may be recognized as distinctly Roman and/or Hellenistic. As an example, the external decoration of Khasneh makes it appear as though it was built in Alexandria (Vries Oringa). Even so, Vries Oringa believe that the Nabataeans did not simply copy the designs that were handed down to them by Romans. Instead, they took influence in their stride, sometimes appropriating â€Å"the general structure,† but modifying and adapting it as time went on (Vries Oringa). In other words, they were open to influence, but also believed in maintaining their local traditions. Taylor (2001) agrees with this view. In her book, Petra and the Lost Kingdom of the Nabataeans, she explains that the Nabataeans did not make copies as slaves would. Rather, Greek ideas were amazingly transformed by the Nabataeans into works of art keeping â€Å"a distinctively Nabataean flavor† (Taylor, p. 92). No wonder, Petra remains as an incomparable feast for the eyes for all lovers of art. Vries Oringa write that the art of Nabataeans, in particular the sculptures they made, also changed from era to era; that is, even before the Romans came to rule the Nabataean kingdom, the Nabataeans went on altering their artistic style (Vries Oringa). Perhaps their visits to foreign lands brought such changes to the art of the kingdom. But, once the Romans had arrived on the scene, the Nabataeans did not only borrow the artistic styles of the Greeks but also others’. The sculptures of deities in Tannur, for example, appear both Hellenistic and Oriental. The Nabataeans also seem to have been influenced by the Syrian artistic style, as revealed through sculptures at both Dharih and Tannur (Vries Oringa). Although Hellenistic artistic style â€Å"of classical proportions† is most often cited as an influence on Nabataean art, there were plenty of sculptures made by the Nabataeans that did not appear Greek at all even though they were made while the Nabataeans were living under Roman rule (Vries Oringa). Vries Oringa cite â€Å"the simple standing block† as an example of such artwork. The fact that the Nabataeans maintained their local flavor in their artistic style shows that these people did not wholly lose their cultural identity at the time. Even the Romans may have delighted in the diversity revealed through Nabataean art, simply because the Nabataeans mingled with many peoples at the time. What is more, the adaptation of Greek art to new cultures must have been viewed as a triumph of ancient Greek artistic styles. After all, ancient Greek art continues to be celebrated around the world to this day. References Apollo. Retrieved Feb 27, 2009, from http://felc. gdufs. edu. cn/jth/myth/Greek%20Online/5Apollo. htm. Art. (2008). Ancient Greece. Retrieved Feb 27, 2009, from http://www. ancientgreece. com/s/Art/. Culture. Retrieved Feb 27, 2009, from http://www. crystalinks. com/greekculture. html. Harris, W. Euhemerus. Retrieved Feb 27, 2009, from http://community. middlebury. edu/~harris/SubIndex/greekmyth. html. Ingfei, C. (2002, Aug 2). The Sun also Heals; Some believe. International Herald Tribune. Kerr, M. (1995, Oct 23). The Sole Witness: The Periclean Parthenon. Retrieved Feb 27, 2009, from http://people. reed. edu/~mkerr/papers/Parth95. html. Leadbetter, R. (2004, Jan 31). Apollo. Encyclopedia Mythica. Retrieved Feb 27, 2009, from http://www. pantheon. org/articles/a/apollo. html. Sartre, M. , Porter, C. , Rawlings, E. (2005). The Middle East under Rome. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Taylor, J. (2001). Petra and the Lost Kingdom of the Nabataeans. London: I. B. Tauris. Timeline of Ancient Greece. Retrieved Feb 27, 2009, from http://www. aspasiaproject. com/timeline. htm. The Parthenon. Retrieved Feb 27, 2009, from http://academic. reed. edu/humanities/110Tech/Parthenon. html. The Parthenon: Religion, Art, and Politics. Retrieved Feb 27, 2009, from http://employees. oneonta. edu/farberas/arth/ARTH200/politics/parthenon. html. Torso of Apollo. (2000). The Detroit Institute of Arts. Retrieved Feb 27, 2009, from http://www. cartage. org. lb/en/themes/arts/scultpureplastic/SculptureHistory/GloriousScul

Environment Analyses That Will Impact Burger King Marketing Essay

Environment Analyses That Will Impact Burger King Marketing Essay This research market proposal is for Burger King for their marketing strategies to launch their new cafe in competition with McCafe of McDonalds. This report is an in depth analysis of its Internal and the External Environment that will influence Burger Kings success and fail. Burger King is well known thought-out to be a major fast food chains in the world. This proposal explores the three key environment analyses that will impact Burger King: External-Environment Internal Environment The overall report is about PESTEL, Porters 5 Forces model, and SWOT analysis. These current strategies will determine the competitive and how successful Burger King is in the market before launching a new cafe and take into account the ,market analysis and situation. Introduction Burger King is a global chain fast food restaurant which was founded in 1955 in United Sates in Florida owned by David Edgerton and James McLamore. By the year 2011, 12,400 outlets were opened by Burger King in 73 countries including New Zealand. Since its opening in 1955 the menu for the Burger King has evolved from basic offering of French fries, sodas, milkshakes, and burgers to more diverse and lager set of products. Between 2002 and 2010, Burger King targeted large products that carried large amounts of unhealthy fats to 18-34 male demographic. In 2011 Burger King moved away from male oriented menu to new menu items with packing and product reformulations (The Free Encyclopedia, 2012). Burger Kings franchise is one of the means of expanding its operation. Burger King acts as a franchisor laying down precisely procedures and rules for other franchisee to follow. To achieve volume growth Burger King associated itself with multinational expansion for a large saturated market place (Made Easy). Burger King is ranked second next to McDonalds in terms of size and number of stores but their brand name is the most widely-recognized brands in the world which sets them apart from their competitor. Burgers Kings innovative and more food menu choices help them to be competitive in the market and maintain the customer it has. The main menu Burger King has is French Fries, cheeseburgers, and chicken and fish sandwiches, breakfast items, hamburger, onions rings, soft drinks, salads, desserts and etc. (Made Easy). Political and Legal Issues In New Zealand to conduct a market research first we will have to become a member of the Market and Research Social Research Society (MRSRS) which is a professional organization for any researcher who is interested in conducting a market research. This agency has set of regulations of professional behavior to abide by. There are policy act and principles that will have to follow when collecting, storing, and using and disclosing personal information (MRSNZ 2012). The political and legal forces that will affect the Burger King for their marketing strategies will be the monetary and fiscal policies of the government where interest rates, tax legislation affecting the marketing system, a good example will be GST (Rix, 2004, p. 48) . Other legal laws that will affect the Burger King will be Fair Trading Act 1986 in this act, if an employee makes a misrepresentation or misleading claim about the product, such a claim would be deemed to breach the act (Parliamentary Counsel Office, 2012). For Burger king to open up a cafe in their restaurant they will have to comply with Food Act 1981 rules and regulations like food safety regulations and, food fees charges regulation (Ministry For Primary Industries, 2012). The privacy act 1993 will requires Burger King to advice their customers of the intended purpose of information held about them after the market survey. These acts promote and protect individuals information privacy who will take part in the marketing survey and research (Parliamentary Counsel Office, 2012). Ethical Issues Ethics is basally the moral conduct of the business what is right or wrong. Ethics for Burger King will be the corporate social responsibility of towards society and commit itself in the code to encourage diversity among employees, franchisers, business sources, community involvement and sponsorships and prevent discrimination within the company. Other ethical issues Burger King will face will be: Promoting ethical culture that values and respects all people Acting with honesty and integrity ethical standards which encourage compliance with all laws and company policies. Providing sponsorships, supporting local sporting teams, and helping young disable people in need. Ethics like refraining from using company position, information, and property for personal gain. Providing fair, timely, and full reasonable disclosures in the financial report with compliance to the law. Holding itself responsible and accountable for the action it takes (Corporate Responsibility 2012) Burger King will also have to consider about giving employment to disable people and also providing a car park space for them. Social Cultural Issues Burger King will have to consider the beliefs, social values, lifestyles, behavior and buying preferences of the people. New Zealand has many different races with different cultural, norms and values determine what is acceptable and what is not. When assessing the food requirements of a particular cultural or ethnic group Burger King will have to know the food requirement for each ethnic group. For example people with Hindu back group are mostly vegetarian so they will need products from Burger King that does not contain animal fat, eggs, or meat. As for Muslim community they will only eat halal certified foods so Burger King will have to consider these factors before opening up the cafà ©. Burger King will also have to consider about people who put emphasis on quality of life rather than the quantity of goods. Some buys will look for safety, durability, and value in the foodstuffs they buy. Some buys will desire for more physical goods in the belief that these will lead to greater levels of overall satisfaction and happiness for example more environmentally friendly products and introduction of recyclable packaging (Rix, 2004, p. 44). Burger King will also have to take in to the account the trends of male and female member within the household, especially about their purchasing power and decisions. Each gender will have different taste that will influence their buying (Rix, 2004, p. 44). SWOT Analysis For Burger Kings new Cafà © I will have to use Porters 5 forces model, SWOT and PESTEL Analysis to investigate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of launching the new cafà ©. This situation analysis will summarize the Burger Kings current situation and will scan the external environment for strengths and weaknesses and environmental opportunities and threats. Strengths are business capabilities, competitive advantages and competencies. Weaknesses are business limitation. Opportunities are environmental trends to which business plan can be matched. Threats are environmental changes that would affect business operations or direction. Environmental analysis is very important in planning process as it enables us to collect the necessary information to assist management in decision making process. (Rix, 2004, p. 428) SWOT Analysis is a tool that Burger King can use to identify their internal strengths and weaknesses and opportunities and threats, and then develop strategies to deal with their situation (Rix, 2004, p. 428) (S) Strengths of Burger King will be the customer loyalty, market share, organizational efficiency, and product. Burger King is the second largest fast food hamburger restaurant in the world. Burger King has a strong brand equity when talked about wide selection of menu items, fast and efficient service, and innovative products. All this strong brand equity will favor and will help Burger King in their opening of the new Cafe and they also will get good customer loyalty. (Made Easy, 2012). (W) Weaknesses of Burger King over the years that contributed to its decline were its weak marketing campaigns. If Burger King has weak marketing campaigns then they will not able to communicate with their customers. Another weaknesses Burger King will face is the heavily relies on franchisee rather than corporately owned stores. Each franchise will try to sell and promote their product for customer loyalty and this can be a major drawback for Burger King in launches their new cafe (Made Easy, 2012). (O) Opportunities for Burger King will be their expansion strategy for new product development, particularly around breakfast in their new cafà ©. Burger King can set example for other franchise on how a cafà © should be operated. Opportunity like edifice its brand though advertisement campaign and expansion into up-and-coming markets can improve financial aspects of the business. (Made Easy, 2012). (T) Threats one of the biggest threats Burger King will face will be from McCafe of McDonalds which is the largest fast food chain restaurants. The competition among within these two companies will be characterized by price wars for the market share. This will make Burger King to heavily promote their product which will cost money and time. Other threats Burger King will face is consumers changing attitude and behavior towards eating healthier food choices. Now days consumers are more conscious about their health issues which may result them not buying for Burger King. Increasing labor cost will also put pressure on Burgers Kings finance (Made Easy, 2012). Figure Strength(S) Weaknesses (W) SO Strategies Use strengths to take advantages of opportunities WO Strategies Take advantage of opportunities by overcoming weaknesses or making them relevant ST Strategies Use strengths to avoid threats WT Strategies Minimize weaknesses and avoid threats Source: Have, S. T., Have, W. T., Stevens, F. (2003). Key Management Models. Great Britain: Biddles Ltd,Guildford Kings Lynn. According to (Have, Have, Stevens, 2003, p. 187) as shown in figure1Burger King can use SO and WT strategies meaning that they will able to do what they are good at. They will also able to steer the business clear from competencies in opportunity. If Burger King decides to use WO strategies then they will able to take on opportunity despite not having the requisite strengths, which means they will have to borrow or develop the required strengths to outmaneuver the competition. ST strategies if used by Burger King mean that they will bust or buy their way out of trouble. For example these strategies will make Burger King to fend off smaller cafà © by means of expensive price wars, multiple channels of promotions and with insurmountable marketing budgets. PEST Analysis PEST Analysis is at tactical planning means to evaluate the impact of the external environment like Political, Economic, Social and Technological factors on an organization (Haughey MPM, 2002). Burger King will have to use PEST Analysis is a vital ingredient in their planning process. (P) Political is factors like trade restriction, environment regulations, tax policy, and employment laws that Burger King will have to comply. New Zealand government also has legislation that governs the dissemination and preparation of the financial information so Burger King will have to comply with legislation when preparing annual report. (E) Economic factors are inflation rate, exchange rates, interest rates, and economic growth. Burger Kings cafes survival will depend on how New Zealand economic is doing. For example people must have money to spent and they should willing spend it. (S) Social is factors like emphasis on safety, cultural aspect and population age distribution. For example McDonalds sells soft drink made from an Amazonian beery in Brazil, milk shakes flavored with durian in Singapore and Malaysia, and in south East Asian it is aphrodisiac (Bartol, Tein, Matthews, Sharma, 2008, p. 79). Burger King will have to identify will menu will people of New Zealand will desire. Also any changes in socio cultural trends will shift the demand of a partially product mean. (T) Technological are technological changes that creates new processes of producing products and services. For example new coffee machine which will give Burger King a competitive edge. Porters Five Forces Burger Kings competitive position in a particular market will depend on which marketing and management model is available to them. Burger King can use Porters industry structure and generic strategies models. Michael Porter five major forces determine the nature of the competition in market. This will set the profit potential and competitive parameters for Burger King as shown in Figure 2. Potential EntrantsFigure 2: Porters Five Model Forces Threat of new entrants Industry Competitiors Rivalry among existing firms buyers Suppliers Bargaining power of suppliers Bargaining power of buyers Threat of substitute products or services Substitutes Source: Rix, P. (2004). Marketing A Practical Approach (5th Edition). NSW, Australia: McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd. Porters competitive analysis identifies five fundamental competitive forces that will determine the relative attractiveness of Burger King. (Rix, 2004, p. 434) Threats of New Entrants if Burger King sees a strong probability of new firms entering their market, it will impact on how Burger King will operate. This risk is resolute by the extent of the industrys barriers to entry. For example if profits are only earned through economies of scale than the threat of entrant will be less. Also if Burger Kings capital investment in the cafà © is large and have product differentiation leading to customer loyalty, and high cost for customers to switch suppliers will also have barriers to entry by other firms. (Rix, 2004, p. 434) Threat of Substitutes Goods if Burger Kings products are reasonably cost efficiently and easily substituted by other products that gives the same satisfaction with low cost will mean restrict profits to Burger King. Burger King might also lose their customers but there can use product differentiation to promote and get their customers (Rix, 2004, p. 434). Buyers Bargaining Power if Burger King has a petite number on individually strong buyers then it will impact on their profit. The buyers can demand low prices, extended credit and very high levels of services. Other situations where products are homogeneous commodities and switching suppliers cost is low then the buyers strength is higher (Rix, 2004, p. 434) Suppliers Command of Industry if Burger Kings key ingredients are supplied by a small number of individually strong suppliers than it can put pressure on Burger Kings profits. Suppliers can control and increase prices, can demand fast payment or gives priorities to other competitor when it comes to supplying stock which will limit Burger Kings profit potential (Rix, 2004, p. 432) Existing Competitors. Some of the major competitors for Burger King will face are Mc Cafe, Starbucks, and Wild Bean Cafe etc. When all this consists number of companies starts to be competitive, it will have significant impact on Burger Kings profitability. Other factors that will intensify the competition in the market will be for customer loyalty and market share. it might be bit hard for Burger King to compete with them but if they do a market research and get feedback from the customers and promote their product at the right place, at right time ,and at the right price than Burger King will be able to succeed in their new product launching (Rix, 2004, p. 432) Porters Generic Strategies According to (Rix, 2004, p. 434) Burger King should be seen as a considerably different or supply at the lowest cost for means. They can be concentrating on specific niches or supply to the entire market. Burger King can use three generic strategies as shown in figure 3 STRATEGIC TARGET Figure 3: Three Generic Strategies STRATEGIC ADVANTAGE OVERALL COST LEADERSHIP DIFFERERENTION Uniqueness perceived by the customer Low cost position Industry wide FOCUS Particular segment only Source: Rix, P. (2004). Marketing A Practical Approach (5th Edition). NSW, Australia: McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd. The three objective strategies are: Overall Cost Leadership Strategies will make Burger King to become the lowest cost cafe in the market by precisely selecting manufacturing ability and invention level, eliminating unprofitable customers and products. These strategies will provide protection against competitive substitutes and rivalrys (Rix, 2004, p. 435). Differentiation Strategies will make Burger King to promote and develop real or perceived differences between those of its competitors and Burger King. This strategies will protect Buger King by developing a brand loyalty against their competitors so that the consumers dont change suppliers (Rix, 2004, p. 435) Focus Strategies will make Burger King to adopt differentiation strategies or cost leadership strategies. This will make Burger King to focus on a particular segment of the market. This will provide a means of defenses to Burger King (Rix, 2004, p. 436) CONCLUSION Burger King operates in a very extremely competitive environment where the threat of competitors to Burger King is very high. It is very important for Burger King to build a point of differentiation that will make Burger King apart from all other competitors because its competitors are employing almost the same strategies that Burger King is employing. Operational excellence, high standard service, its innovative and quality products is what Burger King is known for today. So in order to remain competitive, Burger King must differentiate itself from its competitors which can be done through differentiation of products. Buger King must be able to maintain its global perspective, explore new markets and take advantage of new opportunities with the help of its market expansion strategies. The changing consumer preferences and demands also need to be satisfied. In order to do that, Burger King must develop a diverse product line.

The Largest Tea Manufacturing Company In India Marketing Essay

The Largest Tea Manufacturing Company In India Marketing Essay Tata Tea, one of the important group companies of Tata group, is the largest tea manufacturing company in India by volume and currently holds second position as company representing tea operations in global market. The company used the policy of acquisition, joint-venture and sustainability as their key strategies for global growth. During their journey in achieving their milestone in global market, Tata tea faced many political, social, economical and technological issues. For example acquisition of Tetley-UK was the most challenging one as it landed Tata tea into short term debt. But the adoption of firm policies and financial restructuring helped Tata tea to regain their momentum and now it is the second largest company representing tea operations in global tea market. Tata Group, established in 1868 in India, comprises of 7 business sectors namely communications and information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy, consumer products and chemicals. Each enterprise operates independently and has their own board of directors and shareholders. The revenue for Tata group in financial year 2008-09 is $62.5 billion with a profit of $5.4 billion and 64.7 % of revenue coming from foreign market. Tata group employ around 357,000 people worldwide and has established great reputation in India for 140 years by sticking to its strong values and business ethics. They have 27 publicly listed Tata enterprises with combined market capitalisation of $60 billion, and a shareholder base of 3.5 million. Tata group has operations in 85 countries and its products and services are exported to 80 nations. The major companies of Tata Group are Tata Tea, Tata Motors, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tata Power, Tata Chemicals, Tata Steel, Indian Hotels and Ta ta Communications. Tata Tea Limited was formed in 1983 from the formerly Tata Finlay Company, a collaborated company formed in 1964. It is amongst the group company of Tata group that produces 5 major brands of tea and holds the 2nd position in domestic tea business in India. It acquired Tetley Group in year 2000 and became the second largest branded tea producer globally with its goods presence in more than 40 countries. The operations of Tata Tea and its subsidiaries focus on quality product with significant presence in plantation activity in Sri Lanka and India. The global tea business of the Tata Tea group contributes around 86% of the overall business with the remaining 14% coming from coffee, bulk tea and investment income. Tata Tea Limited is headquartered at Kolkata and owns 27 tea estates in eastern and southern India. Importance of Tata tea in Tata group Importance of Tata tea can be determined by analysing the BCG Matrix of Tata Group in Figure1 Figure 1: BCG Matrix Source: (Abhinav-Parakh-Pdf) From the overall Tata group, Tata tea and two more Tata enterprises has been allotted a star status. Star status is given to those enterprises that are the market leader in their own product field. For example Tata Tea brand leads market share in terms of capacity and value in India and has been complemented Super Brand recognition in the country. Moreover all the star industries have growth rate above 12%. And to maintain the growth rate the industries has spend large amount of money in their respective sectors. For example Tata Motors has invested in various projects such as Nano project, etc. Also Tata tea did invested lot of money in preserving its image by investing in jaago re campaign. Furthermore, Tata tea is contributing 9% of overall profit of Tata group. (Abhinav -Parakh-Pdf) Strategies for global growth-Tata tea Tata teas global strategy is to become the market leader in tea production in India, increase its reach in the global market and end up being the global tea market leader where Unilever is currently positioned. For this the company has adopted the approach of forming subsidiaries and entering into alliances in countries that have considerable amount of presence in the tea market both form consumer as well as producer side. History of the acquisitions and joint ventures formed by Tata tea are listed in Table1. (Tata Tea limited-pdf) Table1:-History of acquisitions and joint ventures of Tata tea Limited Entity Year of information Status Role Tata Tea, Inc, USA 1987 100 per cent subsidiary To process and market instant tea from its facility in Florida, based on sourcing of products from facility at Munnar Consolidated Coffee Ltd (Tata Coffee Ltd) 1991 Acquisition of 52.5 per cent stake To diversify into coffee via a company which was Asias largest seller of coffee Estate Management Services (P) Limited, Sri Lanka 1992 Joint venture To manage 22 plantation companies involved in tea, rubber, coconut and palm oil, that were privatised by the Sri Lankan government Tata Tetley, India(merged with Tata Tea with effect from April 1, 2005) 1993 100 per cent subsidiary Kochi-based EOU that services the branded business of specific Tetley and Tata Tea markets outside India Asian Coffee Ltd (later merged with Tata Coffee) 1995 Acquisition of 55 percent stake To get into selling instant coffee globally. Watawala Plantations Limited, Sri Lanka 1996 Acquisition of 49 per cent stake thourgh EMSPL Production and marketing of tea, oil palm and rubber in Sri Lanka Tata Tea (GB) Limited 2000 100 per cent subsidiary Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) established for the acquisition of Tetley, UK Tetley Clover Pvt Ltd., Pakistan 2003 50:50 joint venture of Tetley with Lakson group in Pakistan To import and sell tea in Pakistan as well as build a tea blending factory in Baluchistan Tetley ACI, Bangladesh 2003 50:50 joint venture of Tetley with Advanced Chemical Industries (ACI) in Bangladesh To distribute Tetleys products in Bangladesh Good Earth, USA 2005 Acquisition of 100 per cent stake by Tetley Establish Presence in the US and acquisition of strong product portfolio Jemca, Czech Republic 2006 Acquisition of 100 per cent stake by Tetley Market Leadership in Czech republic with a product portfolio which goes across both mainstream and speciality 8 O Clock Coffee, USA 2006 Acquisition of more than 50 percent stake, along with Tata Coffee and Tata Enterprises Overseas To help establish global presence in coffee and facilitate movement up the value chain Glaceau, USA 2006 30 per cent minority stake along with Tata Sons Presence in unfolding crossover space of the beverages market through enhanced water Year of Source: Tata Tea limited-pdf Amongst all that are listed in table1, the acquisition of Tetley, UK was the most beneficial and also challenging for Tata tea. 4.1 Case Study:-Acquisition of Tetley by Tata Tea 4.1.1 Introduction Tata Tea acquired Tetley from the venture capital investors in February 2000. For this Tata Tea competed with Sara Lee to acquire Tetley, completing its own initial public offering. The acquisition was important for Tata tea because its competitor Hindustan Levers Limited, subsidiary of Unilever was gaining market share and overall growth rate of tea market in India had slowed down at that moment. Before the acquisition, some of the important statistics of both the companies are shown in Table 2. Table 2: Comparison of Tata Tea and Tetley before acquisition (31/3/00)-(31/3/01) Tata Tea Tetley Turnover $207 million $417 million Employees 59,740 1,100 Operating profit $36 million $42.6 million Key markets India Britain, Canada, US, Australia Tea estates 54 0 Source: A Partnership Brewing, Far Eastern Economic Review (May 17, 2001)/ Darden Business Publishing, University of Virginia, Tata tea Ltd and Tetley, plc (A) As shown in Table 2, Tata Teas motivation to acquire Tetley was that it provided Tata Tea, to access the market of US, Canada, Europe and Australia. Tata Tea also hoped to earn important marketing and packaging expertise from Tetley. Some of the expected advantages of acquisition were Technology: Tetley would provide Tata tea access to unique products such as flavoured tea, herbal tea and organic tea. This introduction could be a functional addition at the top end of the Indian market. Brands: Tata tea could help launch the Tetley brand in India, Middle East and Russia, traditional bastions of Tata tea. Cost synergies: Both companies could together relocate manufacturing of tea and take advantage of global supply chain approach and shared platform for InfoTech and finance function. While geographical spread of operations can be a constraint of moving people around, but it was expected that virtual teams using information technology, could work together without physically travelling across country boundaries. InfoTech: the acquisition can help Tata Tea to improve InfoTech infrastructure and improve connectivity to distant plantation and adopting an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to create a global supply chain based on Tetleys SAP-based ERP solution. 4.1.2 Challenges for Tata Tea after acquisition Tata Tea acquired Tetley group for  £271 million and it was clear that Tata Tea paid too much for Tetley as it was  £100 million more than the next highest bid. After acquisition Tata tea hoped to cover the debt created by leveraged buyout, but during that period many factors such as deteriorating financial performance of Tetley ( £29 million in 1999), increasing raw material prices, great demand of substitutes of tea such as coffee, juices and soda and pressure to generate increase cash flow created pressure and conflict internally at Tata tea and between the two organisation. Some of the challenges Tata tea has to come across are: Tata tea was half the size of Tetley in terms of revenue and number of upper management and so it feared a domination of Tetleys corporate culture. Dealing with diverse skill set, working Culture of employee and objectives of both the organisation. Financial constraints such as legal and capital control in India that made the listing of Tetley shares in India unattractive. Problem arising with integration of processes of both the companies to accomplish supply chain. As it is a leveraged acquisition, there is always a problem of bank coming in between and enforcing constraints in operations carried out by both the companies. There is a great deal of concern of how British employees would react to Indian manager as India was a part of former British Colony. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=907952 4.1.3 Tata Tea Market after Acquisition The market of Tata tea suffered a lot after the acquisition as it experienced disaster financial performance. The companys overall sales was dropped by 8.3% and reached Rs 621.58 crore from Rs 677.86 crore. Also operating profit was dropped down by 19.37% and reached Rs 121.43 crore from Rs 150.60 crore. Market share price considerably dropped within a year as shown in Figure2. (THE HINDU group of publications, Sunday, April 15, 2001) Figure2: Share value of Tata tea in 2000-01 crisis after acquisition of Tetley group http://www.hinduonnet.com/businessline/iw/2001/04/15/images/15b053c1.jpg Source: THE HINDU group of publications, Sunday, April 15, 2001 4.1.4 Factors fuelling Tata Teas global initiatives Though the acquisition of Tetley was seen negatively by the market for the next 3 years, Tata tea cautiously chose the approach of integrating the processes and exploring synergies between the two companies with absence of any time pressure, while maintaining operational independence. For this, the overall emphasis was on growth rather than cost reduction. Also a structure that supports joint working in several areas was adopted. A thoughtful process was adopted for integrating the two companies with some of the highlight being: Identification of common belief: An international consulting firm was commissioned to identify the common belief between the two companies and suggest ways to bring them closer. Creation of structure: A strong culture was developed to create a group that includes steering committee, their task forces and managers of both the companies. Refinement of structure: Tata Tea adopted the hierarchical structure and assigned responsibilities to every level from top to bottom as shown in figure2. Figure 2: Refinement of Tata Tea organisational structure after acquisition Source: Tata Tea limited-pdf Implications that both companies has gone through after merging are described in table3. Table3:- Merger implications Merger implication Tata tea- pre acquisition Tetley -pre acquisition Consolidated-post acquisition Global footprint Domestic operations in India UK and USA were the major market Global presence Increased outsourcing Produced 95% of the tea requirements in-house Outsourced entire requirement from 35 countries 70% of the Tata teas requirement are outsourced from 20 countries, thus reducing risk associated with fluctuation in production Value chain positioning 40% turnover came from tea packet/tea bags 100% turnover came from tea packet/tea bags 84%of turnover came from tea packet/tea bags Source: Tata Tea limited-pdf End of case study Apart from all the acquisitions, Tata tea has adopted the policy of Sustainability as their key business strategy, which addresses many socio-economical and environmental issues that have the potential to increase competitive advantages in the business, if addressed effectively. Some of the global values that Tata tea has adopted are: Consumer focused: Consider consumer as their heartbeat Change management: Adapting to changes by going beyond the ways of doing things. Motivation: Encourage employees to innovate in what they do and take up challenges Sustainability: Use of ethical conducts in business implications Playfully professional: Encourage employees to make organisation as a personal space by improving the working condition. (Sustainability Report, 2008-09) 4.2 Financial Analysis In order to support all the acquisitions and joint venture listed in table 1, Tata Tea has actively followed operational and financial restructuring. The effect of this is evident from the combined financial results of the company. That is though the sales between 2003 and 2005 remained flat, the operating margin did improved from 14.1% to 18%. Since the acquisition of Tetley the company have taken initiatives such as strict cost control and quality improvement with the help of its RD centres in order to improve its operational performance. As a result of these initiatives, Tata Tea was successfully able to lower its high cost debt of gearing 2.2 in year 2002 to gearing 1.1 in year 2005. Also there was a significant improvement in Tetley Groups cash flow which helped the company to invest more behind its brand globally, launch new products and merge its market share in key geographies. (Tata Tea limited-pdf) 4.2.1 Financial restructuring done by Tata Tea Tata tea changed their orientation from producing tea company to selling tea company as they realised that the level of profit can be increased by selling high quality branded tea products rather than owning plantation. To execute their restructuring process, Tata tea decreased its total wage payment by 12.5%, provident fund payment by 43% and welfare payment by 40%. Also Tata tea also reduced its employee strength from 58,888 workers to 34,596 workers as shown in Figure 3 Figure3: Tata tea directly employed work-force, 1999-2007 Source: Tata Tea Annual Report (various), IFC Current Positioning of Tata Tea After the financial collapse in the year 2000, Tata Tea is now moving forward toward the growth. Currently share value of Tata tea has moved up to Rs 700 per share as shown in Figure4 Figure 4: Share value of Tata tea (2008-09) http://www.blonnet.com/2009/05/25/images/2009052551110401.jpg Source: Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications, Monday, May 25, 2009 Tata tea exceeded its performance with a volume share of 19.2% as compared to its competitors 18.6% and acquired the leadership position with respect to volume share of packet tea segment in India as shown in Table 4 Source: http://www.tatatea.com/TATA_TEA_TAKES_OVER_THE_NO_1_POSITON_IN_VOLUME_TERMS.doc Tata tea has been ranked as the most trusted beverage brand in India (The Economic Times, 2007) The companys marketing strategy of focusing on continuous innovation in all direction of brand marketing and sales, has helped Tata Tea to achieve excellent growth in recent years (Ms Sangeeta Talwar, Executive Director-Marketing, Tata tea Limited). All products of Tata Tea such as Tata tea premium, Tata tea gold, Tata tea Agni, Tetley green tea and Tata tea life are being well received by the consumer and hence experience great success. Future plans As mature markets such as USA, UK and Canada are changing and with the declination of black tea products, Tata tea Limited are now concentrating on sectors that are growing rapidly such as fruit and herbal infusion, green tea and many more. The company has been structuring its business in these high value sectors by supporting key products, responding to changing consumer needs by introducing new products and making acquisition. Recently Tata tea is looking for joint venture with a China based company Zhejiang Tea import and export to manufacture and market green tea extracts, liquid tea concentrates, cold and hot water soluble instant tea and other value added tea beverages (Tata Tea limited-pdf). Also the company entered the Russian market through joint venture with European bank of reconstruction and development to obtain the hydration opportunities in the Russian market (Sustainability Report 2008-09). Conclusion Tata teas overall success was much depended on its strategies in the critical time. Though acquisition of Tetley-UK was analyzed as a negative move at that particular time i.e. in the year 2000, Tata tea overlooked the acquisition as an opportunity to compete in global tea market. Apart from use of some firm strategies, other key factors that played a crucial role in Tata teas global success are Use of right strategy at the right time Use of wait and watch approach during critical time Establishment of understanding between Tata tea and Tetley-UK It is said that use of high risk results in two ways in business. If the risk doesnt work the company can go to ground of debt. But if the risk works, the company can experience success like never before and thats what happened to Tata tea. References Abhinav-Parakh (Pdf file) [online] Available http://www.scribd.com/doc/24386829/Abhinav-Parakh (4/01/2010, 14:40) Darden business publishing-University of Virginia, Tata tea Ltd and Tetley, plc (A) [online] Available http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=907952 (5/01/2010, 21:08) Sustainability Report, 2008-09 (pdf file) [online] Available http://www.tatatea.com/TataTea_Sustainability_Report_2008-09.pdf (12/01/2010, 19:03) Tata tea limited (Pdf file) [online] Available http://www.ibef.org/download/Tata_Tea_Limited.pdf (5/01/2010, 23:08)