Annotated bibliography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 12

Annotated bibliography - Essay Example The former one is completely opposed to this notion and instead claims that all that a person does is a result of choice. The question therefore is normally asked as to whom between the two is right. Whereas history does indeed play a role in one’s behavior, does it mean that the person committing a crime or violence is not responsible? This essay’s purpose is to assert that humans have freewill and that for every action taken, no one is really compelled. Decision and influence are two distinct things, which ought to be treated as such to avoid the confusion of determinism. Whereas, it could be true that one’s decision or its magnitude may be somehow influenced by the past, the actions taken by a person is not devoid of their consciousness and approval. That is to say, history may have a role in a decision but the person taking it is very much aware of it and by no means are they doing it without knowledge. According to (Cohen p.15), whenever one is taking a particular action there is full understanding and knowledge of its likely outcome and this therefore negates any claim of determinism. If every decision is taken based on the history then creativity and invention have nothing to be attributed to since they did not exist before. The proponents of determinism claim that a decision is greatly, if not fully, influenced by one’s history. For instance, if a man witnessed violence while growing up, there would no way to stop them from engaging in the same. However, Howard, George, and Diane (p.67), who reported that other factors that could alter a person when they are growing up, have disputed the above assertions. It therefore means that even if one witnessed violence, it does not automatically mean they will follow suit. The creativity demonstrated by individuals is not in any way influenced by experiences one had while growing up. Instead, the mind tends to focus on making new things. Similarly, one who involves in

Comparison six research methods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Comparison six research methods - Essay Example Longitudinal studies as well as observational studies are generally used in those places where a lot of time is taken to finally extract useful information. Questionnaire surveys are used for getting quick responses and used for pilot studies as well as feedback processes. Focus groups and Delphi techniques generally use experts as their respondents. All of the above methods have their own benefits and disadvantages. Few limitations of these market research methods have also been discussed which can be further studied and reinvented to form better and more efficient research methods. Introduction Business research is described as an organized and systematic effort which aims to investigate a specific issue or problem which has been encountered during the work setting and requires solving (Seale, 2004). The first stage in a research process is the identification of the critical problem. Once the problem has been clearly defined, the next steps include gathering information, analyzing data and solving the problem by taking necessary steps and corrective measures. Research methods Research methods are of various categories depending on the requirements of the research. These methods use different approaches, tools and techniques for conducting a research. However, they can be divided into two broad categories. Quantitative methods are generally used during development research while participatory or qualitative research is used to get desirable outcomes. Even though these research methods are continuously used in various research questions and studies, yet they are continuously being developed as well as integrated in order to gain better results (Coffey & Aktinson, 1996). A thin line of difference exists between research methods and research methodology. While research methods talks about specific activities which are created to generate data, research methodology is about the understanding as well as attitude of the researcher towards the strategy and research w hich is chosen in order to answer the research questions. Implication and Discussion Longitudinal study is a type of correlation research involving repeated observations. This type of study can extend for many years and even decades. Here the same participants are studied for a particular period (Diggle, Heagerty, Liang & Zeger, 2002). It is generally used while studying clinical events such as, HIV patients and their diseases and immunity status, across various countries and over time (Frison & Pocock, 1992). It is used in individual studies where participants are studied and tracked (Hogan & Laird, 1997). It is also used in household panel studies where people are tracked and observed within their vicinity for collecting data. Longitudinal studies are high in terms of validity. Individuals usually fail to remember previous events and even if they are insisted, they might not remember the correct data. Longitudinal studies are particularly helpful in finding out long term variation s or changes. The estimates collected in this study are more efficient compared to cross-sectional studies (Donner & Klar, 1994). However, there are certain limitations associated with longitudinal studies. Gathering results during longitudinal study is very difficult as it is time taking and tedious. More often than not, participants drop out before completion of the survey. This process is known as subject attrition and is very

Problem Solving and Decision Making Strategies

Problem Solving and Decision Making Strategies Background Problem solving and decision-making are important skills for business and life. Problem solving often involves decision-making, and decision-making is especially important for management and leadership. There are processes and techniques to improve decision-making and the quality of decisions. Decision-making is more natural to certain personalities, so these people should focus more on improving the quality of their decisions. People that are less natural decision-makers are often able to make quality assessments, but then need to be more decisive in acting upon the assessments made. Problem solving and decision-making are closely linked, and each requires creativity in identifying and developing options, for which the brainstorming technique, as this thesis is particularly useful. Collection of data and findings of RH cars There are two types of data collection methods; they are primary data collection and secondary data collection. Primary Data Collection: Primary data collection can be deemed as bespoke and therefore time consuming and costly. Secondary Collection Data: Secondary data include general reports supplied to an enterprise by various data services. Such reports might concern market share, retail inventory levels and consumer buying behaviour. The data collection for any car manufacturer can be used questionnaires to collect data in conjunction with published sources such as annual reports, price lists, and actual sales records. For cost reasons it could not conduct observations of on the-job application, interviews, or focus groups. Instead, rather ascertained the key metrics that would drive business impact (number of units sold and margin per unit realized) from the questionnaire and then validated the metrics with actual figures confirmed by the client. One key survey is the monthly Customer Satisfaction Index, tracked by RH Financial, which directly measures end customer satisfaction regarding the financial services obtained in the dealership. These provide the management team with data. The actions that need to be taken to drive these metrics the right way are sometimes more elusive in an industry that has very little customer contact once an account is set up. Survey methodology and frame used A systematic method for gathering information from (a sample of) individuals for the purposes of describing the attributes of the larger population of which the individuals are members. The attributes attempt to describe basic characteristics or experiences of large and small populations in our world. RH survey features Information is gathered by asking customer questions. Information is collected either by having interviewers ask questions and record answers or by having people read or hear questions and record their answers. Information is collected from only a subset of the population to be described (a sample)rather than from all members. Surveys are used extensively in car manufacturer industry to assess attitudes and characteristics of a wide range of cars and also new models. When information is obtained, or data is measured, the method, or process used to gather information, greatly affects the results. The extreme complaints might not represent the attitudes of the whole group. Similarly, measuring or counting data depends on the instrument or method used. The basing judgments on customer complaints alone ignored the general population of other opinions, which should be judged together, such as in a statistical sample of the whole statistics. A questionnaire for a particular purpose Please select which best represents your views. 1. Overall satisfaction All things considered, please rate your overall satisfaction withà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ 1a RH Credit Completely Satisfied Very Satisfied Fairly Satisfied Somewhat dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 1b Your selling dealership Completely Satisfied Very Satisfied Fairly Satisfied Somewhat dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 1c Your vehicle Completely Satisfied Very Satisfied Fairly Satisfied Somewhat dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 2. About your finance/lease contract Please rate your satisfaction with 2a Finance/Lease transaction overall Completely Satisfied Very Satisfied Fairly Satisfied Somewhat dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 2b Ease of obtaining financing Completely Satisfied Very Satisfied Fairly Satisfied Somewhat dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 2c Speed of approval for financing Completely Satisfied Very Satisfied Fairly Satisfied Somewhat dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 2d Explanation of financing terms and conditions at the dealership Completely Satisfied Very Satisfied Fairly Satisfied Somewhat dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 2e Ease of understanding the content of your finance contract Completely Satisfied Very Satisfied Fairly Satisfied Somewhat dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 2f Timeliness of receiving your Welcome Pack/your contract Completely Satisfied Very Satisfied Fairly Satisfied Somewhat dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 2g Accuracy of documents we sent Completely Satisfied Very Satisfied Fairly Satisfied Somewhat dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 3. Contact with RH Credit 3a Have you contacted RHCredit with a question or problem related to your contract Yes No 3b Your contact experience with RHCredit Completely Satisfied Very Satisfied Fairly Satisfied Somewhat dissatisfied Very dissatisfied Thinking about the representative you dealt with, how satisfied are you with theà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ 3c Ease of making contact with the right person/employee to answer your question or resolve your problem Completely Satisfied Very Satisfied Fairly Satisfied Somewhat dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 3d Courtesy of the representative Completely Satisfied Very Satisfied Fairly Satisfied Somewhat dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 3e Responsiveness of the representative Completely Satisfied Very Satisfied Fairly Satisfied Somewhat dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 3f Representatives ability to answer your question completely and accurately3h Representatives follow-through on promised actions Completely Satisfied Very Satisfied Fairly Satisfied Somewhat dissatisfied Very dissatisfied Thinking about your most recent contactà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ 3g How many times did you contact RHCredit before your question or problem was resolved Completely Satisfied Very Satisfied Fairly Satisfied Somewhat dissatisfied Very dissatisfied 4. Future intentions Based on your experience, would youà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ 4a Recommend RHCredit to a friend or family member Definitely Would Probably Would Might or might not Probably would not Definitely would not 4b Recommend your selling dealership Definitely Would Probably Would Might or might not Probably would not Definitely would not 4c Recommend your make/model of vehicle Definitely Would Probably Would Might or might not Probably would not Definitely would not Summarizing data using representative values, and use the results to draw valid and useful conclusions for RH Cars. The root-cause analysis helped RH to identify key factors that tend to lengthen decision cycles. They included inadequate training in the clear communications of alternatives, absence of a good model of teamwork, and a control-oriented management philosophy. Decision-making increasingly happens at all levels of a business. The Board of Directors may make the grand strategic decisions about investment and direction of future growth, and managers may make the more tactical decisions about how their own department may contribute most effectively to the overall business objectives. But quite ordinary employees are increasingly expected to make decisions about the conduct of their own tasks, responses to customers and improvements to business practice. This needs careful recruitment and selection, good training, and enlightened management. Types of Business Decisions Programmed Decisions can be written down into a series of fixed steps which anyone can follow. They could even be written as computer program Non-Programmed Decisions. These are non-standard and non-routine. Each decision is not quite the same as any previous decision. Strategic Decisions. These affect whether to take over Company A or Company B Tactical Decisions. These are medium-term decisions about what kind of marketing to have, or how many extra staff to recruit Operational Decisions. These are short-term decisions, about which firm to use to make deliveries. Analyse data using measures of dispersion, and use to inform RH cars. A proper description of a set of data should include both of these characteristics. There are various methods that can be used to measure the dispersion of a dataset, each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. These statistics describe how the data varies or is dispersed (spread out). The two most commonly used measures of dispersion are the range and the standard deviation. Rather than showing how data are similar, they show how data differs (its variation, spread, or dispersion). The study of dispersion is very important in statistical data. If in a certain car Manufacturer Company like RH there is consistence in the wages of workers, the workers will be satisfied. But if some workers have high wages and some have low wages, there will be unrest among the low paid workers and they might go on strikes and arrange demonstrations. It is reasonable to expect greater dispersion of wage increases to be associated with higher monetary incentives, but also with increased percep tions of unfairness. The authors analysis of linked employer-employee data from Denmark for the years 1992-97 shows that the dispersion of wage growth within firms generally had a negative association with firm performance. The results are robust across industries and categories of firm size, but are mainly driven by white-collar rather than blue-collar workers. Quartiles, percentiles, correlation coefficient Quartiles: One of the three numbers (values) that divide a range of data into four equal parts. The first quartile (also called lower quartile) is the number below which lies the 25 percent of the bottom data. The second quartile (the median) divides the range in the middle and has 50 percent of the data below it. The third quartile (also called upper quartile) has 75 percent of the data below it and the top 25 percent of the data above it. See also interquartile range and percentile. Percentile: A score equal to or greater than 97 percent of those attained on an examination is said to be in the 97th percentile. Percentiles are values that divide a set of observations into 100 equal parts. The percentile rank is the proportion of values in a distribution that a specific value is greater than or equal to. For example, if an individual received a mark of 95% on a math test and that mark was greater than or equal to the marks of 88% of students then that mark would place that individual in the 88th percentile. Correlation coefficient: A measure that determines the degree to which two variables movements are associated. Statistical measure of the degree to which the movements of two variables are related. n statistics, a measurement of the degree to which two things vary together. The maximum value for a correlation coefficient is 1.00, which occurs when two variables have a perfect positive correlation. A negative correlation coefficient indicates two variables that have an indirect relationship. 3.1 A range of graphs using spreadsheets line, pie, bar charts The following figure shows the auto sales in July 2009: Car cost can be divided into following major factors: Below is a graph of about lease is probably the way to go at cars. Get in for a couple or three years while the car is new (i.e. is at the most reliable part of its lifespan), then get out. Problems of cars on the road is given below: 3.2 Spreadsheet graphs to assist in forecasting for specified business information Half of the respondents in a European survey listed fuel consumption as a priority when buying a new car. The survey was performed in March and April 2007 and included respondents from twelve European countries. Safety, price and reliability were named by more than half of the respondents as a priority. Priorities when buying a new car Q: Which are your priorities when buying a new car?    Share of European Respondents Safety 73.1% Price 63.7% Reliability 57.8% Fuel Consumption 49.7% Comfort 36.9% Design 18.3% Size 17.9% Exhaust Gas 15.6% Color 3.4% . Surveys are constructed also to find out the target audience needs of the car such as luggage space, passenger seats, also size of the car. These are some interesting things that I picked up during the people study done through interviews and surveys: The highest priority of people is Cost and Efficiency. This is shown in the graph I generated according to the results of the surveys. 30.44% of the answers I received out of the 40 people who filled the surveys are related to cost and efficiency. 13.77% of the answers are actually stating the customers are happy with their cars efficiency. However on the other hand, 16.67% of the answers state the opposite. The main complaints of people who have cost issues with their cars are: The petrol is costing too much. The car requires servicing quite often and the cost of the service is expensive. The car parts are expensive when you need to replace them. On top of all those costs, they still need to pay for car insurance and registration. The second highest priority is the Exterior of the car. The answers shown in the survey reach to a conclusion that: More people are moving to small and more compact vehicles and they actually like the fact that their cars are compact. A few people actually want small cars because of the fact that they are easier to drive and park. This is a very interesting point because not only small cars are easier to drive and park but they also reduce congestion on the road. Less congestion means less traffic and also more parking space. Some people are happy with how their car looks but they do not really like the fact that the car gets dirty. This shows that quite a lot of people do not enjoy washing their cars and this could mean two things. First, the people actually do not see the interaction with their cars as an enjoyable activity and they see their cars just as a utility to take them from A to B. Second, It could also mean that they enjoy the interaction but they do not have the time to do the car washing due to their other priorities. Whichever reason, the interaction of people and cars should be more enjoyable to make more people want to buy a certain car. Preparing a formal business report RH has instituted a number of business practices with suppliers designed to increase collaboration, provide for data transparency and expand the volume of business with select suppliers, while building a more sustainable business model. They have also been able to reduce the total number of production suppliers eligible for major sourcing from RH from 3,300 to approximately 1,600 suppliers today, with a further reduction to 750 suppliers planned. We have paid specific attention to strengthening their minority and women suppliers which currently account for about $4 billion of their annual $35 billion of purchases from U.S. supplier locations. Our consolidation efforts have resulted, and will result, in more business for our major suppliers, which will increase their financial strength. Moreover, as RH moves aggressively to global vehicle platforms, sourcing to common suppliers for the total global volume of a vehicles components is dramatically increasing, meaning that a smaller number of suppliers will receive a greater volume of the purchases made by RH to support our global vehicle platform. RHs dealers are a source of strength, especially our rural/small town dealers, who represent the face of RH in communities across the U.S. and provide employment, tax support, community leadership and customer service. At their current and expected future market share, they clearly have too many dealers and therefore have made it increasingly difficult to sustain a healthy and profitable dealer network. To address this overcapacity, RH is partnering with our dealers and are downsizing and restructuring the RH, Lincoln and Mercury network in our largest 130 metropolitan market areas to provide targeted average-year sales for RH dealers at 1,500+ units and Lincoln Mercury deal ers at 600+ units, resulting in sustainable profits in both good and bad years. We are doing this while maintaining customer convenience factors such as driving distance, location, and appealing facilities. We have joined with our dealers to fund these consolidation actions jointly to protect our representation in the marketplace. To further reduce costs, RH recently made several significant changes to our Compensation and Benefit plans, including: (i) eliminating merit increases and bonuses due to be paid in 2009; (ii) suspending the Companys 401(k) matching contribution, and Company-paid tuition assistance and dependent scholarships; (iii) capping retiree life insurance at $25,000; and (iv) improving the costeffectiveness of benefit programs through more efficient plan offerings and increased employee cost sharing. With respect to the hourly work force in the United States, RH and the UAW agreed to a transformational labor agreement in 2007, the benefits of which are only beginning to be realized. Under this agreement, our hourly labor cost disadvantage compared to the transplants will be substantially reduced, although not completely eliminated. These labor costs savings should begin to materialize as they have the opportunity to bring workers into the workforce at the new wage levels Product excellence through leadership in fuel economy, innovation, quality, safety, and leading edge comfort and convenience technology; Substantial and continuous improvement in engineering and investment efficiency facilitated by leveraging the global assets of One RH and a reduction in the number of vehicle platforms, engines, transmissions, and customer offered complexity; and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Significant improvement in the profitability of small cars. Balanced Portfolio. They are leveraging our global product strengths to deliver six new world-class small and medium sized vehicles to the United States over the next four years. This will enable our car and crossover product segment mix to increase from 48% to 60% and result in volume and share growth. They are targeting sales leadership in people movers and crossovers through addition of new vehicles (such as the RH Flex) and redefining existing vehicles (such as the RH Explorer). Management information systems and information processing tools for operational, tactical and strategic levels of the organization The Concept of management information systems originated in the 1960s and become the byword of almost all attempts to relate computer technology and systems to data processing in business. During the early 1960s, it became evident that the computer was being applied to the solution of business problem in a piecemeal fashion, focusing almost entirely on the computerization of clerical and record keeping tasks. The concepts of management information systems were developed to counteract such in efficient development and in effective use of the computer. An organization must control the operations in the light of the plans and targets developed in the planning process. The car manufacturer must know if manufacturing operations are in line with the targets and if not, he must make decisions to correct the deviation or revise his plans. Similarly the wholesaler will want to know the impacts that his commissions have had on sales and make decisions to correct adverse trends. The municipal corporation will need to control the tendering process and contractors who will execute the pumping station plans. Generally, MIS is concerned with planning and control. Often there are elaborate systems for information that assists operations. For example, the car manufacturer will have a system for providing information to the workers on the shop floor about the job that needs to be done on a particular batch of material. There may be route sheets, which accompany the rate materials and components in their movement through various machines. This system per se provides only information to support operation. It has no managerial decision-making significance. Generally MIS has all the ingredients that are employed in providing information support to manager to making planning and control decisions. Managers often use historical data on an organizations activities as well as current status data make planning and control decisions. Such data comes from a database, which is contained in files maintained by the organization. This database is an essential component of an MIS. Manual procedures that are used to collect and process information and computer hardware are obvious ingredients of an MIS. These also form part of the MIS. In summary, when we say that an MIS is an integrated man machine systems that provided information to supports the planning and control function of managers in an origination. It does the following function. Sub serves managerial function Collects stores, evaluates information systematically and routinely Supports planning and control decisions Includes files, hardware, software, software and operations research models. Effective management information systems are needed by all business organization because of the increased complexity and rate of change of todays business environment. For Example, Marketing manager need information about sales performance and trends, financial manger returns, production managers needs information analysing resources requirement and worker productivity and personnel manager require information concerning employee compensation and professional development. Thus, effective management information systems must be developed to provide modern managers with the specific marketing, financial, production and personnel information products they required to support their decision making responsibilities. Iinventory control systems in Organisation An inventory control system is a set of hardware and software based tools that automate the process of tracking inventory. The kinds of inventory tracked with an inventory control system can include almost any type of quantifiable good, including food, clothing, books, equipment, and any other item that consumers, retailers, or wholesalers may purchase. Modern inventory control systems are almost exclusively based on barcode technology. Though barcodes were initially developed to automate the process of grocery store checkout, their ability to encode a wide variety of alphabetic and numeric symbols makes them ideal for encoding merchandise for inventory applications. Inventory control systems work in real-time using wireless technology to transmit information to a central computer system as transactions occur. Inventory control systems are employed in a wide variety of applications, but they all revolve around tracking delivery of goods to customers. Inventory control is crucial in retail stores, especially those with a large number or variety of merchandise items for sale. Inventory control is also used in warehouses to track orders and shipments, and for automated order processing. Other important applications of inventory control systems are in manufacturing, shipping, and receiving. Inventory control is important to ensure quality control in businesses that handle transactions revolving around consumer goods. Without proper inventory control, a large retail store may run out of stock on an important item. A good inventory control system will alert the retailer when it is time to reorder. Inventory control is also an important means of automatically tracking large shipments. For example, if a business orders ten pairs of socks for retail resale, but only receives nine pairs, this will be obvious upon inspecting the contents of the package, and error is not likely. On the other hand, say a wholesaler orders 100,000 pairs of socks and 10,000 are missing. Manually counting each pair of socks is likely to result in error. An automated inventory control system helps to minimize the risk of error. In retail stores, an inventory control system also helps track theft of retail merchandise, providing valuable information about store profits and the need for theft-preventi on systems. Automated inventory control systems work by scanning a barcode either on the item. A scanner is used to read the barcode, and the machine reads the information encoded by the barcode. This information is then tracked by a central computer system. For example, a purchase order may contain a list of items to be pulled for packing and shipping. The inventory control system can serve a variety of functions in this case. It can help a worker locate the items on the order list in the warehouse, it can encode shipping information like tracking numbers and delivery addresses, and it can remove these purchased items from the inventory tally to keep an accurate count of in-stock items. All of this data works in tandem to provide businesses with real-time inventory tracking information. Inventory control systems make it simple to locate and analyze inventory information in real-time with a simple database search. Future planning for RH basis of the secondary data collected through presenting collected With the global economic crisis petering out, markets seem to be recovering faster than previously assumed, said Norbert Reithofer, BMWs chief executive. Across the car industry, luxury producers are reporting strong growth in new markets and a revival in company car sales in the US and Europe, where the segment did not benefit from last years scrapping incentives that skewed demand towards smaller cars. JD Power, the auto consultancy, estimates that global sales of premium and superpremium cars, which fell by 12 per cent in 2009 compared with the markets overall 2.5 per cent drop will rebound by 10 per cent this year, more than double the 4 per cent growth it projects for the overall market. BMWs sales rose 13.8 per cent to 315,614 cars in the quarter, mostly driven by more than doubled sales in China. Demand in China has influenced our performance . . . significantly, said Friedrich Eichiner, chief financial officer. BMW, which now sells one in five of its cars in Asia, became on e of several carmakers to announce further expansion in China this year when it unveiled plans to spend à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬560m on a second plant in Shenyang. BMWs arch-rival Daimler doubled its Chinese sales in the first quarter, which helped it to swing from a loss of  £1.4bn a year ago to an operating profit of  £1.2bn.China is now Daimlers third-largest market and one of its fastest growing.Mr Reithofer said the Munich-based carmaker had received an outstanding order income for its new 5 Series model.BMW said a refreshed model line-up also helped it cut back on incentives for car buyers.Arndt Ellinghorst, analyst at Credit Suisse, said: BMW is in the fortunate position that its product momentum coincides with the market recovery.BMW, which also produces Minis and Rolls-Royces, reiterated its target of an operating margin of 8-10 per cent in its automotive business by 2012 a goal described by analysts as ambitious.Lane sharing, Page 22 Car industry executives, when they gather at the Geneva auto show next week, can congratulate themselves on having weathered their sharpest crisis in decades without suffering the collapse they warned would jeopardise millions of jobs.The perennial sick man of manufacturing has survived the worst of the downturn, which began in 2008, thanks to tens of billions of dollars shovelled into the sector in the form of financial bail-outs, cash for clunkers consumer subsidies, and soft government loans.In one sign that the market is turning, US car sales after hitting a 27-year-low of 10.4m last year are now growing again.But the mood in Geneva will hardly be ebullient amid forecasts of a hollow recovery for a sector that has not cured itself of its chronic problems. Even as the US market revives, demand for cars in Europe is due to drop this year as cash for clunkers scrappage programmes come to an end.Dieter Zetsche, Daimlers boss, who heads the European industry group Acea, this week sp oke of a stoney road ahead for the industry in 2010. Analysts predict car sales in mature markets Europe, North America, and Japan will not return to their pre-crisis levels before 2013. If you look globally, the industry is very much out of intensive care but it still requires a lot of monitoring going forwards, says Calum MacRae, lead auto analyst with PwC.Worse, warn experts, European governments interventions in particular kept carmakers afloat without forcing them to address the overcapacity that always was and remains a leading source of their ills.On the contrary: France, Italy, Germany and the UK all overtly linked their aid to carmakers to the future of their plants.US carmakers, in deeper financial distress than their European or Asian competitors before the crisis started, cut capacity by 3.5m units in 2007-09, according to PwC. The US government forced GM and Chrysler to close plants as the price for their more than $60bn of bailout loans.In Europe, where most carmaker s cut shifts or put workers on shorter hours rather than shutting plants, just 1.2m units of capacity were cut, says PwC.Only two plant closures have been announced since the crisis began: of Fiats plant in Termini Imerese, Sicily, and Opels in Antwerp, Belgium. Jaguar Land Rover also said it would close one of its three UK plants this decade. The industrys structural problems mean carmakers will face intense competitive pressure even as scrappage subsidies are withdrawn. It looks like were past the worst but a slow recovery is almost a given, says Robert Schulz, analyst with Standard Poors.Frances PSA Peugeot Citroà «n, reporting earnings this month, said it expected Europes car market to contract by 10 per cent this year; its rival Renault said it would shrink by 9 per cent. Fiats shares have slumped this month after Italys government declined to extend the scrapping subsidies that fuelled demand for its cars last year.The ending of Germanys scrappage scheme alone is due to slas h tota

Shirley Chisholm :: essays research papers

Shirley st. hill chisholm (1924-2005) A Brief Biography of Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005) S hirley St. Hill was born in New York City on November 30, 1924 she was the oldest of four daughters. Her parents were Charles and Ruby St.Hill. In 1927 at age 3 Shirley was sent to live on her grandmother’s farm in Barbados. She attended British grammar school and picked up the Caribbean accent that marked her speech. Shirley moved back to New York in 1934 at the age of 11 and went on to graduate in 1946 from Brooklyn College with honors later earning a masters degree from Columbia University. During this time it was difficult for black college graduates to find jobs. After being rejected by many companies, she obtained a job at the Mt.Calvary childcare center in Harlem. I n 1949 she married Conrad Chisholm, Shirley and her husband participated in local politics. In 1946 she ran for an assembly seat. She won and served in the New York general assembly from 1964 to1968. In 1968 after finishing her term in the legislature, Shirley Chisholm campaigned to represent New York’s Twelfth Congressional District. Her campaign slogan was â€Å"Fighting Shirley Chisholm—Un bought and Un bossed.† She won then election and became the first African American woman elected to congress. During her first term in congress, Chisholm hired an all-female staff and spoke out for civil rights, women’s rights, the poor and against the Vietnam War. In 1970 she was elected to a second term. On January 25, 1972, Chisholm announced her candidacy for president. She stood before the cameras and in the beginning off her speech she said, â€Å"I stand before you today as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency of the United States. I am not the candidate of black America, although I am black and proud. I am not the candidate of the women’s of this country, although I am a woman, and I am equally proud of that. I am not the candidate of any political bosses or special interest. I am the candidate of the people.† Though Shirley did not win a single primary during the 1972 presidential election, she captured over 150 votes on the first ballot and later said her campaign had been a necessary â€Å"catalyst for change.† Shirley went on to serve for ten more years in the House and retired in 1982 after seven terms in congress. S hirley kept active in politics following her retirement by co-founding the National Political Congress of Black Women and serving as its founding in 1984 until1992.

The current business environment is characterized

The current business environment is characterized by intense competitive rivalry and businesses have to undertake aggressive marketing initiatives in order to counter this threat. The importance of marketing in ensuring that a business organization can develop and maintain a competitive edge is growing exponentially.Corporations are now pouring millions into their promotional campaigns in order to create an image for themselves in the customer mindset. This trend of massive financial resources being thrown into marketing is particularly evident in the area of sports marketing. In this area, massive opportunities exist in terms of public relations events which have global reach.Thus any corporation that can have its logo associated with events like the Olympics which are broadcast throughout the world stand to gain substantially out of investing in the rights to have its logo associated with the event. This is called corporate sponsorship. However the benefits of corporate sponsorship have led to the rise of unethical marketing practices called ambush marketing.Ambush marketing is defined to have taken place when a marketer has its products associated with a sports event without having paid for any of the rights to association (cited in Ironside, 2007). Thus the ambush marketer enjoys all the benefits of being a legitimate corporate sponsor without paying a cent.The trend of ambush marketing has been growing steadily in the last few years as shown in figure 1. As shown in the figure, sports organizers have been experiencing massive revenue losses as result of the phenomenon of ambush marketing which keeps going strong despite efforts to counter the threat.The threat is particularly detrimental because the actual corporate sponsors have hardly anything to gain by seeking recourse to legal means because courts usually rule in favor of ambush marketers.This happens because ambush marketers never engage in any activities that could be defined as infringement of inte llectual property rights (cited in Meenaghan, 1996). Ambush marketers operate through hints and allusions which do not qualify as infringement of rights in legal vernacular.As a result corporate sponsors have to devise pre-emptive strategies on their own and this adds to the cost of buying rights to the sponsorship (cited in Uphoff, 2006).The process of devising counter strategies requires an understanding of the ways and means by which ambush marketers take advantage of their opportunities. However there are so many ways and means in this regard that it is difficult to develop contingency plans for all of them.There are at least six recognized opportunities which ambushers take advantage of from time to time such as purchasing broadcasting rights to an event or broadcasting time around the time of the event broadcast, sponsoring an event other than the organizing body, purchasing advertising space, thematic advertising and counter attraction (cited in Crompton, 2004).What all of th is means is that if the trend of ambush marketing is allowed to go on unmitigated, it will discourage corporate sponsors from sponsorship spending and major sports events will lose an important source of revenue. Therefore sports property owners have the duty of making ambush marketing difficult and expensive for the competitors of official corporate sponsors.ReferencesAaker, David A. (2004). Strategic Market Management. McGraw Hill/Irwin.Crompton, John L. (2004). Sponsorship Ambushing in Sport. Managing Leisure, 9, 1-12.Ironside, Sue. (2007). Combating Ambush Marketing. NZ Marketing Magazine, 26, 26-27.Retrieved March 15, 2008 from Business Source Elite database.Kolah, Ardi. (2005). Essential Law for Marketers. Prentice Hall.Kotler, Philip., and Gary Armstrong. (2005). Principles of Marketing. Prentice Hall.Meenaghan, T. (1996). Ambush Marketing – A Threat to Corporate Sponsorship. SloanManagement Review, 38, 103-13. Retrieved March 15, 2008 from Business SourceElite databas e.Uphoff, Boris., et al. (2006). Kick-off to Ambush Marketing at World Cup. ManagingIntellectual Property, 156, 91-92. Retrieved March 15, 2008 from Business Source The current business environment is characterized The current business environment is characterized by a considerable level of uncertainty and therefore businesses have to continuously reengineer their internal processes in order to build and maintain a sustainable competitive advantage.In this respect, the critical success factor is to build an organizational culture that is built to change. This is a critical consideration because, given the high level of uncertainty, the management in a business organization is no longer in a position to forecast future changes meaningfully.Therefore the organizational structure must be flexible enough to absorb unexpected changes. The question that should be answered is how this flexibility can be built into the organizational structure. In this respect, it is the duty of the management to build the right performance management system.Through this system the management can communicate with the employees regarding which aspects of their work are vital to the strategic focus of the organization. T he right performance management system is a critical consideration in terms of addressing issues related to employee motivation and empowerment.Capital One is empowering its employees through dissemination of information and by maximizing the surface area. This enables the employees to link their work to the strategic focus of the organization (cited in Zairi, 2005).The fact of the matter is that the management at all levels in Capital One is implementing strategic human resource management. In this manner it is addressing the issues of motivation and empowerment. According to the post-modern theory, business organizations need to maintain the continuous improvement process in order to build a sustainable competitive advantage (cited in Hill & Jones, 2007).However the development of a sustainable competitive advantage depends on access to human capital. Capital One has devised its human resource management policies in order to develop human capital. Even through it is not directly a ddressing the issues of motivation and empowerment, its policies are designed to make these issues the top priorities on the management agenda. Job rotation is one of the examples.According to post-modernism, job descriptions are no longer effective because they create a static organizational structure and therefore do not equip the organization with the abilities to adapt to fast-paced change in the external environment (cited in Besterfield, 2002).According to the post-modern theory, employees have to be groomed to assume a wide variety of positions so that changing organizational structures will not be a problem for them. We see Capital One addressing this issue through creating leadership capabilities throughout the organization. The company’s recruitment and selection strategies are implemented accordingly.For example, during the recruitment process, the most important qualification for the candidate is considered to be his ability to lead a change effort. Because of car efully implemented recruitment and selection strategies, the company minimizes the costs associated with training and development (cited in Ross & Perry, 2002).However the management does communicate with the employees in terms of the extent to which formal training and development programs can be arranged for the employees.A built-to-change organizational structure cannot be built without addressing the issues of motivation and empowerment. According to post-modernism, employees must be involved in the change management process (cited in Brigham & Ehrhardt, 2007). This facilitates the process of addressing employee resistance to change. The management at Capital One addresses this issue through building an effective communications structure which facilitates the dissemination of mission-critical information.As mentioned before, this maximizes the level of surface area. Strategy implementation in this regard has been facilitated through the creation of a flat management structure wh ich enables most employees to work in direct touch with the customers. This enables the employees to make the link between their work and the strategic focus of the company because working in direct touch with the customers means that the employees can see in which direction the organization should proceed in terms of customer relationship management (cited in Dess, 2007).Employee motivation and empowerment is the most critical factor in the post-modernist theory. This is because post-modernism as associated with a sustainable competitive advantage in business emphasizes employee motivation and empowerment.According to Michael Porter’s theory for strategy formulation, a business organization has three strategies at its disposal in building a competitive advantage: differentiation, cost minimization and quick response (cited in Baschab, 2005).However, according to the post-modernist theory none of these strategies will lead to the development of a sustainable competitive advan tage because they can be easily copied by competitor organizations in a fast-changing external environment.Therefore, post-modernism in business focuses on the building of a strategically aligned organizational culture as the source of a sustainable competitive advantage. A strategically aligned organizational culture cannot be built without effectively addressing the issues of employee motivation and empowerment.Employees must be involved in the change management process. In this organizational structure, the issues of employee motivation and empowerment are addressed effectively because they are directly involved in building the strategic focus of the company. This is an example of what we see in Capital One.This is one of the few American companies to have been able to weather the current crisis because of its focus on the built-to-change organizational structure based in employee motivation and empowerment. The company is not consciously addressing these issues as such.However b ecause of its strategies in recruitment, selection, job rotation and training and development, it has been able to involve the employees in the constant process of managing change. This has only maximized their productivity as employees are motivated to work for the company because they are empowered to act on behalf of the company.This has created an organizational structure based in motivation and empowerment which aligns employee interests to organizational interests. This is an example of post-modernism in business.ReferencesBaschab, John., et al. (2005). The Executive Guide to Information Technology. McGraw Hill/Irwin.Besterfield, Dale H., et al. (2002). Total Quality Management. McGraw Hill/Irwin.Brigham, Eugene F., and Michael C. Ehrhardt. (2007). Financial Management: Theory & Practice. South western college pub.Dess, Gregory G., et al. (2007). Strategic Management: Creating Competitive Advantage.McGraw Hill/Irwin. Hill, Charles., and Gareth Jones. (2007). Strategic Manageme nt Theory: An Integrated Approach. McGraw Hill/Irwin.Ross, Joel E. and Susan Perry. (2002). Total Quality Management: Text, Cases, Readings. Wiley.Zairi, Mohamed. (2005). Excellence Toolkit: Delivering Sustainable Performance. eTQM College Publishing House. The current business environment is characterized The current business environment is characterized by a considerable level of competitive rivalry and as a result, businesses have to maintain a continuous improvement process in order to build and maintain a competitive advantage. In this respect, the development of a sustainable competitive advantage is the critical success factor.However sustainability cannot be achieved unless the company determines the strategic focus.This is why developing a system for adopting goals becomes a critical consideration. In this respect, the management has to build the right organizational culture in which group dynamics can become facilitated.Employees are the most important assets of an organization and therefore the management has to create the right working conditions which maximize employee satisfaction. For this reason, the management might have to manage change on a continuous basis. In managing change, alignment with the strategic focus has to be maintained. In this respect adopting the righ t goals becomes the critical consideration.The question whether group dynamics are better at adopting goals than individual decision making can be answered depending on the situation that the company is in. There is no doubt that when it comes to managing change a cross-functional project management team must be built in order to adopt the right goals.This is because all the departments that are going to be affected by the change must be represented in the project management team. However the problem with group dynamics is that the process delays decision making (http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/old/15703015.htm).One of the reasons for this delay can be groupthink in which the participants withhold views that may not conform in order to maintain membership (cited in Robbins & DeCenzo, 2003). Outside of change management, in the situation in which the decision making process has to be fast, individual decision making is undoubtedly the better option. Individually, the decision maker can speed up the process of decision making because fewer issues are considered.The problem with facilitating group dynamics in decision making is that the decision making process has to be based upon consensus. This has the advantage that the suggestions that are taken into consideration are diverse. As a result, the same problem is viewed from many different perspectives.The result is a process of brainstorming that can generate a lot of valuable ideas. However, in the situation in which the question is one of adopting goals, diversity of ideas can be a hindrance because it delays the process of decision making in adopting goals. In the event that the complexity of the situation is high then group decision making can be advantageous because too many issues will be considered, thus delaying the process.Therefore in the situation in which adopting goals does not have to take too many issues into consideration, group decision making may be the best option. However in the event that the situation is complex, then the individual decision maker will be in a position to do a better job because he can exercise intuition in arriving at a decision.From the above, it is made clear that there is no specific answer as to whether group dynamics or the individual decision maker will do a better job. The effectiveness of either of the tools depends on the complexity of the situation. The current business environment is characterized by a fast state of change.Therefore the decision making process has to be speeded up. In this respect, even in the situation which calls for many issues to be taken into consideration, the individual decision maker can do the best job. However in the event that the management of the company can afford to spend time on considering all the relevant issues, then group dynamics create the best infrastructure in which to conduct the decision making process (http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/pdf/efop/efo38561.pdf).However when facilitating group dynamics, the management must ensure that the decision making process is not affected by the need to reach a consensus. In such a situation, the participants are afraid of creating a conflict and therefore all the relevant issues are not taken into consideration.ReferencesSchwartz, Andrew E. (1994, August). Group decision-making. The CPA Journal Online.Retrieved February 19, 2009 from http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/old/15703015.htm.Barlow, Jeff. (2005, October). Strategic planning for the Bloomington, Indiana, firedepartment. Retrieved February 19, 2009 from http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/pdf/efop/efo38561.pdf.Robbins, Stephen P., and DeCenzo, David. (2003). Fundamentals of Management. Prentice Hall. Â  

Strange Fruit

Jazz music has always existed as a voice for black musicians and audiences. The sounds and rhythms are extremely unique and colorful. It certainly changed America in the 1920's with the swing movement and it put jazz on the map. During this time many white people started to be influenced by this infectious music, and started to enjoy it. Many white people also discriminated against blacks and treated them as less than equal. A goal for an artist named Billie Holiday was to make America listen to the cries of a black man, a black man who was just lynched.Jazz music had to be recognized with its roots. Billie Holiday believed Jazz music had to defend the black people. No better way of being heard than through the voice of Holiday. She attempted to fight for black rights through her song â€Å" strange fruit†, a political song that struck a chord for many Americans. Her original name was Eleanor Fagan, born April 7, 1915. Billy Holiday was an American jazz singer, one of the grea test from the 1930s to the 1950s. Also known as â€Å"Lady Day, Holiday first acquired a taste of music listening to her father, who was a traveling musician.She was fortunate not to be deprived of music during the popular jazz age of the 1920's. At the young age of 15 she started listening to jazz. She listened to the popular recordings of trumpet player Louis Armstrong and singer Bessie Smith . She decided to sing and she made her professional singing debut in 1931 at a small Harlem nightclub. She then continued to record for the first time only two years later. The jazz world did not recognize her music until 1935. She toured briefly with the Count Basie and Artie Shaw orchestras before becoming a big nightclub solo attraction in 1940.Her vocal style is considered to be one of the most original ever achieved; she sang with unique personality and distinguished herself as a professional artist. She never had technical training, and she was still able to create a beautiful and warm round vocal effect. Her vintage years were around 1936-43, when her professional and private relationship with the saxophonist Lester Young started. The team recorded some of the best musical examples of interplay between a vocal and instrumental line. Around her time jazz was being listened to by many people.Many white people were swinging to the beats of Duke Elington, who was probably one of the most famous swing composers. A large majority of the white society was definitely wrapped up in the new phenomenon of jazz. What's so amazing is that many whites were racist towards the composers of the music they enjoyed. The roots of jazz come from Africa, and it is derived from African rhythms and the blues. During the birth of jazz, the political situation for blacks in America was horrible. Black's were oppressed and discriminated by whites.They were hated in society, and during this time many blacks were being lynched in the South. I guess one could say that Jazz was an outlet for the blacks. It was their anthem of pride, and their creation to rightfully claim in a society that believed blacks shouldn't have rights. If white people in society were going to kill blacks simply because they were black, but at the same time enjoy their music, then wasn’t this a contradiction? Billie Holiday was an artist who made this point clear. She saw it as her duty to spread the truth about the horrors of black oppression.If the people were going to listen and enjoy black music, then they would also have to know about the violence and hate black people lived with in the South. At the height of her career the infamous song she sang was â€Å"strange fruit†, which was a highly charged political song. The song was about blacks being lynched in the south; a horrible and abhorrent act. Holiday was one of the first black musicians with the guts to release such an important political message in a song. A schoolteacher named Lewis Allan had written it for her. He was a ble to create a vision of how mobs of white men killed black men by hanging them from trees.His work wouldn't have had half the impact if Holiday didn't make it her own. Many people objected to the song. It was unlike any other popular song, but it was a huge hit. Here was a song that opened the doors for the Civil Rights movement. There was no better way for the people to experience the pain than through her voice. There was no better way at the time to reach the people of America than through a star who was loved, admired and black. There was another star who was admired loved, admired and black, and his name was Louis Armstrong. Born in New Orleans on August 4, 1901, Louis Satchmo† Armstrong was a victim of poverty and discrimination. At the age of eleven, Armstrong began to develop an interest in music, harmonizing on street corners and playing a toy horn. He was in and out of the home throughout his teenage years and was taken under the wing of Peter Davis, who taught him music. Under Davis's teaching, Armstrong joined a band, and his talent blossomed. He left the Waif's Home in 1914, and began to play the cornet all around New Orleans. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s Armstrong maintained one of the most grueling continual tours of all time.He began playing with the large bands that were popular at the time. His popularity and fame though, favored many white people in America With his increasing fame came the criticism of a black community that felt he was not living up to the responsibilities of the times. The late fifties brought with them the civil rights movement, and many blacks saw Armstrong as an â€Å"uncle tom,† playing for primarily white audiences around the world. Though he stated that these claims were not true, Armstrong was then in his sixties and primarily concerned with continuing to travel and perform.He didn’t want to get involved with the Civil Rights issues like Holiday started to do. He probably felt that trying to protect blacks would take away from his fame and popularity. Holiday was really one of the few black musicians who started very early with the rallying cries for the Civil Rights movement; a change for the way black people were treated. In the Nineteen-Forties, Holiday started using the illegal drug heroin. Soon her body needed more and more of the drug. It began to affect her health. In Nineteen-Forty-Seven, Billie Holiday was arrested for possessing illegal drugs.She was found guilty and sentenced to nine months in prison. When she was released, New York City officials refused to give her a document that permitted her to work in any place that served alcoholic drinks. This meant Holiday no longer could sing in nightclubs and jazz clubs. She could sing only in theaters and concert halls. Ten days after her release from jail, she performed at New York's famous Carnegie Hall. People filled the place to hear her sing. One of the songs she sang that night was â€Å"Strange Fruit†. † Her last years were a real struggle against the destructive drug heroin.It eventually took her life; but her later recordings show that, although her voice was ravaged, her technique was still amazing. She died young, but not before leaving a serious scar in the music world and in the United States. Her song was not pretty, and it wasn’t supposed to be. The song was meant to be raw and powerful, which it was for its time. She distinguished herself as one of the most famous black musicians to sing about what she thought was most important, not only for herself and for her people, but also for what the music was about.