Levandary cafe case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Levandary bistro - Case Study Example This was for the most part as far as plan of the store just as menu determination. Along these lines, it is principal for Foster to get increasingly engaged with the China’s business and key arrangement for viable selection and guarantee extension in this locale. Louis Chen is a self-propelled CEO accountable for lavendary China yet he faces gigantic opposition and negative mentality towards both the firm’s arranging and announcing forms. This has yielded an excessive number of worries among the Lavendary the executives therefore there is a requirement for Foster to make a trip to China. This is to address shifted and rising administration issues refered to above. Mia Foster can pick to recruit a worldwide monetary expert for the Denver group This is significant however costly to empower the utilization of the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Consequently, guarantee the manageability of the china business as it develops. Lessen the opportunity given to Louis Chen through acquiring more data about the China activities and including the home office in these tasks. Also, the Involvement of Mia encourage in the china marketable strategy will help in guaranteeing that Chen doesn't go too disconnected with his plans. My proposal envelops lessening the additional opportunity given to Louis Chen that he obtained from Howard. This will permit the administration in the US to be engaged with all the conversation concerning the China activities. Along these lines, Chen can't take a shot at his power alone and henceforth significant structure and menu determination changes must be endorsed by the administration in the US. The administration can likewise effectively force Chen’s group to utilize the standard announcing methodology utilized in the US. On the off chance that this occurs, a ton of costs will be decreased. Utilizing the acknowledged norms will likewise make the review a lot simpler subsequently upgrading the business uprightness. Pundits may contend that chopping down the opportunity of Louis Chen isn't

Formal Assignment #4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Formal Assignment #4 - Essay Example These progressions identify with US socioeconomics, including age, sexual orientation and ethnic sythesis. The adjustments in the work market can influence both the local and settler populaces. This paper talks about changes in the US work showcase in the course of recent decades. The paper expect that similar changes were in New York since it is a piece of US. One of the most significant changes in New York and U.S. work showcase is the expanded work power cooperation of ladies (Ricardo, Kristie and Michael 50). The previous quite a few years recorded a consistent increment in the quantity of ladies taking part in the work advertise. Since 1999, the work power support pace of these ladies stayed consistent. Another significant segment change that is influencing the work power is the advancement of the population’s age conveyance. In the course of recent years, age is assuming a significant job in deciding work power interest in New York too the U.S. the vast majority of the working populace has a place with the time of increased birth rates age (Ricardo, Kristie and Michael 53). These are individuals conceived somewhere in the range of 1946 and 1964. Notwithstanding, this may effectsly affect the general work power support rate since the vast majority of these individuals are becoming more seasoned. The impact old enough on the nati onal economy may result from a decrease in the work power investment rate brought about by maturing of the time of increased birth rates age. Racial and ethnic decent variety of the U.S. populace is another significant segment change that influences work power cooperation. Ethnic assorted variety might be a direct result of social, financial, or political elements. In any case, obviously this decent variety influences the work showcase somehow. In the course of recent decades, there is a huge distinction in labor power investment among various races. Somewhere in the range of 1980 and 1990, the quantity of migrant populaces in the US work showcase expanded. The quantity of migrant populace utilized was additionally high. The number developed by around 50 percent during that

Thumbtack founder Marco Zappacosta about his entrepreneurial journey

Thumbtack founder Marco Zappacosta about his entrepreneurial journey INTRODUCTIONMartin: Hi, today we are in San Francisco with Thumbtack. After announcing a big round of financing one month ago we are talking to Marco the founder of Thumbtack. Marco, who are you and what do you do?Marco: So, my name is Marco and Thumbtack helps customers find and hire local professionals. So if you need to paint your house, find a math tutor for your child or a caterer for your event, we are the best way to get introduced to the right professional. And it’s something that we have been working on for the last 5 years.Martin: Can you tell us, what is it like to start a company?Marco: So it’s a very satisfying sort of scene of vision that you had sort of come to life, attracting great people and working with them to realize that vision. But it’s also fairly stressful because everybody get’s sort of wrapped up in this dream. And it’s hard to realize your dreams and so there is a lot of stress and making sure it’s coming about the right the way and working the way you want it to.Martin: What have been the major obstacles and how did you overcome them?Marco: I’d say there were three major obstacles.The first one was learning to attract customers and professionals, as a market place without that network you really have almost value and so we had to learn how to attract these people to us and do that in a very scalable and repeatable way. That took us a long time to figure out.Then the challenge became, Okay we have a network of customers and professionals, what’s the best way to introduce them such that it gives the customer confidence to hire and it gives the professional a real shot to sort of win the business. And we tried sort of lots of different interphases and had to really learn the right way to bring people together. And that was another big challenge.And then the final one was, how do we sort of layer on our business model on top of these interactions, now we knew how to bring people together, but what was the right thing to charge for, how should we charge, how much should we charge, that also took us quite a bit of time to figure out.So it was probably three and a half years until we had it all figured out and in the last 18 months things have really accelerated because thankfully it worked.Martin: Great and how do you test your hypothesis of how you want to acquire customers or how you want to match the professionals with the customers by not only having incremental improvements but maybe also testing some revolutionary hypothesis?Marco: So I mean, I think there are two answers, one is sort of cultural and organizational and one is tactical.It is very important for the process and the organization to let people take big bets because the truth is you don’t always know what’s going to work. We’ve been surprised many times by things we thought would be great that didn’t work or things that we didn’t think would be that important and turned out to be hugely important. And so you have to sort of organizationally allow for that otherwise you are going to stifle innovation.And then the other question is tactically, actually how do you do it. It’s a scientific method. It’s not new, you have a hypothesis, you run a very controlled test and you measure the results in a statistically sound way and from that you are able to look back and say, ‘Was my hypothesis validated? And did I sort of learn what I thought I was going to learn?’ and then sort of think again and run another one.Martin: What did you do before you started this company?Marco: So I started Thumbtack right after I went to college and so the short answer is not much. But the longer answer is that my co-founder and I during college had started a student advocacy group together. It was non-profit, it was very different then the sort of technology business we’re in today but it was still start up and it was very fun to build something out of nothing and we sort of got hooked on that and decided to do it again and that’s why sort of after graduating I decided to pursue this dream.Martin: But why did you focus on that specific market? What is your relation to that? Why does it motivate you?Marco: So, we did in some ways what you’re not supposed to do which is decide to start-up a company and then go think of an idea. But thankfully, I think we did it in a good way in that we didn’t index on our interest or our passions but instead said, what’s the biggest problem we think we can solve with technology? And we started thinking and looking and what we realized was that there was this gigantic market, this local services market with hundreds of millions of customers, 10 of millions of professionals and it was very old. There really hadn’t been much innovation in how they found each other, how they came together, how they worked together and we felt that it was inevitable that technology would help these people. And I think what really motivates me and really I think Thumbtack is tha t both the macro and the micro of it. The macro of it is a big problem and it’s satisfying to work on sort of big things that can have a huge impact. But then like what really likeâ€"you feel day to day is the stories of impacting individuals, it’s the pest control guy in Brooklyn sending us flowers to say thank you for all the business that we’re now sending him, or the busy mom who is sending pictures of her birthday party that she was able to throw with Thumbtack. That feels great and that’s certainly is a bigger part of the motivation that we all feel.BUSINESS MODELMartin: And you said you tried to change this old model of match making into a new one. Can you tell us in terms of the business model what is the innovation behind Thumbtack?Marco: When you think about it, people have been hiring plumbers since plumbing existed, so a long time. And since the dawn of the yellow pages, it’s been very easy to find names and numbers, but that’s only half of the challenge, the n you have to figure out which of the these plumbers out of this entire list is available to serve you, what they are going to charge you and how qualified are they to do the job. And to do that today or before Thumbtack was an incredibly manual process. You, the customer, had to call, you had to sort of get quotes, then you had to call their references or sort of see what past work they’d done. And it was immensely time intensive. So instead, we created software to replace that, such that you tell us what you need. As a customer you sort of itemize the project, we package that up, send that to our network of qualified professionals who serve your areas and the ones who are then sort of available and interested get introduced directly to you and with that we bring all the reviews, the pictures, the credentials that you need to make a confident hiring decision. And so for the first time, the data that you need, the professionals that you need come to you. And this is much better fo r the customer obviously and it’s actually much better for the professional as well. If you think about their past in terms of marketing solutions they had, they had the yellow pages, they had things like that but they were always sort of fishing blindly, they just put up an ad and hoped people saw it now we bring them a customer and we say, ‘Hey, there is a customer that is looking for your services in your area, here is what they want, are you interested?’ And they have all the discretion to decide, ‘Okay yeah, this is a great customer, I am free that day’ and at that point they get introduced, so we’ve made it better for both sides and that’s why the model is growing so fast.Martin: And is the service provider only paying for the introduction or really for the closing of the deal.Marco: Yes, they pay for the introduction. Interestingly, we try doing it on a deal, but it actually caused problems because for the professional, there was no fee up front and so they figu red, they just respond to everything, even when they weren’t a great a fit. You, the customer, said, ‘I need the plumber to come on Saturday’ and me as a plumber says, ‘Well, I’ll say I can come on Sunday, maybe he’ll change his mind’. But that’s not a great response for you. So we had to change the incentive such that only the professionals who were really motivated to sort of get introduced to that customer were actually the ones who got through and we have to make sure on our end to charge appropriately such that they have a great ROI and they sort of get a lot of value out of Thumbtack.Martin: And how do you analyze this kind of incentive network?Marco: Quantitatively and qualitatively. There is a lot of data that you could look at to understand what are the dynamics at play and how is it evolving and then also you have to listen to the qualitative feedback, talking to professionals, talking to customers, seeing the support tickets that we get to learn, again wha t’s working and what’s not.CORPORATE STRATEGYMartin: Let’s talk about the corporate strategy. I mean, Thumbtack is some kind of a market place so it’s driven by network effect and effects of scale. What other type of competitive advantage do you want to create or already have compared to other competitors?Marco: So, you are absolutely right that there are network effects at play but in our case there is not just one network. In fact we have as many networks as we have customers because what matters to you as a customer is only the professionals who will come to you. You don’t care about the ones that are 100 of miles away. And so that is the huge challenge with the space is that you have to build local networks over and over and over. Our advantage over our competitors is that we’ve created a marketing sort of solution, a way for these professionals to grow their business that is so much better and so obvious that we don’t need a sale force to push it onto them, we cer tainly buy ads to build awareness of this solution, but they then sign up and it’s totally self serving, we start sending them customers and because of that we’ve been able to reach a scale much faster than really anybody else. We now have more paying professionals than Yelp or Angie’s list and they’ve been at it over a decade each. So that’s really where the advantage comes in, it’s the model that unlocks the growth potential.Martin: Marco, when you started, what was your go to market strategy, did you just expand on local cities, or did you just try to reach more national, or grow several cities at a separate time, or did you take it step by step? How did you do it?Marco: The sort of traditional way to do it is city by city and I think that was the advice that we were getting at the time. But the city by city model is expensive. You’re investing a lot of dollars in one city and we honestly did not have that much money to start, so we said, ‘Is there a more scalable way we can do this and what that really means is, is there any software or programmatic way to do it? And that’s what we focused on early on, how can we get these markets going, without a big investment but simply with software to find the right professionals and find the right customers and bring them together. And we found that, it took us a couple of years to figure it all out but that then unlocked the ability to go sort of nationwide very quickly. So we’re already now nationwide, we serve hundreds of categories across all these cities and it’s really sort of the model but also sort of then marketing strategies that allowed that.Martin: Can you a little bit elaborate on how the software that you used works?Marco: So I mean there are a couple of things that you have to do, you have to find professionals, so you have to go out to the web and figure out who is a professional, in what city and what do they do. Then you have to sort of bring them the right customer at the righ t time and so it’s sort of a matching problem. By doing that, it’s a great way to sort of build a relationship with a professional because we can say, ‘Hey, here is a customer, are you interested? Come to Thumbtack and there’s a lot more like them’. And so it’s really sort of a ‘matching and discovery’ challenge that we’re able to solve programmatically.Martin: Actually, can I imagine it working like this: You have started with a platform, people come to the website, both sides. But when you see, ‘Okay, there is some demands generated but we don’t have the right profession, then we go out there and search the web, contact those guys, sending them emails and say, ‘Okay, we have some kind of demand, would you be interested in this kind of purchase order then register at our platform’.Marco: That’s right.Martin: Okay great.Marco: And these small businesses they all want more customers and so when you bring them one, they are very receptive to that and obviou sly the onboarding has to work well, the marketing messages has to be correct, but at the end of the day we are bringing them what they want and so that’s a great way to start the relationship.MARKET DEVELOPMENTMartin: When looking at other platforms that are similar but not identically alike, Elance or Odesk, I perceive a very big trend towards lowering prices over there for the offering, what type of trends can you identify on your platform?Marco: So, both Odesk and Elance are virtual marketplace so they source their labor globally and I think there is definitely a sort of downward pressure on price when you are looking at these global markets. On the more localized basis, we don’t see that happening as much. There are some industries where the market is expanding tremendously like digital photography, it is much easier to be a photographer today than it was 20 years ago and so the market has gotten a lot bigger and therefore prices has come down. But by enlarge we don’t vie w ourselves as a way to increase or decrease prices, we want to help bring transparency to this sector such that customers are assured that they’re paying a good prices and that the professionals are educated about what the market is going for these days. But we ourselves aren’t trying to move it up or down because we just want to make matches based on what the buyers and sellers want, both of their interests matter to us.Martin: You said that you currently have round about 100 categories or so called sub-markets that you are trying toMarco: Hundreds actually.Martin: Hundreds okay. Are there any other specific markets you think are worthwhile pursuing in terms of matching buyers or sellers, related to those professional services? I suppose that is what you are going after.Marco: So, one big category that we don’t do today is sort of child care. We think that’s one that will be well suited for an online market place in fact there are a few companies doing this, we chose not t o focus on it because it is sort of unique in its sort of demands and sort of needs and that. I think is a big one that we will add at some point but for the time being we’ve got our hands full with all the categories we have so we’re not going to be expanding anytime soon.Martin: I could imagine that the matching process or algorithm in this different sub-market is slightly different for each of the sub-markets. How do you manage this kind of complexity by having different kinds of algorithm?Marco: It’s one that adapts to the local environment, so matching professionals, thinking about sort of distances, travel, there are affects on the local level which really matter. If you are based in New York City, New Jersey is very close but it takes forever to get to, so you’d much rather travel in New York City than across the Hudson into New Jersey. So we have to be smart about these sort of local needs when we match but at the end of the day what we are doing is bringing people t ogether and that is fortunately a generalized solution across all of our categories and across all of our locations.Martin: Great.ADVICE TO ENTREPRENEURS In San Francisco, we talked with entrepreneur Marco Zappacosta, the co-founder CEO of Thumbtack, of about the business model and history of Thumbtack. Furthermore, Marco shares his learnings and advice for young entrepreneurs.The transcript of the interview is included below.INTRODUCTIONMartin: Hi, today we are in San Francisco with Thumbtack. After announcing a big round of financing one month ago we are talking to Marco the founder of Thumbtack. Marco, who are you and what do you do?Marco: So, my name is Marco and Thumbtack helps customers find and hire local professionals. So if you need to paint your house, find a math tutor for your child or a caterer for your event, we are the best way to get introduced to the right professional. And it’s something that we have been working on for the last 5 years.Martin: Can you tell us, what is it like to start a company?Marco: So it’s a very satisfying sort of scene of vision that you had sort of come to life, attracting great people an d working with them to realize that vision. But it’s also fairly stressful because everybody get’s sort of wrapped up in this dream. And it’s hard to realize your dreams and so there is a lot of stress and making sure it’s coming about the right the way and working the way you want it to.Martin: What have been the major obstacles and how did you overcome them?Marco: I’d say there were three major obstacles.The first one was learning to attract customers and professionals, as a market place without that network you really have almost value and so we had to learn how to attract these people to us and do that in a very scalable and repeatable way. That took us a long time to figure out.Then the challenge became, Okay we have a network of customers and professionals, what’s the best way to introduce them such that it gives the customer confidence to hire and it gives the professional a real shot to sort of win the business. And we tried sort of lots of different interphases and had to really learn the right way to bring people together. And that was another big challenge.And then the final one was, how do we sort of layer on our business model on top of these interactions, now we knew how to bring people together, but what was the right thing to charge for, how should we charge, how much should we charge, that also took us quite a bit of time to figure out.So it was probably three and a half years until we had it all figured out and in the last 18 months things have really accelerated because thankfully it worked.Martin: Great and how do you test your hypothesis of how you want to acquire customers or how you want to match the professionals with the customers by not only having incremental improvements but maybe also testing some revolutionary hypothesis?Marco: So I mean, I think there are two answers, one is sort of cultural and organizational and one is tactical.It is very important for the process and the organization to let people take big bets bec ause the truth is you don’t always know what’s going to work. We’ve been surprised many times by things we thought would be great that didn’t work or things that we didn’t think would be that important and turned out to be hugely important. And so you have to sort of organizationally allow for that otherwise you are going to stifle innovation.And then the other question is tactically, actually how do you do it. It’s a scientific method. It’s not new, you have a hypothesis, you run a very controlled test and you measure the results in a statistically sound way and from that you are able to look back and say, ‘Was my hypothesis validated? And did I sort of learn what I thought I was going to learn?’ and then sort of think again and run another one.Martin: What did you do before you started this company?Marco: So I started Thumbtack right after I went to college and so the short answer is not much. But the longer answer is that my co-founder and I during college had s tarted a student advocacy group together. It was non-profit, it was very different then the sort of technology business we’re in today but it was still start up and it was very fun to build something out of nothing and we sort of got hooked on that and decided to do it again and that’s why sort of after graduating I decided to pursue this dream.Martin: But why did you focus on that specific market? What is your relation to that? Why does it motivate you?Marco: So, we did in some ways what you’re not supposed to do which is decide to start-up a company and then go think of an idea. But thankfully, I think we did it in a good way in that we didn’t index on our interest or our passions but instead said, what’s the biggest problem we think we can solve with technology? And we started thinking and looking and what we realized was that there was this gigantic market, this local services market with hundreds of millions of customers, 10 of millions of professionals and it was ver y old. There really hadn’t been much innovation in how they found each other, how they came together, how they worked together and we felt that it was inevitable that technology would help these people. And I think what really motivates me and really I think Thumbtack is that both the macro and the micro of it. The macro of it is a big problem and it’s satisfying to work on sort of big things that can have a huge impact. But then like what really likeâ€"you feel day to day is the stories of impacting individuals, it’s the pest control guy in Brooklyn sending us flowers to say thank you for all the business that we’re now sending him, or the busy mom who is sending pictures of her birthday party that she was able to throw with Thumbtack. That feels great and that’s certainly is a bigger part of the motivation that we all feel.BUSINESS MODELMartin: And you said you tried to change this old model of match making into a new one. Can you tell us in terms of the business model w hat is the innovation behind Thumbtack?Marco: When you think about it, people have been hiring plumbers since plumbing existed, so a long time. And since the dawn of the yellow pages, it’s been very easy to find names and numbers, but that’s only half of the challenge, then you have to figure out which of the these plumbers out of this entire list is available to serve you, what they are going to charge you and how qualified are they to do the job. And to do that today or before Thumbtack was an incredibly manual process. You, the customer, had to call, you had to sort of get quotes, then you had to call their references or sort of see what past work they’d done. And it was immensely time intensive. So instead, we created software to replace that, such that you tell us what you need. As a customer you sort of itemize the project, we package that up, send that to our network of qualified professionals who serve your areas and the ones who are then sort of available and interest ed get introduced directly to you and with that we bring all the reviews, the pictures, the credentials that you need to make a confident hiring decision. And so for the first time, the data that you need, the professionals that you need come to you. And this is much better for the customer obviously and it’s actually much better for the professional as well. If you think about their past in terms of marketing solutions they had, they had the yellow pages, they had things like that but they were always sort of fishing blindly, they just put up an ad and hoped people saw it now we bring them a customer and we say, ‘Hey, there is a customer that is looking for your services in your area, here is what they want, are you interested?’ And they have all the discretion to decide, ‘Okay yeah, this is a great customer, I am free that day’ and at that point they get introduced, so we’ve made it better for both sides and that’s why the model is growing so fast.Martin: And is the service provider only paying for the introduction or really for the closing of the deal.Marco: Yes, they pay for the introduction. Interestingly, we try doing it on a deal, but it actually caused problems because for the professional, there was no fee up front and so they figured, they just respond to everything, even when they weren’t a great a fit. You, the customer, said, ‘I need the plumber to come on Saturday’ and me as a plumber says, ‘Well, I’ll say I can come on Sunday, maybe he’ll change his mind’. But that’s not a great response for you. So we had to change the incentive such that only the professionals who were really motivated to sort of get introduced to that customer were actually the ones who got through and we have to make sure on our end to charge appropriately such that they have a great ROI and they sort of get a lot of value out of Thumbtack.Martin: And how do you analyze this kind of incentive network?Marco: Quantitatively and qualitatively. Ther e is a lot of data that you could look at to understand what are the dynamics at play and how is it evolving and then also you have to listen to the qualitative feedback, talking to professionals, talking to customers, seeing the support tickets that we get to learn, again what’s working and what’s not.CORPORATE STRATEGYMartin: Let’s talk about the corporate strategy. I mean, Thumbtack is some kind of a market place so it’s driven by network effect and effects of scale. What other type of competitive advantage do you want to create or already have compared to other competitors?Marco: So, you are absolutely right that there are network effects at play but in our case there is not just one network. In fact we have as many networks as we have customers because what matters to you as a customer is only the professionals who will come to you. You don’t care about the ones that are 100 of miles away. And so that is the huge challenge with the space is that you have to build loca l networks over and over and over. Our advantage over our competitors is that we’ve created a marketing sort of solution, a way for these professionals to grow their business that is so much better and so obvious that we don’t need a sale force to push it onto them, we certainly buy ads to build awareness of this solution, but they then sign up and it’s totally self serving, we start sending them customers and because of that we’ve been able to reach a scale much faster than really anybody else. We now have more paying professionals than Yelp or Angie’s list and they’ve been at it over a decade each. So that’s really where the advantage comes in, it’s the model that unlocks the growth potential.Martin: Marco, when you started, what was your go to market strategy, did you just expand on local cities, or did you just try to reach more national, or grow several cities at a separate time, or did you take it step by step? How did you do it?Marco: The sort of traditional w ay to do it is city by city and I think that was the advice that we were getting at the time. But the city by city model is expensive. You’re investing a lot of dollars in one city and we honestly did not have that much money to start, so we said, ‘Is there a more scalable way we can do this and what that really means is, is there any software or programmatic way to do it? And that’s what we focused on early on, how can we get these markets going, without a big investment but simply with software to find the right professionals and find the right customers and bring them together. And we found that, it took us a couple of years to figure it all out but that then unlocked the ability to go sort of nationwide very quickly. So we’re already now nationwide, we serve hundreds of categories across all these cities and it’s really sort of the model but also sort of then marketing strategies that allowed that.Martin: Can you a little bit elaborate on how the software that you used works?Marco: So I mean there are a couple of things that you have to do, you have to find professionals, so you have to go out to the web and figure out who is a professional, in what city and what do they do. Then you have to sort of bring them the right customer at the right time and so it’s sort of a matching problem. By doing that, it’s a great way to sort of build a relationship with a professional because we can say, ‘Hey, here is a customer, are you interested? Come to Thumbtack and there’s a lot more like them’. And so it’s really sort of a ‘matching and discovery’ challenge that we’re able to solve programmatically.Martin: Actually, can I imagine it working like this: You have started with a platform, people come to the website, both sides. But when you see, ‘Okay, there is some demands generated but we don’t have the right profession, then we go out there and search the web, contact those guys, sending them emails and say, ‘Okay, we have some kind of demand, would you be interested in this kind of purchase order then register at our platform’.Marco: That’s right.Martin: Okay great.Marco: And these small businesses they all want more customers and so when you bring them one, they are very receptive to that and obviously the onboarding has to work well, the marketing messages has to be correct, but at the end of the day we are bringing them what they want and so that’s a great way to start the relationship.MARKET DEVELOPMENTMartin: When looking at other platforms that are similar but not identically alike, Elance or Odesk, I perceive a very big trend towards lowering prices over there for the offering, what type of trends can you identify on your platform?Marco: So, both Odesk and Elance are virtual marketplace so they source their labor globally and I think there is definitely a sort of downward pressure on price when you are looking at these global markets. On the more localized basis, we don’t see that happening as m uch. There are some industries where the market is expanding tremendously like digital photography, it is much easier to be a photographer today than it was 20 years ago and so the market has gotten a lot bigger and therefore prices has come down. But by enlarge we don’t view ourselves as a way to increase or decrease prices, we want to help bring transparency to this sector such that customers are assured that they’re paying a good prices and that the professionals are educated about what the market is going for these days. But we ourselves aren’t trying to move it up or down because we just want to make matches based on what the buyers and sellers want, both of their interests matter to us.Martin: You said that you currently have round about 100 categories or so called sub-markets that you are trying toMarco: Hundreds actually.Martin: Hundreds okay. Are there any other specific markets you think are worthwhile pursuing in terms of matching buyers or sellers, related to those professional services? I suppose that is what you are going after.Marco: So, one big category that we don’t do today is sort of child care. We think that’s one that will be well suited for an online market place in fact there are a few companies doing this, we chose not to focus on it because it is sort of unique in its sort of demands and sort of needs and that. I think is a big one that we will add at some point but for the time being we’ve got our hands full with all the categories we have so we’re not going to be expanding anytime soon.Martin: I could imagine that the matching process or algorithm in this different sub-market is slightly different for each of the sub-markets. How do you manage this kind of complexity by having different kinds of algorithm?Marco: It’s one that adapts to the local environment, so matching professionals, thinking about sort of distances, travel, there are affects on the local level which really matter. If you are based in New York City, New Jersey is very close but it takes forever to get to, so you’d much rather travel in New York City than across the Hudson into New Jersey. So we have to be smart about these sort of local needs when we match but at the end of the day what we are doing is bringing people together and that is fortunately a generalized solution across all of our categories and across all of our locations.Martin: Great.ADVICE TO ENTREPRENEURSMartin: Marco, we always try to share some knowledge from entrepreneurs like you to people interested in starting their business. What advice can you give them? Maybe we can start by sharing your advice, dos and don’ts on raising money or managing investor relationships.Marco: Okay. I think one piece of advice with regard to raising money that is important to keep in mind is that every round is a bridge round and it is a bridge to somewhere and the most important thing to articulate is not your past success but what are the milestones that this money is going to take you too and why those milestones are worth achieving. I think people often look backwards when thinking about their pitches, ‘Oh we did this, we accomplished that’ and that’s great but really what investors are looking for and what matters is where you going to get? And why is that somewhere I that I should invest in.Martin: So would you recommend saying, ‘Okay, currently my status is x, like my company valuation is x, by taking your money we will increase more of the equity value or enterprise value’?Marco: Ah, yeah though, I think you have to break it down a little bit more and instead say, ‘Okay, we raised angel money to validate the product and to begin to unlock some sort of growth through a couple of distribution channels. We’ve now proved that and now we are looking to raise a series A to really scale this. And we think if we raise x million dollars we will be able to get to y traction and if we do that puts us in a great place to raise a follow on sort of amount of fundraising’. It’s about getting to a milestone that’s valuable and interesting and sort of articulating that very specifically.Martin: What other advice would you give your friend who is coming to you and saying, ‘I want to start a company’.Marco: I think it’s people should assume it will take a decade. So, when you are thinking about an idea or thinking about working with someone you should ask yourself, is this something I want to work on for a decade? Is this somebody I want to work with for a decade? I think that perspective helps clarify sort of whether things are worthwhile or not because in the moment sure, I can stomach most things but for a decade you have to be very sure. But that’s really the timescale over which these things happen and they don’t happen overnight and you have to have the sort of determination to grind it out over that many years.Martin: That’s right. Thank you very much for your time, Marco.Marco: Alright thank you.Marti n: And next time you’re looking for a job maybe as a service professional, maybe use Thumbtack. Thank you very much.Marco: Good, thank you.Martin: Thank you very much, Marco.

The Myth Of Baucis And Philemon, And Chylde Roland And The...

Every story provides good examples of morals with each containing an important lesson to learn. Morals are conveyed in stories to give the reader an idea or thought. All stories have some, if not many things to say and every story conveys a message to whomever may be reading. The answer to the question of why morals are conveyed in stories is that it’s simply just a helpful learning tool. Moral values are characterized as a helpful learning tool that involves improving respect and behavior and also improving/enhancing relationships. Knowing what appears right and what appears wrong shapes a character’s element. Right decisions and interactions with other people are considered improved when involved with good moral values. As individuals we understand that life is important and moral values shapes us throughout our lives. â€Å"The Myth of Baucis and Philemon,† â€Å"The Story of Five Heads,† and â€Å"Chylde Roland and the Goblin King† are all examp les of different stories that portray morals. Infants are taught to show respect to adults along with other people by morals. Parents fight to enforce these values into their children for their own personal good with establishing what’s considered right and wrong. Moral values teach an individual that being honest improves the chance to be recognized while achieving their goals. The important role in moral values is overall stability. Every story has something to say and that something can impact all us all with how we learn. Moral values

Procter Gamble From Top to Bottom †A Consultant’s View Free Essays

Not only does PG demand an outside the box thinking model, but they also demand collaboration inside and outside the Company. This is in addition to strict project management guidelines and the desire to be in communication with consumers, retail customers and outside stakeholders. (Leadership Development, 2014) Recommendation 1 – One recommendation here is to involve employees on a greater level. We will write a custom essay sample on Procter Gamble: From Top to Bottom – A Consultant’s View or any similar topic only for you Order Now The mission statement itself covers everything an employee should take to heart. However, involvement at the local level may increase the publics awareness to the firm’s existence. Employees being more involved in going to local retailers and attempting to market P’s products, giving away products to local homeless shelters and charities, providing charity work in the local communities by PG employees can take a company to another level in this area. PG is heavily concerned with improving the lives of others around the world. It is this author’s opinion that integrating a greater hands-on approach an help accomplish this. P holds a lot of strength in its organizational structure. P feels the organization’s structure is an important part of its continued growth. With products touching the lives of nearly 2 billion people every day, it combines its strength of product benefits and a local focus to win consumers and retail customers in all the countries where the products are embedded. There are four major portions of the organization, all embedded neatly in the company’s Selling Market Operations sector. These include – Beauty, Hair and personal Care Baby, Feminine and Family Care Fabric and Home Care Health and Grooming (Corporate Structure, 2014) Specifically, the division of that delivers products to market is the Selling and Market Operations division. The division name was changed from Market Development Organizations because of the intense pride it takes in bring its products to the people of the world. The name change was not just a name change, it clarified the work the firm does and the work they do best. This division handles every portion of marketability including superior, effective and efficient selling, distribution, shelving, pricing execution and rescheduling – every day, every week – in every store and in all its markets. Markets include Asia; Europe; India, the Middle East, and Africa (MIME); Latin America and North America. (Corporate Structure, 201 4) Recommendation 2 could likely benefit from a stronger focus in where it does not hold a strong enough market share. For example, in Personal Health Care, which is considered a $240 billion market, P is a market leader, but with only a 5% share. Another area is Beauty and Grooming, and while leads the consumer market, it only holds 13% of the share. (P – 2014 Annual Report, 014) Organizational management is key to a business’ growth opportunities. It has a number of billion-dollar and half-billion-dollar brands that cover a number of markets. PG is certainly not lacking in performance. However, it is possible that it could build in certain areas. It has strong relationships with retailers, suppliers and a competitive advantage where innovation is recognized. Recommendation 3 – It is possible that could reach its hands into undeserved and unseeded consumers. There are a number of markets where consumers are not reached such as those watching a lot of television. With Digital Video Recorders (DVD) available for every home in the world, it is possible that is not reaching these consumers because people typically fast-forward through commercials. If these consumers were targeted in other areas such as highway billboards, mobile app advertisements, and e-commerce, PG may see a rise in its consumer markets. Employee performance management is not the only concept that creates an effective firm like Procter Gamble. Another tightly held idea is their efficacy in the use of partners and suppliers. PG’s network of partners and suppliers is critical to our long-term success ND in our purpose inspired growth strategy to touch and improve more consumers’ lives, in more parts of the world, more completely. † (Partners and Suppliers, 2014) PG’s supplier diversity goes deep and is historical. Since the sass’s, there has been a strong focus on its ability to diversify its supplier strategy. PG holds a special pride with min ority and women-owned businesses around the world, investing more than $2 billion in the last six years. This figure has placed PG on a short list called the Billion Dollar Roundtable, which specifically invests more than a billion dollars a year with a minority or woman-owned business. Recommendation 4 A recommendation to be considered might be the insertion of deeper rooted supplier networks. Possibly delving into more privately owned businesses for their product sales. One of PG’s greatest weaknesses is its inherent ability to rely on â€Å"big box† retailers such as Wall-Mart for revenue generation. With P product insertion into stores like Wall-Mart, the world-wide retailer is at an advantage with potentially greater bargaining power. With this comes less profit for Procter Gamble. Spreading the market share to smaller entities could help level the playing field with these large retailers. Chuan, 2010) Investing in a number of partners, P has not only generated awards for its partnership strategies, it has also helped to better the lives of the people who work in these companies. With well-treated employees comes greater confidence in the products created. P has set a very important standard in its desire to be a trusted company. P’s goal, where its products are concerned, is family safety. They need the consumers that purchase their products to come back and purchase more. The organization considers its commitment to safety as a part of its heritage and future. There are more Han 700 experts that work for PG globally, specifically to ensure the safety of its products with respect to environmental safety, human safety and the various regulatory compliance agencies around the world. Product Safety, 2014) Recommendation 5 Where product quality is concerned, PG is heavily involved. For example, in 2007, there were a number of product recalls in its pet food division. With keeping its powerful brand name, PG eventually sold off its pet division. This is an example of a recommendation that was followed and came out on top. With fast moving product, which is what PG relies on, having re-stocked rodents is important. Generating sales i s heavily reliant on new and innovative products. There is a possibility of having greater product quality if third party assets assisted in quality management. With so much product oversight on the inside of PG, this leaves room for bias. Outside experts, working independent of PG, and not under financial collusion, could assist in bringing greater product value to the market. (Chuan, 2010) Considering the size and reach of PG, their use of technology plays a significant role in its daily operations. They are reliant on IT systems for internet sites, data costing, processing facilities for tools and other hardware. The use of these IT systems includes services such as ordering and managing materials from suppliers; converting materials to finished products; shipping products to customers; marketing and selling products to consumers; collecting and storing customer, consumer, employee, investor and other stakeholder information and personal data; (PG – 2014 Annual Report, 2014) The firm has clearly stated A breach of information security, including a cyber-security breach or failure of one or more key information technology systems, networks, processes, associated sites or service providers could have a material adverse impact on our business or reputation. (PG – 2014 Annual Report, 2014) Recommendation 6 It is recommended that instead of relying heavily on its own employees for security management, to consider moving to a third party company and outsourcing its security. Ideally, with the extensive product development and its classified nature (until necessary patents are obtained), it is recommended that the firm receive the same level of security as the Department of Defense receives. Additionally, while the following details are likely classified, PG’s yester should be regularly hacked by white-hat hackers to determine potential security holes and assist in having them plugged. The culture at P is very strong. They lend the strength of their culture to its powerful innovation Structure. Is constantly displaying their formidable position on the planet as a leading innovator. A well-known process of moving the innovation from idea to prototype, to development, to qualification, to centralization is in place for the product launch model. Bob McDonald (2008) stated â€Å"Innovation requires a certain kind of culture, one that is curious ND courageous, connected and collaborative culture, and open-minded – a culture in which people want to take risks to identify game changing, life enhancing innovations. † McDonald went on to say that culture is not something that can fall under a mandate or be imposed. Good culture is grown on an organic level and while it cannot be demanded, it can be shaped and influenced. Recommendation 7 – Change management exists in all companies around the world, big and small. Dealing with the change comes down to working with employees in the firm to ensure the smooth transition. With constant changes in laws and isolations around the global, a global organization like Procter Gamble should consider a Change Consistency department, whereby change is predicted and the firm can then get ahead of it. Working with regulatory agencies around the world, it is possible that P can obtain potentially conflicted items based on ingredients. For example, in China, a number of products were found to have banned substances in them. Had there been a department designed to specifically combat these issues, P could come out on top and release products that do not interfere with a country regulatory efforts. With the above stated Change Management, there comes number of issues involving power, politics and conflict. With that in mind, everything comes down to quality leadership and effective communication. Without these two ingredients, it is too easy for a firm of this size to fall into complete disarray. How to cite Procter Gamble: From Top to Bottom – A Consultant’s View, Papers

My Aspiration to Become a Doctor free essay sample

My aspiration to become a doctor dates back to when I was in elementary school. Although as a young person, I did not quite understand what doctors essentially do my desire heightened by the sick people I came across. As I grew up, I steadily understood what it entailed being a doctor and that strengthened my desire even more of becoming a doctor. The fact that doctors save lives also forms part of why I want to become a doctor. When I was eight years old, my grandfather suffered from cancer.This resulted to my mom making endless trips to the hospital to visit him. Occasionally, she would take me along, and the condition my grandfather was in, mortified me. He always seemed to be in too much pain and as I was young and eager to learn more, I asked a lot of questions as to why my grandfather was under going too much pain. We will write a custom essay sample on My Aspiration to Become a Doctor or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page My mom always tried to encourage me by telling me that the doctors will make sure that my grand dad pulls through his sickness. This gave me some sense of hope made me believe that doctors always saved life.That is when my dream of becoming a doctor started as I was pestering my mother with many questions concerning being a doctor. In addition to my grand dads sickness, I also experienced a fatal road accident, which also made me want to become a doctor. The accident involved a saloon car and a cyclist. It happened one evening while I was walking home from school. Suddenly, I heard screeching sounds of a car tire and before I turned around to look there was a loud sound, and the next thing I saw was a lifeless body of a mid aged man behind me.The car then, speed away quickly while we tried to administer first aid to the victim, but it was unfortunate as he had crushed his skull caused by the impact he landed with on the road. Secondly, as I advanced in my education and did some wide reading, I came across a book entitled Treatment Kind and fair: Letters to a young Doctor. The book written by Perri Klass is inspirational, and boosted me as Perri mastered her art of mentorship in this book.In the book, the author addresses several issues concerning the life of a doctor and also tries to explore the lives of those that matter to the doctor. It is a first-hand experience to any person who wishes to become a doctor as it prepares one psychologically on doctor related issues. In addition, the book explores the judgments made by doctors while performing their duties. This gave me an insight of how I can easily tackle some questions related to situations needing quick decisions. The issue of death is also a great deal o doctors and this book handles the topic well. It explains to those aspiring to become doctors how to deal with death in case it occurs to a patient you were treating. The book made me feel like I am already practicing as a doctor as it gave light to my inner vision. Thirdly, I want to become a doctor to be able to help people who are less fortunate in society and those born with deformities. This reason inspired by the plight of people who live in third-world countries and can not be able to afford enough funds to seek quality medical care. In addition, many people in these countries are usually afflicted with natural disasters, which result to, the spread of diseases. Those affected most in such situations are women and small children, and my love and compassion for them makes me want to become a doctor so that I might be able to help them. In third-world countries again, we have children born with deformities such as the cleft lip. Many kids born with this deformity can under go surgery but because their parents lack enough funds to support them, so they spend the rest of their life that way.I believe in being courteous to fellow human beings, and since God wants us to love and care for one another, I want to become a doctor so as I can make people with such deformity have a great smile again. In conclusion, I can attribute much of my wanting to become a doctor to the experiences I encountered while young but also the wide reading I did as I advanced in my education also inspired me. Doctors are meant to be selfless t o be, in a position to serve people without being greedy for money as it is a form of giving back to society.

Writing a Thesis Statement for an Academic Paper

Writing a Thesis Statement for an Academic Paper Thesis Statement Help from Professional Writers Writing an academic essay is quite a usual task in high school, college or university. Students are asked to provide research on a topic, share their ideas and points of view in an essay. You should have precise arguments that will underpin your statement and persuade others. The idea you want to communicate is called a thesis statement. Making a good thesis statement might be tough as you have to put all your ideas and demonstrate personal position in one or two sentences. A lot of students face troubles with it while writing a thesis or an essay. The team of is ready to take care of your thesis. Place an order and our writers will do everything that is required. We can not only review your essay but help you write one on any of the following subjects: Math; Literature; Science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Astronomy, etc.); English Grammar; History; Law; Economics; Politics, etc. is a team of professional writers who can easily help you write a thesis statement. They have years of experience in writing and know how to make in powerful, precise, and persuasive. Our professional writers know exactly how to use a thesis statement to make an essay coherent, connecting thoughts into one single unit underpinned by facts and arguments. Students from different countries tend to use our services and ask for thesis statement help. Some of them become our clients and have a chance to enjoy all perks our company can offer. Once you place an order and make a payment, one of the managers will contact you to discuss the details and further steps. Writing a thesis statement seems to be difficult, but our experts are able to help you with that. : We Help Students Whenever you find it hard to write a thesis statement, our skilled writers are here to help you. We hire only native speakers from the USA, who hold a Master’s degree or a PhD in a respective field. Before they are offered a position of the writer, we ask them to pass tests in English grammar and vocabulary. We have to be sure of their professional writing skills. The orders we get are required to be written in academic style and within a stated time frame, so there should be no delays. Apart from writing a thesis statement, our team will help you with the following assignments: Article writing; Book/movie review; Thesis; Dissertation; Essay writing; Creative writing, etc. It is required to provide some personal information while placing an order. Have no worries as all customer’s personal data is kept safe thanks to a great security system. What is more, it is never passed to third parties. We do care about your comfort and confidentiality. The end of term is approaching and you will be loaded with projects or writing assignments that might take a lot of time. It is impossible to cope with everything equally, so you might need help writing a thesis statement or deal with other tasks. In case you have any question in regard to thesis statement writing or you are interested in some other services, it is possible to contact our support team. They are available 24/7 and can answer all your questions. Feel free to use our online services and you will receive the best support from experienced and professional writers. Do not hesitate and prioritize the assignments you have to deal with.

The Real Reason for Washingtons Crazy Street Patterns

The Real Reason for Washingtons Crazy Street Patterns Watch out. Here comes the end of the world again. Viewers of the History Channels Ancient Aliens learned that the crazy streetmap of Washington, D.C. with its roundabouts and angled avenues, is based on celestial navigations, ancient aliens, and Luciferian New World Order. City planner Pierre Charles LEnfant would be shocked to hear about this. Born August 2, 1754 in France, Monsieur LEnfant is best known for designing the D.C. roadways of circles and spokes, a 1791 master plan that transformed a patch of swamp and farmland into the capital of the United States. Even today, much of Washington, D.C. with its wide boulevards and public squares follows LEnfants original concept. But was LEnfants design inspired by Freemasonry, aliens, and the occult - or maybe the orderly French Baroque styles of the day? The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) of the National Park Service has given us the answer. In documenting the significance of LEnfants design, they say: The historic plan of Washington, District of Columbia - the nations capital - designed by Pierre LEnfant in 1791 as the site of the Federal City, represents the sole American example of a comprehensive baroque city plan with a coordinated system of radiating avenues, parks and vistas laid over an orthogonal system. Influenced by the designs of several European cities and eighteenth-century gardens such as Frances Palace of Versailles, the plan of Washington, D.C, was symbolic and innovative for the new nation. Existing colonial towns surely influenced LEnfants scheme, just as the plan of Washington, in turn, influenced subsequent American city planning.... LEnfants plan was magnified and expanded during the early decades of the twentieth century with the reclamation of land for waterfront parks, parkways, and improved Mall, and new monuments and vistas. Two-hundred years since its design, the integrity of the plan of Washington is largely unimpaired - boasting a legally enforced height restriction, landscaped parks, wide avenues, and open space allowing intended vistas.- LEnfant-McMillan Plan of Washington, D.C. (The Federal City), HABS No. DC-668, 1990-1993, pp. 1-2 The Legends and Stories The real story of LEnfants design is one of professional urban design - architectural planning based on study and history. The juicy stories that were fabricated may have begun with prejudice. One of the original surveyors of the District of Columbia was Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806), a free African-American. Banneker and Andrew Ellicott (1754-1820) were enlisted by George Washington to stake out the boundaries for Americas new capital, the Federal City. Because he knew a bit about astronomy, Banneker used celestial calculations to mark off the borderlines. A Black man using the stars and the moon, along with the Freemasonry of some of the Founding Fathers, and stories of the occult and a new government based on Satanism was certain to flourish. The street design in Washington, D.C., has been laid out in such a manner that certain Luciferic symbols are depicted by the streets, cul-de-sacs and rotaries, claims one conspiracy theorist writing in The Revelation. LEnfant hid certain occ ultic magical symbols in the layout of the new capital, and together they become one large Luciferic, or occultic, symbol. If this story of urban design intrigues you, the theories about extraterrestrials and advanced civilizations visiting Earth in ancient times may be of further interest. Were the avenues of Washington, D.C. really ancient landing strips for alien spaceships? Check out the full series from the History Channel to find out what other mayhem the ancient aliens were up to (Ancient Aliens DVD Box set, The Complete Seasons 1–6). The McMillan Commission LEnfant had come to America to fight in the Revolutionary War, serving with the Corps of Engineers of the Continental Army. His passion for Americas future was well-understood by the likes of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, but his stormy reluctance to compromise did not sit well with the City Commissioners. LEnfants plan lived on, but he was uninvolved with its development and died penniless on June 14, 1825. It wasnt until 1900 when Senator James McMillan chaired a commission that instituted the vision of Pierre LEnfant. To realize the plans of LEnfant, the McMillan Commission enlisted the  architects Daniel Burnham and Charles F. McKim, the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., and the sculptor Augustus St. Gaudens - all famous figures in American design at the turn of the 20th century. Pierre Charles LEnfant is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, in a grave overlooking the city he designed but never realized. Sources Arlington National Cemetery website. arlingtoncemetery.mil/Explore/Notable-Graves/Prominent-Military-Figures/Pierre-Charles-LEnfantThe Revelation website, theforbiddenknowledge.com/chapter3/A Brief History of Pierre LEnfant and Washington, D.C., Smithsonian.comLEnfant-McMillan Plan of Washington, DC (HABS NO, DC-668, 1990-1993, researched and written by Elizabeth Barthold and Sara Amy Leach), Historic American Buildings Survey, National Park Service, Department of the Interior at http://lcweb2.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/dc/dc0700/dc0776/data/dc0776data.pdf; The LEnfant and McMillan Plans, National Park Service [websites accessed July 23, 2017]Image of Baroque street plan of 1791 Washington, DC designed by Pierre LEnfant from the LEnfant-McMillan Plan, HABS DC,WASH,612- (2 of 32), Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Organizational Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Organizational Management - Essay Example Similarly they identify a set of category constructs in the transactional leadership also. For instance concentration on the task at hand, short term goals and tactics, confusion concerning causes and symptoms, too much involvement in power relations, politics and statistics, fulfillment of expectations based on readily available systems, reliance on human interrelations and the persistent support for organizational structures, systems and relations. Warren Bennis (1995) holds the view that less hierarchical more democratic institutions with the ability to adapt to the unfolding environment are the best. A competency-based contingency framework or model like this requires a series of sub-level functions or competencies to be outlined as of consequence though such heterogeneous elements which lie outside the functional domain of the manager's/leader's tasks could be avoided with convenience. For example the manager's/leader's common competencies are always inclusively treated in the theoretical framework for the purpose of reference. This is illustrated by the following diagram. The above diagram (Fig. ... ged framework identifies and addresses the management/leadership competencies and issues that correlate with each other to produce an integral system of reference and analysis (Covey, 2004). For instance the vision & mission of the organization are identified with the long term corporate and business goals, irrespective of the size of the business. Such goals or objectives are essentially strategic in nature because they necessitate a degree of dependence on the organizational culture and leadership to bring about the appropriate environmental characteristics to achieve those long term objectives. Theoretical outline of the competency frameworkDavid Kolb's Experiential Learning teaches the manager to take experience as the source of learning (Kolb, 1983). On the other hand the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is based on an evaluation of psychometrics that is designed to assess the different psychological behaviors concerning perceptions and decision making preferences of individuals (Myers, McCaulley, Quenk and Hammer, 1998). The manager/leader is a functionary whose primary function/competency to determine the organizational goals is set out in the mission statement and the annual reports to its stakeholders. Thus organizational goals will have to be achieved by utilizing and organizing the available resources and combining them with people or employees in a manner to maximize both output and minimize costs. Towards this end the manager seeks to combine supplies and provisions and then integrate suppliers and creditors into the whole process of management. Next, he needs t o adopt methods in order to build integrated networks or process for easy control and execution of strategy (Williams, 2002). Leadership theories and teamwork models

The Glass Menagerie Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Glass Menagerie - Term Paper Example Tom wants to forsake his duty to his family but he seems to have difficulty in leaving Laura the most. In the play, responsibility becomes a choice between duty to one’s dreams and duty to one’s family, which is juxtaposed with gender and social class issues. The Glass Menagerie depicts that society insists that people forget their duty to their own dreams because they have to follow gender and social class norms and expectations. The concept of responsibility is a product of social conditioning, which is based on gender and social class customs. Society teaches gender norms that define the roles and responsibilities of men and women to each other. In Scene 2, Amanda expresses her disappointment with Laura after learning that the latter has dropped her classes at the business college. Amanda underscores the sacrifices made in sending Laura to school: â€Å"Fifty dollars’ tuition, all of our plans – my hopes and ambitions for you – just gone up the spout, just gone up the spout like that† (Williams ii. 369). During this time, working class women had limited educational and economic opportunities. For Amanda, Laura is throwing away the only opportunity she has to earn money and to help her brother support their family. Tom has the gravest responsibility of all because as a man, he is expected to provide for his mother and sister. Amanda constantly nags Tom of his duties to his family: â€Å"What right have you got to jeopardize your job? Jeopardize the security of us all? How do you think we’d manage if you were –† (Williams iii). Amanda cannot even say the unthinkable. She finds it unthinkable for a man to desert his family because a man’s most important duty is to his family. As a southern belle, she is a traditional woman and her conventions molded her thinking about the duties of men and women. Aside from gender division, society separates people into social classes, where the rich have mor e freedoms than the poor. Tom envies the life of the rich: â€Å"Across the alley from us was the Paradise Dance Hall. You could see [couples] kissing behind ash-pits... This was the compensation for lives that passed like mine, without any change or adventure† (Williams v. 381-82). He hates his life where duty to others is central. The play demonstrates uneven social and gender structures that affect people’s ability to be happy. Society asserts that men have the responsibility to take care of their families’ basic needs and wants. Tom has the duty to raise his family after their father left many years ago. He says: â€Å"House, house! Who pays rent on it, who makes a slave of himself to†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Williams iii. 373). Society thinks it is natural for men to be breadwinners. They are the symbolic beams of the family. Tom thinks differently, however. He wants to follow his duty to himself, but for the longest time, he surrenders to social dictates. Aside fro m Tom, Jim has a duty to improve Laura’s self-confidence because he sees her as a little sister. He senses Laura’s strong insecurity because of her physical illness: â€Å"A little physical defect is what you have. Hardly noticeable even! Magnified thousands of times by imagination! You know what my strong advice to you is? Think of yourself as superior in some way!† (Williams vii. 402). In the article â€Å"Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie,† Ardolino argues that the Rubicam College stands for Julius

Shell Is A Multinational Company Commerce Essay

Shell Is A Multinational Company Commerce Essay Shell is a multinational company dealing with oil and gas. The Headquarters of the company is in Hague, one of the cities of Netherlands. It has a registered office in London, and by 2011, the company was second largest company in relation to revenue growth, and profitability. In the oil and gas sector, the company is second to ExxonMobil in terms of operations and its capital base (Bruijn et al, 2002). The company is grouped among the six most influential oil companies in the world. The other five are Chevron, Exxon Mobil, B.P, Conoco Philips and Total S.A. The company operates in all areas of oil and gas industry, these areas include exploration of oil and gas, supplies and distribution, marketing, production, refinery, petrochemical development and power generation (McIntosh, 2001). The company is also concerned about environmental conservation, and it has invested heavily on the production, and distribution of renewable energy (Carroll, 1999). It supports initiatives of developing and distribution bio-fuel energy, wind and solar power, and hydrogen energy. Shell has branches in 100 countries, and operates an approximate number of 44000 service stations. The company producing more than 3 million barrels of oil per day, and this makes it second to Exxon Mobil. Due to its massive size, and huge capital base, the company is an important player in the international system. It has the capability of influencing world leaders to enact policies that will encourage capitalism, and liberalization of their economies (Carroll, 1999). Due to its size, and the complex business activities the company engages in, the company operates under four main divisions. These are projects and technology, upstream international, upstream Americas, and downstream (Bruijn et al, 2002). The role of upstream international is to manage business operations of shell that are outside the American continent. The division is responsible for identifying new oil and gas fields. It refines crude oil, liquefies it and transports the gas. The division creates the necessary infrastructure required to supply and deliver the oil products of the company to the target market. The division operates through geographic locations, and each location has its own CEO. In some instances, the upstream international unit collaborates with all its geographic units to deliver a service considered essential and important (Bruijn et al, 2002). This only applies when the geographic unit of the company does not have the necessary skills to deliver the service. The Projects and Technology department is responsible for developing new and technological innovative systems, for purposes of improving the efficiency of the organization. The Unit concerns itself with the distribution of the organizations major projects, and it is not restricted to regions (Carroll, 1999). It supplements the technological innovations of Upstream and Downstream divisions of Shell, and it is responsible for providing leadership and advice on the areas of environmental conservation, health, safety, and procurements and contracting. The downstream division is responsible for the production, manufacture, marketing, and distribution of the products and services of Shell Company. The unit refines, distributes and transports crude oil products (Green, 1985). The upstream America is responsible for the business activities of the organization in North and South America. In this region, the organization looks for new sources of oil, and gas. It also creates an infrastructure that has the capability of efficiently transporting the products of the company to its target markets (Jordan, 2001). The division is responsible for extracting bitumen from oil sand. It converts them to crude oil, and thereafter refines them to produce energy. The main objective of the company is to search for oil and gas, and thereafter produce the product, manufacture ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s, and deliver the product to the market. The company also explores for gas, refines it, and transports the product to its target market. The company also produces chemical products, and an example is the shell lubricant used to service the spare parts of motor vehicles (Carroll, 1999). To effectively sale petroleum, the company operates more than 44000 thousand petrol stations all over the world. The company operates oil refineries, and their objectives are to convert crude oil to finer oil particles that can be used. The company produces renewable energies. And it does this by developing solar panels that have the capability of transforming sunlight into electric energy (Bruijn et al, 2002). The company has operations in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, and therefore there target market is anybody using automobiles in the countries of their operation. Shell Company has various innovative challenges, and opportunities. The chairman of Royal Dutch Mr. Jorma Olila states that the success of the organization is because of its innovation in technology, market research, customer relations and production. The company invests heavily in research and development, for purposes of developing products that will stimulate the market, and give them an edge over its competitors. The management of Shell realizes that business organizations are under pressure to innovate (Carroll, 1999). This is because of the recession happening in Europe and America, the growth of the Chinese and other developing economies, an increase in the population of the world, advanced technological developments, and changing trends at the international business environment. On this note, shell identifies three opportunities on which it needs to develop innovative ideas. These are, investing heavily in research and development, initiating measures to quickly commercialize their ideas, and looking for ways of effectively working with external partners (Bruijn et al, 2002). The growth of the Chinese economy and of other developing countries presents a challenge to the objectives of Shell Company. This is due to the fact the market conditions in this countries call for low cost products. These markets also insist on the different lines of production. This is a challenge to shell because it will require the organization to revamp its business strategy, so that they can penetrate through these markets. However these markets present a lot of opportunity in relation to energy requirements, which is an essential element for the growth of an economy (Jonker, 2007). It therefore calls for an innovative mind, to penetrate through these markets, and shell has done exactly that. Shell recognizes China as an important market, and center for research and development. To penetrate the market, shell involves the various universities, and institutions of higher learning, in researching on the various energy products that is sufficient for the Chinese market. An example is the relationship between the company, and Qingdao institute of Bioenergy, and Bioprocess technology. The two are working together to develop biofuel energy for the Chinese economy. Advances in technology, and new gas and oil finds which are difficult to extract presents the company with an opportunity to innovate, at the same time it is a challenge. For instance the company projects an increase on the demand of energy products, by the year 2050. To satisfy these demands, the company must adopt an innovative culture, and develop machineries that have the capability of extracting oil and gas from these sources (Bruijn et al, 2002). For instance, the company has identified sites that contain gas in impermeable geological formations. These gas deposits are found in United States of America, and to extract them, it requires it requires innovative drilling techniques and extraction methods. On this note, the company looks for other sources of gas and oil, so that they may extract them, and distribute the products to the market. On this note, the company projects to find new energy sources in China and Australia, and unlock them for purposes of developing energy products (Jordan, 2001). The company does not only involve innovation in the extraction of oil and gas. Technological innovations are also depicted on the products of the company. The company has among its staff talented engineers and scientists whose role is to create and develop petrochemical products, and their related energy products. There other role is to advice the business organization on the impact of various technological innovations. They device strategies that will help the company overcame its technological problems, giving it an edge over its main competitors. Through the hardwork of these engineers, the company developed products such as, Shell Rimula, an heavy duty diesel engine oil (Jonker, 2007). The lubricant has the capability of withstanding unfavorable temperature from the outer space, while performing its function. On this note, it is the culture of the organization, for its engineers to develop products whose main aim is to satisfy the needs of the customers. The company identifies the need of the energy efficiency, the need of minimizing lubrication costs and the various legislations that govern carbon emission as the driving force of their lubricants innovations (Carroll, 1999). On this note, the company invests heavily on lubrication research, and it uses an approximate amount of $ 1.3 billion annually. The company involves its own customers in the research and testing of the lubricants. This makes the company to develop products that are needed in the market, increasing its revenue and profitability. The company does not only focus on technology, but also on business strategies. For instance Shell Company managed to acquire Arrow energy, an Australian energy company. The deal was worth 3.2 billion dollars, and the objective of this venture was to supply liquefied gas to the Asian markets (Jonker, 2007). These innovative tendencies by the company are meant to improve their business activities, and to develop new technologies that will help in opening up new markets for the company (Jordan, 2001). These innovations have an adverse effect on the organization, in relation to the perspective of change. The company advocates for innovation, and a change in my management might try to influence new cultures within the organization (Marcel et al, 2006). They might face resistance in the process of changing the culture of the organization. In case the new management might want to continue with the policy, it will take time before they are oriented with the innovative practices of the company. A change in the management will create inconsistencies, in the innovative tendencies of the company. A company that responds best to a change in management is one which is prepared for such a change (Jonker, 2007). It is better to psychological prepare employees for a change in the management, and establish structures that will mitigate against inconsistencies that might arise from such changes. Inconsistencies will arise if the new management shows some signs and symptoms of inconsistencies to the culture, value and norms of the organization. However, if the new management promotes the values, culture and beliefs of the company, then the employees will continue to develop new ideas that will propel the company to growth. The following are the organizational cultural barrier of innovation at Royal Dutch Shell (Bruijn et al, 2002). The four divisions of the company are independent of one another. They only work together in special circumstances. This is a barrier to innovative practices in the organization, because the divisions of the company have to coordinate together, to identify the various needs of their customers. Another cultural barrier to technology is the bureaucratic channels of decision making. Before any important decision is made, the board of directors has to approve it. They may either reject or approve the idea. Even though the company encourages ideas on its business strategy, its main focus is on technology, and it invests heavily on technology, at the expense of other divisions of the company, such as marketing, distribution and transportation. Despite these barriers to innovation, there are cultural values in the organization that encourages innovation. These values are (Carroll, 1999), The desire to satisfy the customerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s needs. The desire to improve profitability and growth of the company. The desire to capture new markets, and exploration sites. It is possible to address the mentioned barriers to innovation at Shell Company. One of the ways of addressing the problem is to integrate the four divisions of the company, by creating a communication liaison office. The responsibility of this office is to share information on the performance and operations of the four units to various heads of the units under consideration. This will enable the organizations to develop ideas that are convenient, and applicable to the four divisions under consideration. Another method is to increase the number of days that the board of directors should sit, and deliberate on the ideas on offer. This will result to a quicker implementation of an idea, therefore increasing the efficiency of the organization. The company should also invest on other areas of its operations, such as marketing, transport, and distribution. By doing this, the company will not only use technology to develop products, but it will also ensure that the products are effectively distributed, and sold to the market.

Fast food †Obesity Essay

Obesity is an epidemic that is sweeping over the United States today. It’s affecting both adults and children. With the increase in fast food availability and a decrease in the time most Americans have to prepare nutritious meals at home, it’s obvious why more people are eating at fast food restaurants. Obesity is a growing problem in the United States and more and more children are being affected. But do uneducated families have the right to put the blame on fast food restaurants for the health issues they could easily prevent? I believe that we are taking it too far by blaming fast food restaurants for obesity and that it is an individual’s responsibility to take the blame. While R. A. Ames â€Å"The Food Isn’t to Blame† and Richard Daynard â€Å"You Want Fries with That? † use different themes of blaming fast companies and individual decisions to underscore the effects of fast of food on America, the Rahul K. Parikh in â€Å"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Fats Kid† picks up the same theme, he blames advertisements for America’s Obesity. In the article, â€Å"Fast Food Isn’t to Blame? † R. A. Ames states that weight difficulties are the responsibility of the individuals and we should not blame the fast food industry or other biological and environmental causes. Human beings are individuals with the freedom to make their own choices. Nobody forces us to eat anything we do not want to. Choosing to eat fast food is all our own decision, and we put ourselves at risk for obesity. Obesity due to excessive consumption of fast food can only be blamed on our own actions. Fast food chains appear everywhere in today’s world. Home delivery of various foods is more accessible than ever before. These are common excuses when overweight people blame fast food industries for their bodies. Before reading these essays, I already had an opinion about fast food in my mind. I believed that if someone was overweight or obese, that it was no one’s fault but their own. In his essay, however â€Å"You Want Fries with That? † Richard Daynard explained why he believes that today’s fast food industry is largely responsible for the dramatic rise in obesity cases in both children and adults of America. Daynard discussed how the fast food industries played a large role in deceiving the public into buying their food. Daynard said that society needs to find a happy medium when dealing with the fast food industry, whether it be through lawsuits or some other action! Daynard also backed up his claim by using supporting statistics surrounding fast food and obesity in America over the years. Ames’s essay on the other hand used no statistics. He based his entire essay on personal opinion. His frequent use of the word â€Å"I† also made the essay less effective. Overall, Richard Daynard had a much more objective argument about fast food than R. A. Ames. Daynard used specific statistics, and facts about the fast food industry, and he kept himself out of the article for the most part. Daynard was very effective in making me believe his argument. Another essay I have compared R. A. Ames is with Rahul K. Parikh’s â€Å"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Fats Kid† . Both of these essays had strong opinions concerning who is to blame regarding obesity in America. The â€Å"Fast Food Isn’t to Blame† was more persuasive I thought because it placed the blame for the obesity problem on the individual person and what he/she put into their bodies not on the fast food industries. According to R. A. Ames, â€Å"Americans tend to drive to Burger King and order a Double Whopper with Cheese with a King size fries instead of driving to a supermarket and pick up some turkey and whole wheat bread† (326). They are obese because they make a choice to eat fast food themselves, not because fast food chains force them to stop by their restaurants to eat their food. Ames went on to say that instead of people taking responsibility for being obese they are blaming the fast food industry. Ames compared obesity to smoking. He made this comparison because both can be deadly and that in the end â€Å"you still have to put the cigarette in your mouth the same way you put a candy bar. After this Ames said that in the â€Å"land of the free† we are able to make our own decisions but with this freedom we as people have to be responsible for our decisions. Rahul Parikh said in his essay that â€Å"Parents need to take charge of what foods they’re buying and how they’re preparing those foods† (1). This statement is suggesting that instead of blaming fast food companies parents should control their children’s food buying habits. They should limit their television hours where they see all those advertisements that attract them to eat fast foods. Rahul said that companies use superstars, action heroes, cartoons to promote their products in the market that attracts people and mainly children’s. Rahul compared child advertisement to obesity and suggested that today children will see 40,000 advertisements in a year. In this huge number of advertisements, two third of those are for junk and fast food. Ames and Rahul were both arguing that it is our individual choices to eat fast food, so we should not blame companies who provide them. In our society, we are always looking for someone or something to blame for our problems. We seem to want to avoid taking responsibility for our actions and their consequences. Overall obesity has nothing to do with the fast food industry and genetics, but rather the choices. People should be encouraged to take personal responsibility for their actions and realize what they put into their mouths, and that how much exercise they do contributes to their health and well-being. When overweight people admit that they cause their own obesity, they can swiftly move away from being obese and recognize a healthy lifestyle. While in R. A. Ames â€Å"The Food Isn’t to Blame† and Richard Daynard â€Å"You Want Fries with That? † use different themes of blaming fast companies and individual decisions to underscore the effects of fast of food on America, One other hand Rahul K. Parikh â€Å" Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Fats Kid† has same theme has R. A. Ames essay, he blamed advertisements for America’s Obesity. I have discussed the Ame’s essay with my friends and family. Most of them are agreed with the essay but there were also some people who were disagreed. I eat very precisely, before eating anything I check calories and fat of the product I am going to eat.

Example of Oral Presentation

The text in which the author speaks in public to fellow students, colleagues or other interested groups trying to share results of years of experience and research, defining key issues to reach success is called example of oral presentation. Writer’s idea has to be supported by the pieces of evidence and have the essential elements on preparing and organizing a successful oral presentation. Example of oral presentation consists of several stages which include preparation and planning, structuring of the speech and necessary language, forming visuals in order to make the best use of them, discussing the approaches of establish and maintain a relationship with the audience, dealing with body language, and providing comments on using the voice and correct pronunciation. Good morning everyone, I would like to start with introducing myself. I am an international student from China who is currently studying at the University of Michigan. Five years ago, I came to the United States and experienced culture shock

The Stages of Pregnancy and Nutrition during Your...

Do you wish to have your first baby early and feel the unique experience of motherhood? Are you making plans to get conceived in the right period of time with certain steps? If your answers to these questions are â€Å"sure, why not?† then you need to know about the stages of your pregnancy as soon as you get the pregnancy test with positive results. In fact, pregnancy is a big event in every woman’s life and a very exciting experience for the first time. Some women feel confident that they were pregnant at the time of conception and others don’t believe until they perform a test after missed periods which are an early sign of the chances of getting conceived. You feel the signs and changes in the body that lets you know about the reasons for†¦show more content†¦After 4th week of pregnancy, your body undergoes excellent changes like: symptoms, body weight, swollen ankles and changes in eating habits, and the same continue till the 8th week of pregnancy. We will know in detail from 5th week with some useful points that proves helpful to you. It is thrilling to have changes in your body and with your baby every week based upon the developmental changes which are taking place during pregnancy. Let us know from the 5th week of the pregnancy stage. Foods to be taken from 5th to 8th week of pregnancy A safe and healthy diet is recommended for 5th to 8th week of pregnancy. Include fresh fruits, mixed grain, bread, boiled potatoes and pasta. Foods that are rich in protein like eggs, chicken, beans, pulses, lentils and soya nuggets are advices to take. In case of dairy products, foods such as milk, cottage cheese, curd and yoghurt is recommended. Even healthy snacks are also recommended during this time with ten glasses of water in a day. You can try healthy drinks like coconut water; skimmed milk and banana shake which is very good for the health of mother and baby. If you are feeling to have healthy snack then try Upma. 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