Essay --

This is the story of one company, but two businesses, trying to do business in china, a country which can be actually difficult even in the best of times. It is even more difficult when those two businesses argon in conflict with each other.Much has been made of Googles entry to and exit from the China market because of Chinese hacking and censorship. Other media companies, such as the New York Times, have also had issues with Chinese censors. But few companies are facing the dilemma that is currently facing Bloomberg LP, which recently became the worlds largest distributor of financial news and data (Elkind, 2013). This dilemma is placing its large money-making business perspective against its smaller media side, forcing them in some ways to fight head-to-head. And while the winner of this fight may be determined by where the money is, how the company chooses to cover up this sensitive situation will speak volumes about(predicate) both its ethical and business priorities.The b usiness side consists of Bloombergs financial data unit, which includes its famous data terminal. That terminal is a part of investment offices around the world and responsible for 85 percent of the companys $8.3 billion in annual tax (Elkind, 2013). The media side consists of Bloomberg News and its 2,400 journalists, which includes its worldwide cable television channel, web page and other outlets such as Bloomberg Business Week. This part of Bloomberg brings in just 4 percent of the companys revenue (Jager, 2013).This push-and-pull between the news and business sides of Bloombergs China operations dates back to 2012, when Bloomberg News published a serial publication of stories about the personal wealth of Chinas new president Xi Jinping and his family (Xi Jinping Millionaire... ...and not journalism. It can choose to change its journalism beat in order to preserve its financial data business model. Evidence of this shift is already taking place. The company recently laid off a bout 40 news staffers, and executives say Bloomberg will shift its focus away from certain areas, including its investigative unit. We must have the courage to say no to certain areas of coverage in order to have enough firepower in areas we want to own, Winkler said in a memo to his staff (Chozick, 2013).It is also my opinion that this is a wise public life of action. While political conditions in China are far from ideal, it is possible those conditions will change in China over the course of years. Bloomberg is not compromising the ethics of its core business, and will leave itself in a position to quickly take advantage of any loosening of Chinas censorship policies.

An Ounce Of Cure :: essays research papers

As the old saying goes, an ounce of cure is worth a pound of prevention. I believe that this is what the author thought of when choosing the agnomen for this tommyrot. There is a lot of wisdom found in these words that is usually only realized after the fact. This reminds me of another old saying that I think also applies to this allegory Hindsight is twenty-twenty. How many times have we thought, if only I knew then what I know now? Would we have made the self uniform(prenominal) choices? This question is difficult to answer since we pecknot change the past.This story is around a teenage girl, whose first heartbreak leads to some rather unfortunate events. She tells us around her first love and her first kiss. Two months, and a few amatory stages later, he dropped her for a girl who was performing opposite him in a discipline play. Watching him with the other girl was more than she could bear and the night she went to see the play was the beginning of months of real, if mo re or less self-inflicted, misery for her. While baby-sitting mavin and only(a) night, she made the fatal mistake of getting drunk. She then calls her best friend, who shows up with another girl and several boys, to help her with her situation. Before she was able to cover up the ill-fated events, the couple returned home unexpectedly. She then had to explain what happened to her mother. Her mother then buys a bottle of Scotch and goes to see the couple to discuss her daughters actions. She was forbidden to date again until she turned sixteen and she had to pay for the bottle out of her baby-sitting money. Her reputation suffered greatly until the fall, when another girl did something even more disgraceful and people forgot about her. In the end, she discovered that she was completely over the boy and she learned a valuable lesson about how actions have consequences.I found this story very enjoyable to read. I mat that the story was well written and conveyed a realistic insight into what some teenage girls experience. I, having once been a teenager, smoke relate to the girl in the story. Although I didnt get drunk, I still recall my first love and the crushing heartache I felt when he broke up with me. People deal with rejection and disappointment in different ways, and sometimes we can use poor judgment.An Ounce Of Cure essays interrogation papers As the old saying goes, an ounce of cure is worth a pound of prevention. I believe that this is what the author thought of when choosing the human action for this story. There is a lot of wisdom found in these words that is usually only realized after the fact. This reminds me of another old saying that I think also applies to this story Hindsight is twenty-twenty. How many times have we thought, if only I knew then what I know now? Would we have made the same choices? This question is difficult to answer since we cannot change the past.This story is about a teenage girl, whose first heartbreak leads to some rather unfortunate events. She tells us about her first love and her first kiss. Two months, and a few amatory stages later, he dropped her for a girl who was performing opposite him in a school day play. Watching him with the other girl was more than she could bear and the night she went to see the play was the beginning of months of real, if more or less self-inflicted, misery for her. While baby-sitting one night, she made the fatal mistake of getting drunk. She then calls her best friend, who shows up with another girl and several boys, to help her with her situation. Before she was able to cover up the ill-fated events, the couple returned home unexpectedly. She then had to explain what happened to her mother. Her mother then buys a bottle of Scotch and goes to see the couple to discuss her daughters actions. She was forbidden to date again until she turned sixteen and she had to pay for the bottle out of her baby-sitting money. Her reputation suffered greatly until the f all, when another girl did something even more ignominious and people forgot about her. In the end, she discovered that she was completely over the boy and she learned a valuable lesson about how actions have consequences.I found this story very enjoyable to read. I felt that the story was well written and conveyed a realistic insight into what some teenage girls experience. I, having once been a teenager, can relate to the girl in the story. Although I didnt get drunk, I still recall my first love and the crushing heartache I felt when he broke up with me. People deal with rejection and disappointment in different ways, and sometimes we can use poor judgment.

Benedict Arnold Essay -- essays research papers

&8220The Dark Eagle refers to the hero of Saratoga, benedict Arnold, who went from highly regarded hero, to the most hated world in the Colonies in a matter of days. In the book Benedict Arnold The Dark Eagle, Brian Richard Boylan, analyzes the historical figure not critically, but objectively. He examines the forces that possibly could have driven Benedict Arnold to turn his back on the country that he fought for so dearly. Boylan also points out that the man who Arnold did most of his negotiations with, major(ip) General John Andr, was strikingly similar to Arnold, and that the two men were brought together under nonpareil woman, Miss Peggy Shippen. Throughout this book, Boylan suggests that the contemplateer should view Arnold without the general stereotype of him being a traitor. That way you can see the man Benedict Arnold truly was, and read of the reasons that he lost his love for the Colonial army, and its government. The betrothal of Saratoga was a major troth in the American Revolution it helped persuade the French into sign a Treaty with the United States that helped turn the tides on the British. Major General Horatio Gates was the commander of the Army of the North. His English counterpart was General John Burgoyne. The open-field battle style consider able-bodied favored the British troops of Burgoyne. The American&8217s had their backs against the wall they were almost out of options, until their savior literally rode in on horseback. This man was General Benedict Arnold. He rode in from Freeman&8217s Farm where Gates, Arnold&8217s superior, had taken his authority away because of Arnold&8217s &8220insubordination. Arnold thought nothing of Major Gates&8217orders to stay at Freeman&8217s Farm and rode off with no sign of slowing. &8220 No Man will keep me in my bivouac this day Arnold said. Unlike Gates, Benedict Arnold liked to lead and command his men on the front lines. Arnold personally led the charge on Breymann&8217s redoubt during the Battle of Saratoga, how incessantly Arnold was wounded during the final assault in his left knee. While the American troops surrounded and captured Breymann&8217s forces, Arnold laid in pain on the battlefield. Gates took the credit for the v... ...s suffering came to an end. He was buried in the crypt of St. Mary&8217s in Battersea.Benedict Arnold was considered a military genius he was able to bring his troops from near defeat to victory. He was highly regarded not only by his cronies but also was highly respected by his adversaries. Arnold was credibly the only man to be respected by both the British and Americans prior to 1779. Benedict Arnold was one of the best Generals that had served in the American Army. But by 1779 and 1780 he was seen as the most controversial figure in the Colonies. Today, some mint view Arnold as one of the most diabolical men to ever live others view him as a generally good man that just took one wrong turn that tainted his whole career. The maj ority of the people in the U.S view him as a traitor of the American public and of their trust. If the British had won the war he would be looked down upon with even to a greater extent contempt than he is today. However, if Benedict Arnold had died, in his prime, on the battlefield of Saratoga, he would be viewed much differently all over the world, possibly as the superior general that even lived.

Public Schools in America :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays Education

Public Schools in AmericaTo respond to the statement do by Kozol regarding the nature of open school in America, one must consider the question of what exactly education is for in this country what is its purpose. I rely that education is used to produce what Kozol refers to as good citizens defeated, unprovocative mess that will fill the necessary jobs, pay the necessary taxes, and perform all the early(a) duties put forth by the government such as voting and jury duty. This is why the situation in Americas public schools has not changed since the time Kozol wrote The nighttime Is Dark..., and why things will probably not change without a revolution within the public school system. For my part, I do not think that schools atomic number 18 the lines for children to learn morals and ethics. I believe that those are things someone must learn on their own. The method of authority, described by Charles Peirce in his writings, has no place in the formation of anyones beliefs. Beli efs are totally subjective--that is, there are no right, or wrong beliefs to hold. Therefore, why should the teaching of morals and ethics, which fall into the category of beliefs, be condoned. According to Kozol, the first act of an ethical child... might rise be to start the demolition of a manifestly anti-ethical structure like a public school, and no institution goes about the conscious task of subsidizing its own demolition. If public schools are inherently unethical, why would we insufficiency them teaching Americas children ethics? The answer, of course, is that we would not want them to. If, for arguments sake, the schools were ethical, then teaching ethics to children would not result in its own demolition, just a change in how it teaches. Obviously, though, to change the way the public schools teach, the people in power, who currently run the schools, must be removed. They are the ones who will not subsidize their own demolition. One of the problems with Americas public school system, as well as democracy, is human nature. Once someone is in a position of power, they generally do not want to leave, even if their act of staying is detrimental to the scheme they are involved in. The problem of the lack of morals and ethics in this country is a large one, however, and is continually growing. It is understandable that some, or maybe a majority of the people, look at the state of the country, and think that reform of the public schools is the answer.

Key Events in the Civil Rights Movement Essay -- Civil Rights Equality

The courteous Rights Movement started with The capital of Alabama Bus Boycott. The Boycott officially started on December 1, 1955. Rosa pose was an Educated women and she attended the laboratory school at Alabama State College. Even with that kind of education she decided to be comply a seamstress because of the incident that she could not find a job to suit her skills.Rosa pose was arrested December 1955. Rosa Parks Entered a transport with three other blacks and sit on the fifth row. The fifth row was the first row the black could occupy. After a few stops later the rows in front of them where alter with whites. According to the law at the time blacks and whites could not occupy the same row. There had been one white man left with out a seat. The bus driver had told the four to move so the white man had a place to sit. The other three that was with Rosa Parks had moved. Rosa Parks thus far did not. She refused and was arrested.E.D. Nixon post bond for Rosa Parks. He told her that with her permission they could break segregation from buses with her case. Jo Ann Robinson made flyers and distributed them with her students. The flyers urged people to stay off the buses on Monday the day Rosa Parks case was due. Martin Luther King, Jr. a minister position that if they could 60 percent of the blacks to stay off the buses the boycott would be a success.Martin Luther King Jr. thought he saw a miracle when he saw bus after bus pass his house with no blacks in them. That night they had called a shock him and other ministers and blacks of the community which they called there self (MIA) Montgomery Improvement Association. They elected King the president of the group. They had a decision to make whether or not to stick with boycott or not. Then E.D. Nixon rose to speak ?Whats the matter with you people? Here you give up been living off the sweat of these washerwomen all these years and you have never done anything for them. Now you have a chance to pay the m back, and youre too damn sc ard to stand on your feet and be counted The time has come when you men is going to have to learn to be grown men or scared boys.?The MIA had then decided to let the people vote on whether or not to let the boycott continue or not. They held a mass meeting and it was obvious to see that they decided to continue with the boycott. When the boycott began no one had expected for it to ... ...a return to Montgomery, where the civil rights movement had started ten years earlier with the Montgomery Bus Boycott. A few months later, blacks had reason to rejoice again. It was in truth a day for celebration. On August 6, 1965, President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law. By 1969, 61% of voting-age blacks in America were registered to vote, compared to 23% in 1964. The Selma to Montgomery march clearly showed both how far American blacks had come and how far they still had to go. Ten years ago blacks could barley do anything and now they are equally t reated how they are suppose to be. During the movement mainly great people died. The sacrifices they made help make America what it is today. The movement was from 1955-1965, those years where around of the hardest years for America. We overcome our differences and now everyone is equal. This report was based on The Civil Rights Movement.Websiteshttp//www.mecca.org/crights/cyber.htmlhttp//www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/http//www.infoplease.com/spot/civilrightstimeline1.htmlBooksVoices of Freedom An Oral History of the Civil Rights MovementThe Origins of the Civil Rights Movement

Key Events in the Civil Rights Movement Essay -- Civil Rights Equality

The Civil Rights Movement started with The Montgomery Bus Boycott. The Boycott officially started on December 1, 1955. genus Rosa Parks was an Educated women and she attended the lab school at Alabama State College. Even with that kind of education she decided to become a seamstress because of the fact that she could not find a job to suit her skills.Rosa Parks was arrested December 1955. Rosa Parks Entered a bus with three other blacks and sat on the fifth part row. The fifth row was the first row the black could occupy. After a few stops later the rows in front of them where filled with whites. According to the law at the time blacks and whites could not occupy the same row. There had been one white man left with out a seat. The bus driver had told the four to scratch so the white man had a place to sit. The other three that was with Rosa Parks had moved. Rosa Parks however did not. She refused and was arrested.E.D. Nixon post bond for Rosa Parks. He told her that with her permis sion they could break segregation from buses with her case. Jo Ann Robinson made flyers and distributed them with her students. The flyers urged people to stay off the buses on Monday the day Rosa Parks case was due. Martin Luther King, Jr. a minister thought that if they could 60 percent of the blacks to stay off the buses the boycott would be a success.Martin Luther King Jr. thought he saw a miracle when he saw bus after bus pass his house with no blacks in them. That night they had called a meeting him and other ministers and blacks of the community which they called there self (MIA) Montgomery Improvement Association. They elected King the president of the group. They had a decision to make whether or not to continue with boycott or not. so E.D. Nixon rose to speak ?Whats the matter with you people? Here you throw been living off the sweat of these washerwomen all these years and you have never done anything for them. promptly you have a chance to pay them back, and your e too damn sc ared to stand on your feet and be counted The time has come when you men is going to have to learn to be grown men or scared boys.?The MIA had then decided to allow the people vote on whether or not to let the boycott continue or not. They held a mass meeting and it was obvious to see that they decided to continue with the boycott. When the boycott began no one had expected for it to ... ...a final payment to Montgomery, where the civil rights movement had started ten years earlier with the Montgomery Bus Boycott. A few months later, blacks had reason to rejoice again. It was truly a day for celebration. On August 6, 1965, President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law. By 1969, 61% of voting-age blacks in America were registered to vote, compared to 23% in 1964. The Selma to Montgomery march clearly showed two how far American blacks had come and how far they still had to go. Ten years ago blacks could barley do anything and today they are equally treate d how they are suppose to be. During the movement mainly great people died. The sacrifices they made help make America what it is today. The movement was from 1955-1965, those years where some of the hardest years for America. We overcome our differences and now everyone is equal. This report was based on The Civil Rights Movement.Websiteshttp//www.mecca.org/crights/cyber.htmlhttp//www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/http//www.infoplease.com/spot/civilrightstimeline1.htmlBooksVoices of Freedom An Oral History of the Civil Rights MovementThe Origins of the Civil Rights Movement

Eastman kodak Essay

Evaluating the financial condition of Eastman Kodak can be troublesome. Per my evaluation of their quarterly report which was launch at http//www. kodak. com, some red flags have appe ared that the auditors should be sensitive of. These stand out and should have special focus on. This quarterly report is based on the companies business activities as well as their subsidiary companies between the reporting periods of January 1, through December 31, 2011. It has been speculated that some of the previous reports have not been dealing on actual performance data basis (Avery, 2012).While many believe this to be impossible and untrue, however, there seems to be that there were no exceptions reported or noticed on prior reports. Once again, while analyzing this report there seems to be correspondence in regards to data exclusion from the outsourced operations and data for rent facilities were indicated. The cash f misfortunate analysis of Kodak has always been cause for concern. The Kod ak companies the past several years have had many issues as seem by the financial statements.The native cash settles are negative indicating that this order has a financial problem (Arnold, 2012). Items such as the operating costs, investing, and the use of the cash and its outflow when it has cash are what we consider internal cash flows. Kodak company is aimed its focus on funding numerous functions and operations. This funding was to make sure that the IP licensing strategy would a hit. For this to be applicable, the company would have to sell its assets. Thus in order to be successful inthe IP portfolio strategy EASTKOD 3 Eastman Kodak set there sites aimed at getting funds of over $200 million and then to have licensing transactions to generate between 250 and $350 million dollars (Anderson, 2012). Some of the red flags that they should be aware of can be economic factors, earning problems, excessive debt. With these factors in mind it is clearly visible that Kodak focused o n clearing their work on the idea of sustainability that they had ready in process within the 2011 fiscal year.For Kodak to stay competitive they had to initiate new programs to generate business in the areas in which they operate. These programs would boost business. After the 2011 quarterly report, Kodak was more sustainable and looked to prosper and take advantage of their customers economic, environmental, and social performance in order to maintain and attain a fat , sustainable, and digital company (Anderson, 2011). With these red flags mentioned, Kodak and its position economically, either would attract or not attract investors.This is due to the fact that the economic factors such as the mesh of an organization give an idea of what its profits, and the shareholders value to be. The public willingness to invest and to get companies to fall in line with them, Eastman Kodak is not an attractive company. This is true due to its low profits the company makes based on its last quarterly report. Kodaks last quarterly report and its last 3 previous years indicate that the company if financially falling.During the audit procedure they should be alerted that Eastman Kodak has adjusted its financial statements making its return on capital and its economic stability unreliable. Eastman Kodaks free cash flow is well below par. Their strategy has failed, and this will not attract new investors. The financial statement show that the cash flow has reduced and this is partly contributed to the board and the lack there of on their fiduciary duties.

Managing diverse workforce Essay

Workforce salmagundi includes the obvious differences we see when we look around race, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, age, religion and ethnicity. alone its also the less obvious traits, the subtle differences that often register with us unconsciously, such as socioeconomic status, marital status, educational background, language, accent and appearance. We only have something that bears us unique, some special talent or ability that we bring to the table that diametricaliates us from our colleagues. Thats innovation at its best.Sourcing and managing people from a respective(a) background have become a critical part of an employment and management strategy. Workers who vary in age, gender, ability, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background or culture, ethnicity and language, make a positive contribution to an organizations workforce theyre an asset to organization culture and the bottom line as companies and managers ar realizing every daytime that passes. There is a common belief that a diverse workforce brings innovative and creative solutions to an organization from outside the box.An stiff corporate diversity programme is a powerful way to gain a competitive advantage and stand apart from competition. It pottyt be overstated that diverse workforce brings real bottom-line value to any organization. Diverse workforce allows organizations to break barriers, attract new customers and build customer-base and help form strategic alliances with partners across the globe by having better knowledge of the target markets and establishing better communication capabilities and having ability to communicate in a variety of languages including understanding of heathen differences.Just over half of the employers polled in Canada said they anticipate a shortage of quali? ed workers in the next ? ve years and approximately 67% reckon they currently have a more diverse workforce than 5 years ago. These forward-thinking companies atomic number 18 not only placing an emphasis on making a positive contribution to their workforce but on their bottom line. SourceRandstad Despite Workforce diversity is becoming common phenomenon across Canada, managers of today are increasingly liner the challenges of handling a diverse workforce and being sensitive to this diversity (Tjosvold, 1985).The rationale behind this research is to understand challenges organizations are facing as a result of managing diverse workforce. Additionally the research would try to look into various ways managers can overcome these challenges and make managing diverse workforce a real success. The concept of managing diversity originated in America following the growing need to manage cross- heathen and individual differences in an increasingly diverse demographic workforce (Cox & Blake, 1991).In Canada, immigration and large numbers of women entering the workforce promoted diversity management efforts since the 1990s, although the workplace composition differs from that in the USA (Miller & A. Rowney, 1999). Experts (Fernandez, 1993 Rice, 1994 Carnevale and Stone, 1994) register that business owners and managers who hope to create and manage an effective, harmonious multi pagan workforce should remember the importance of the following Setting a good example This elemental tool can be particularly valuable for small business owners who hope to establish a healthy environment for people of different ethnic backgrounds.This is because they are generally able to wield significant control over the business basic outlook and atmosphere. The leaders must exhibit strong shipment to addressing issues like myths, stereotypes, and real cultural differences, as well as organizational barriers that interfere with the full contribution of all employees. Communicate in Writing system policies that explicitly forbid prejudice and discriminatory behavior should be included in employee manual, mission statement and other written communications . Diversity should be a super-ordinate goal instead of a goal assigned to individual group.Training Programs Awareness and skill building training programs provides information on cultural norms of different groups and how they may affect work behavior. New employee orientation programs are ideal for introducing workers to organizations expectation regarding treatment of fellow workers irrespective of their cultural or ethnic background. Recognize individual differences There are number of dimensions around human relationships. These include but not limited to acceptance of power equality, rely for orderliness and structure the need to belong to a wider group etc.Difference should not be assumed to be cultural. Other sources are personality, expertness or competence ( Goffee, 1997). Actively seek input from Minority workers Seeking opinions of minority groups and their involvement on important matters is in force(p) not only because of the contributions they can make but also as it sends a message that they are valued by the organization. Revamp pay system An organizations performance appraisal and reward system should encourage and reinforce effective diversity management.Flexible Work environment Cox (1994) indicated that flexible work environment could be highly beneficial for and to people of non-traditional cultural background because their approaches to problems are more likely to be different from past norms. Continuous Monitoring Experts recommend that business owners and managers establish and hold back systems and routines that can continually monitor the organizations policies and practices to reckon that it continues to be a good environment for all employees.Periodic surveys should be conducted by management to understand employees needs (Jorgensen, 1993). Impact of Diversity on Organizational Culture Hill and Jones defined organizational culture as those set of norms, values, and stance that defined the way the employees of an organization behaved and interacted with each other and with others outside their organization (Hill and Jones, 2001). Organizational culture has been seen as instrumental in impacting individual employees in an organization.A positive organizational culture promotes diversity by taking advantage of diverse talent pool as well as intellectual jacket whereas a negative organizational culture will stifle and discriminate against diversity and thus affect the work environment and consequently the employee productivity (Chatman and Spataro, 2005). doubting Thomas identified that organizational culture is responsible for the systematic and planned way in which a diverse workforce is managed in an organization and their skill sets are put to use for the benefit of the business (Thomas, 1992).With dramatic adoption of diversity as a value-add across number of organizations, its become important to make sure organizational culture promotes workplace diversity. It means extensively analyzing a organiza tions current culture and changing those parts that limit cultural diversity. Also, it means recruiting new employees for the skills they can bring to the organization rather than their cultural homogeneity.Lastly, it means working with a management team to help them understand that cultural diversity is a business issue, and their own careers will benefit from enabling their employees to reach their full potential (Managing Diversity, 1999). Diversity management contains three (3) components 1. come to Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action programs direct attention to laws that guide recruitment and promotion. 2. Valuing differences centers on interpersonal qualities that shape managements relationships with their employees.3. Managing diversity focuses on the diverse quality of employees work-life needs such as childcare, family leave, and flexible holiday schedules. It requires setting policies and procedures that empowers managers to meet employees needs (Galagan, 1999 Jenn er, 1994 Wilkinson, 1999). Managing diversity is managing human imagery needs, says Ben Harrison. ( Jenner, 1994). Human resource personnel alone cant do the work of managing diversity.All levels of managers should implement programs designed to heighten awareness of cultural differences, foster appreciation for these differences, and signalize the commonalties among the various ethnic groups. Managing diversity is an effort that will involve all members of the organization In order to reap the fruits of diversity. The process should start by including managing diversity into the overall strategy, this will promote cultural synergy and effectively integrating the better elements associated with quaternary cultures.This tactic will help in aiding of identifying and implementing of new practices in companies with diverse units. Steps to be taken to begin managing diversity are 1. Assess your organizations needs by conducting an organizational audit to rig which diversity problems exist. The audit should consist of surveys, interviews, focus groups, or a combination of these. 2. One should learn all s(he) can by exposing him/herself to different types of people, for this can turn off Stereotyping. 3. Strengthen top managementscommitment level. White males control the resources and feel most of the fear therefore, they should be informed of the importance of their involvement, for this can pull down if not eliminate their fear. 4. Develop new selection criteria that include personality characteristics. Promote cultural synergy by effectively integrating the better elements associated with multiple cultures. 5. Invest in communication training to reduce prejudice and develop 6. Choose solutions that balance strategy to achieve the organizations goals. 7.Build diversity into your leadership team You must plan for the development and promotion of your employees. 8. Look for ways to adjust your organization to your workers. This means the organizations culture s hould be employee oriented. Instituting flexible management systems to accommodate diverse workers can do this. This includes job sharing, flextime, and separate reward and benefit systems. (Managing Diversity, 1999,Galagan, 1999Nelton, 2000) Conclusion At the end of the day appreciating diversity in people means recognizing, accepting, and supporting their differences.In addition, properly managing diversity means creating an environment that takes advantage of the different characteristics of everyone, which is in the best wager of the organization and the employee. The concept of managing diversity was developed as a result of the changing demographics of workforces, imperfections of Affirmative Action programs, and discrimination laws. Managing diversity involves consumption of all program and resources to building systems and a culture that unite different people in a common pursuit without undermining their diversity.It differs from solely using from Affirmative Action progra ms or other of its kind, because it creates an environment where all individuals can contribute to their maximum potential. Attaining support from top management is the most important implementing step in the process, which is necessary to ensure success. Additionally, it reduces the fears of the dominant group. Through the use of all valuing diversity, managing diversity and affirmative action companies create a qualified, diverse work force that appropriately reflects the demographics of its communities.

Evolution of Religious Conformity Essay

Throughout American history, conformity has been used as a tool of deception to rob Americans of their personal identity and freedom. From as early as European colonization in America to now, people have been forced to conform to the beliefs of mainstream society. It started with the Native Americans conforming to European culture, prudes create religion based societies, and the formation of antebellum America. Americans, now having complete freedom to do as we wish, are still pressured to pursue the American Dream, causing the American people to conform. The Europeans arrived in America in 1620 bringing along every religious belief and tradition they origin eithery had. The Native Americans had no choice hardly to soon follow suit and face the destruction of life as they knew it. The Indians were forced to conform as seen in the age of Manifest Destiny that took butt in the 1840s, killing mevery Indians and making others to convert to Christianity. By the 20th century, Native Am ericans were suffering from the effect of forced assimilation, as shown in Tonto and The Lone Ranger.The Puritan society used the Bible as their religious dogma. They conformed to Christianity and therefore tried to be perfect according to biblical standards, although by nature every person sins. in conclusion the religious views of the Puritans spread among Americans and were used as justification to form antebellum America between the 17th and 19th century. Americans started to believe that since we are all slaves to God, it was justified to have African slaves, which were in turn slaves to their masters. Throughout this time Christianity was imposed upon slaves because it was an inevitable factor of American culture. Although slaves could not read the bible, they were able to solicit with their masters and expected to live as people of faith as seen in Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglas, He would read his hymn, and nod at me to commence, (Douglass 104). Slaveholders co mbine their slaves into their daily worshiping, making it the norm for Slaves to worship God.In America today we have every right to worship who we want, choose our political alliances, and disobey any commandment from the bible, often without any consequence. The transcendentalism movement has made it easier for us to be who we really want to be. Waldo Emerson says in his Self Reliance essay It may be safely trusted as proportionate and of good issues, so it be faithfully imparted, but God will not have his land made manifest by cowards, (Emerson).Emerson uses God in a different way, saying that God created us so we could be different and do extraordinary things. But the pressure to live as the perfect American still exist, meaning the expectation for you to be religious. Religion has been used since the founding of America to nab people to conform to the beliefs of the majority of the people. It has been the justification for many heinous acts against mankind like slavery and war. Native Americans were forced to adopt the European culture including religion. Eventually there was an entire society based upon religion, soon justifying antebellum America.

Samsung Electronics Case

he Samsung Electronics Company has bewilder the largest conglomerate in South Korea everyplace the past decade. Net sales of the Samsung Group totaled $135 billion in 2004 and has 337 overseas operations in 58 countries. Electronic, finance, and trade and services atomic number 18 the triplet core sectors within the Samsung Group. Semiconductor products are classified into two different categories of chips, which are memory and logic. The net value of Samsung experienced rapid yield from 2000 to 2004, growing from $ 5. 5 billion to $12. 6 billion.We will use Porters five forces to analyze the industry structure and performance which will do gauge Samsungs growth against its competitors. Entry into the semiconductor industry nooky be very costly and difficult because of high barriers to entry. These barriers include, economies of scale, high entry costs, and the obstacle in obtaining industry knowledge. In addition, firms like Samsung drive home complete a strong reputation for quality and reliable products which serve as powerful barriers to bare-ass firms hoping to enter the industry.The decreased chance of new entrants indicates a less competitive and more profitable industry. There are many buyers within the semiconductor industry, each(prenominal) controlling a relatively small contend of the market. Samsung has a huge range of products they produce and can afford to do so at a low cost. Since the buyers control the industry and what is produced they have a significant amount of bargaining power. Furthermore, even though the amount of producers in the industry is fairly low, they can many of the same products forcing them to compete on price.Samsung has a little above medium bargaining power with its suppliers. The semiconductor industry faces powerful suppliers but because big memory is difficult and costly to identify, and could potentially destroy the entire value of Samsungs product, it is very important for Samsung to establish a strong relationship with its suppliers. In doing so, Samsung usually pays a 1% price premium to its suppliers to ensure quality giving suppliers increased profit and more bargaining power in the industry.However, Samsung consumes a large tawdriness of sales for its suppliers and can still earn a 5% discount because of this large volume and this discount can offset that 1% price premium. In conclusion, Samsung has a little above medium bargaining power over its supplier. Substitutes in the conductor industry are high for three reasons. First, products in the semiconductor industry are highly standardized. Secondly, other major companies in this industry have the ability to produce a large volume of similar products at average costs.Thirdly, there is the threat of new companies from China. However, these companies from China lack the technology to make high quality and low cost products. Therefore, at this point, Samsung does not need to worry about substitutes from Chinese firms. The semic onductor industry experiences fierce rivalry between the firms. Similar to substitutes, there are six important rivals within the industry. Also, even though the Chinese companies are young/inexperienced, they are becoming a potential rival.No troupe has the absolute leading market share or absolute technology to break other major companies within the industry. Even though Chinese companies are inexperienced, these companies are having little or no trouble raising money from local government and they are willing to sacrifice profit in order to fight for market share. Over time, Samsung has established a strong competitive position relative to other firms in the semiconductor industry. Samsungs emphasis on fast and efficient work has let them complete projects faster than other firms, giving them a competitive edge.An fount of this occurred in the mid 1980s when Samsung was able to complete their first large manufacturing facility, a task that was predicted to take 18 months, in ju st 6 months by working around the clock. Samsung also has a strength in their location, with Samsungs main(prenominal) R&D facility and all its fab lines located at a single site they are able to save an estimated 12% on fab construction costs. This advantage of location also allows their engineers to work closely together to apace solve design and process engineering problems together, furthering their speed and aptitude advantage over their competitors.Samsung has also done a great job of identifying and seizing opportunities before their competitors, and taking risks that other firms may be unwilling to take. An example of this occurred in 1992 when Samsung decided to invest $1 Billion in increasing the size of the wafers used to cut the DRM chips to eight inches. This investment paid off and gave Samsung a distinct cost advantage that allowed them to gain the number one market share in the DRAM industry for 13 years. Samsung also identified and seized he opportunity to gain high profits through product differentiation by customizing and catering to niche markets, offering over 1,200 different variations of DRAM products. In order to understand the internal Environment of the company. VRIO framework will be used to analyse the internal environment and to help further understand the strategic position in the industry. Relatively low power of suppliers and large action factories allow Samsung to keep their cost low. Their low cost of output will change them to enter into a price war with any company threatening to enter the market.They have the ability to lower their price to the point where it will become too costly for any other company to enter the market will deter additional entrants. Their low cost production ability also allows them to increase revenues and reinvest more money back into R&D. Additionally, having all of their engineers on site allowed for quicker design times and cut 12% of construction deceitfulness costs. However, rarity is no t really an issue within the industry. There are multiple companies all with similar technology.Once Samsung can keep the low cost production system and reinvest to their R&D, they could achieve sustainable comp etitive advantage in the industry. Most customers are willing to pay a higher value for their products because they perceive Samsung to have better performance and superior design, quality, and service. The brand loyalty, brand reputation and quality(reliable product) are costly for the competitors to acquire or develop. The competitors also face a cost blemish in cost structures since Samsung has an outstanding low cost production system.Moreover, Samsungs major competitors do not have the cutting edge technology to quickly overpass the quality of Samsungs product. It would be difficult and costly for their competitors to imitate their technology. Samsung does a fairly good job exploiting their capabilities because of them building brand loyalty and a high quality product. With all of those advantages it becomes difficult for their competitors to capture Samsungs market share. Finally, Samsung invested heavily in its employees more than any other competitor allowing them to focus on innovation and productivity (Include HR policies).Answer to question 1. Samsung employees a hybrid model of business level strategy which consists of cost leadership advantage and product differentiation. Samsungs operating cost is $8. 90 per unit and it is well below the industry average $10. 3975 per unit. As of year 2003, samsung offers over 1200 different products. With a proper marketing strategy, Samsung built a high reputation and good brand image for its products allowing them to charge a premium price on most of its products. Answer to interrogative mood 2 Samsung has implemented their business strategy very well.They were able to become not only the industry cost leader but obtain a large degree of product differentiation. Above, we conducted a VRIO analysis o f Samsung and identified their competitive advantages. However, the advantages are only temporary because they are not rare and any company can imitate them by spending a large amount of capital. Until this point though, all of the competitive advantages that Samsung has created have created positive economic profit. These profits can be realized in the large growth in the company from 2000 to 2004.Recommendations Our recommendations are that Samsung continue to use their additional revenue from their low cost of production and higher margin to invest in R&D. This will ensure that Samsung has the best product on the market and continue to lower their production costs. By doing this, they will continue to make it costlier for new firms to enter the market. Investing into R&D is extremely costly/ high risk and could lead to failure if Samsung begins place in the wrong type of products. However, if done properly, this investment can cement Samsung as the market leader and ensure high profitability for the future.

Student name Chiu Man HeiA number

Worldwide Contractors Interoffice memorandum Date To Subject August 28, 2014 Jason Corp., aged(a) Development Officer Marcia Murphy, Office Manager My New Assignment Thankful for your letter I smoke go to Japan to work, I feel truly excited but there are a lot of aspects to worry about. Next, I willing tell you frankly. And thank you gave me good advice and experience, which Is in truth helpful for me. When I sock I assigned to the Japanese attach to the time, Im really excited, reverse, because I never thought I could be assigned to here.In the others, I did not hindrance long in this country, for me, it would make me feel my work environment is actually unfamiliar, so I afraid cannot fork out a good work ability. And I know that the company has been very hope to develop and expand the market in Asia. Although this is a very long-term plan, but I know company reuse me, this trip will take me to complete the mission. Although this will give me a lot of pressure, I will try hard to complete. I will deal with the details of each work, contract regulations and I will work to address the difficulties. I hope we can give a better using and profits for the company.This time, allocation countries is Japan, of course, I am most worried about the language barrier problem is, I know if I want to have a better development for the company, I have to learn Japanese, Im going to work in the rest of the time. , to learn Japanese. Also, thankful taught me to understand the communication can be solved with a smiles, this is a very good way. Also, I will learn listening skills. Also, I would learn the local culture, because I know that Japanese culture Is very rotational, I have to learn vigilant, not to offend the local culture.Also, I know my colleagues are Japanese. So, I have to modernize along with them well. Thank you for your remind. I look forward to your reply. Student name Chic Man He number By Chic-Joyce A number A01985385 Interoffice Memo From Thank you f or your letter I can go to Japan to work, I feel very excited but there are good advice and experience, which is very helpful for me. Japanese. Also, thank you taught me to understand the communication can be solved Also, I would learn the local culture, because I know that Japanese culture is very

Print Shop

It provides homeless and at risk youth the opportunity to learn fundamental cause and life skills. The instill cheat on is located at Eves Phoenix- real up Exhibit 1 for a description of Eva Smith and her vision. The youth are paid entry-level wages and are accountable for duties and responsibilities that mirror those of most printing operating theatres. heretofore before the youth are hired, they Job shadow to go away an appreciation of working in the brilliant communication industry. The Print Shop is based on a blended value proposition which entails social, economic and environmental dimensions.It is dedicated to continuing asset building so that the youth can come self-sufficing in the long term. Success is achieved if both the youth and the Print Shop develop self-sufficiency. Operations The Print Shop specializes in trainee- friendly print work, typically subtile format Job printing (1 1 x 17 and under) in one color and 2-3 spot color reproduction. It can work with most graphic design software programs. In-house graphic design work is also available. Commercial projects Include business cards, letterhead, business cards, forms and brochures.Finishing services Include trimming, folding, scoring, perforating and shrink- wrapping. The Print Shop occupies 800 square feet In Eves Phoenix. It has four presses an A. B. DiCk 360, an A. B. DiCk 9810, a Heidelberg CM. 46 and a Multiple 1 250, all with color heads, and otherwise donated equipment. Michael Ralph joined the Print Shop as its business manager after a long career in advertising. His role is to manage the systems, the people and the business opportunities of the Print Shop. His challenge is to straighten out sure that the fine line between training needs and business demands is relatively constant. The Print Shop is supported by an advisory board which includes senior(a) members of the graphic communication theory industry. The board revised advice on curriculum, employment opportunities and technology. See Exhibit 2 for the members of the advisory board as well as the Print Shops organizational context. The Print Shop participates actively In the graphic communications Industry for example, It has had booths at trade shows. Curriculum training and counseling for three weeks 2. They get on-the-Job print shop training for 20 weeks and -2- 3. They make Job connections and career development in the last four weeks.They learn fundamental employability work habits (e. G. , team work, attendance, punctuality and safety) as well as a customer service orientation. Youth learn about the graphic communications industry and go on tours of organizations so that they can see where they might work after graduation. The Print Shop brings in mates mentors to assist both the trainees and the instructors with training and production. The peer mentors are themselves Print Shop grads. Once the youth graduate, they stay connected to the Print Shop through a two year follow-up program.T hey catch training in Job planning and organization, prepares using various software programs on both PC and Macintosh platforms, small offset press operation and binding and finishing. The program is delivered by two well experienced faculty, Patrick Fisher and Bill Kid, who work part-time. They have a deep appreciation of the challenges that their students have go about in the past and are patient and flexible in how they deliver the curriculum. Outcomes The Print Shop started production in 2002. It trained ten youth in print shop and small business skills six graduated and four were employed.In 2003, all 1 1 graduates have gone on to graphic communications programs or to commercial print shops. While four lost their opportunities, two have been re-employed. Graduates eave become press helpers and operators and production assistants, earning between $8. 00 and $14. 00 an hour. Every year, a graduate is awarded the Toronto Club Printing House Craftsmans Student Award. In 2003, t he Print Shop had revenues of $50,000, achieving 30 per cent business cost classificatory. It got 80 per cent of its work from other community organizations and 20 per cent from caring corporations.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner Chapters 15

Come with us. Dont mold wizard rash move or I will cook you charge.I matte up angry again as he glared at me, and a smal part of me trea intrus dickensrthyd to snarl and show my teeth, and I had a ascertaining he was looking for safe that material body of excuse.Jasper paused as if hed just thought of almostthing. Close your look, he commanded.I hesitated. Had he decided to kil me after al ?Do itI gritted my teeth and shut my eye. I matte up twice as helpless as I had before.Fol ow the well- run agrounded of my voice and dont open your eyes. You look, you lose, got it?I nodded, wondering what he didnt want me to debate. I mat most relief that he was bothering to protect a secret. on that point was no footing to do so if he was just going to kil me.This way.I walked s humblely after him, careful to give him no excuses. He was considerate in the way he led, not walking me into any trees, at to the lowest degree. I could nab the way the tidy changed when we wer e in the open the feel of the wind was different, too, and the smel of my coven burning was stronger. I could feel the rage of the sun on my face, and the insides of my eyelids were b officeer as I sparkled.He led me closer and closer to the muffled comminute of the flames, so close that I could feel the slug brush my skin. I knew he could nurture kil ed me at any time, but the nearness of the fire stil make me nervous.Sit here. Eyes closed.The ground was immediate from the sun and the fire. I kept very stil and tried and true to concentrate on looking harmless, but I could feel his glare on me, and it made me agitated. Though I was not mad at these lamias, who I truly believed had totally been defending themselves, I felt the oddest stirrings of fury. It was almost outside myself, as if it were some remaining echo from the battle that had just interpreted place.The anger didnt make me stupid, though, because I was too sad hapless to my core. Diego was aways in my mind, a nd I couldnt help thinking more or less how he mustiness have died. I was genuine there was no way he would have voluntarily told Riley our secrets secrets that had given me a reason to trust Riley just enough until it was too late. In my head, I saw Rileys face again that cold, smooth materialisation that had formed as hed threatened to punish any of us who wouldnt behave. I heard again his dispirited and oddly detailed description when I shoot you to her and hold you as she tears onward your legs and then(prenominal) slowly, slowly burns off your fingers, ears, lips, tongue, and every other superfluous appendage maven by cardinal. I realized now that Id been hearing the description of Diegos death.That night, Id been for certain that something had changed in Riley. Kil ing Diego was what had changed Riley, had hardened him. I believed only one thing that Riley had ever told me he had valued Diego to a greater extent than any of the rest of us. Had even been fond of him. And nevertheless hed watched our creator hurt him. No doubt hed helped her. Kil ed Diego with her.I wondered how much pain it would have taken to make me betray Diego. I intendd it would have taken quite a lot. And I was sure it had taken at least that much to make Diego betray me.I felt sick. I valued the date of Diego screaming in agony out of my head, but it wouldnt leave.And then there was screaming there in the field. My eyelids fluttered, but Jasper snarled furiously and I clenched them together at once. Id seen aught but doughy lavender smoke.I heard shouting and a rummy, savage holler. It was loud, and there was a lot of it. I couldnt imagine how a face would have to contort to create such a noise, and the not erudite made the sound more frightening. These yel ow-eyed vampires were so different from the rest of us. Or different from me, I guess, since I was the only one left. Riley and our creator were long gone by now.I heard names cal ed, Jacob, Leah, Sam. T here were lots of distinct voices, though the howls continued. Of course Riley had lied to us well-nigh the number of vampires here, too. The sound of the howling tapered off until it was just one voice, one agonized, inhuman yowling that made me grit my teeth. I could see Diegos face so clearly in my mind, and the sound was like him screaming.I heard Carlisle talking everyplace the other voices and the howling. He was begging to look at something. amuse let me take a look. Please let me help. I didnt hear anyone arguing with him, but for some reason his tone made it sound like he was losing the dis establishe.And then the yowling reached a strident new pitch, and suddenly Carlisle was saying thank you in a fervent voice, and under the yowl there was the sound of a lot of movement by a lot of bodies. Many heavy footsteps coming closer.I listened harder and heard something unexpected and impossible. Along with some heavy breathing and Ive never heard anyone in my coven breathe lik e that there were dozens of shadowy thumping noises. Almost like perfumebeats. But by all odds not human hearts. I knew that particular sound wel . I sniffed hard, but the wind was blowing from the other direction, and I could only smel the smoke.Without a warning sound, something touched me, clapped down firmly on either side of my head.My eyes started open in panic as I lurched up, straining to jerk free of this hold, and instantly met Jaspers warning gaze about two inches from my face.Stop it, he snapped, yanking me back down on my butt. I could only just hear him, and I realized that his work force were sealed tight against my head, covering my ears entirely.Close your eyes, he instructed again, probably at a normal volume, but it was hushed for me.I struggled to alleviate myself and shut my eyes again. There were things they didnt want me to hear, either. I could live with that if it meant I could live.For a second I saw Freds face behind my eyelids. He had verbalise h e would face for one day. I wondered if he would keep his word. I wished I could tel him the truth about the yel ow-eyes, and how much more there seemed to be that we didnt know. This whole world that we real y knew nothing about. It would be interesting to explore that world. Particularly with someone who could make me nonvisual and safe.But Diego was gone. He wouldnt be coming to find Fred with me. That made imagining the future faintly repugnant. I could stil hear some of what was going on, but just the howling and a few voices. Whatever those weird thumping sounds had been, they were too tranquil now for me to examine them.I did make out the words when, a few minutes later, Carlisle said, You have to his voice was too low for a second, and then from here now. If we could help we would, but we cannot leave.There was a growl, but it was oddly unmenacing. The yowling became a low whine that disappeared slowly, as if it was moving away from me.It was quiet for a few minutes. I heard some low voices, Carlisle and Esme among them, but also some I didnt know. I wished I could smel something the blindness combined with the muted sound left me straining for some source of sensory information. But al I could smel was the horribly sweet smoke. There was one voice, higher and clearer than the others, that I could hear most easily.Another five minutes, I heard whoever it was say. I was sure it was a girl who was speaking. And type B a wil open her eyes in thirty-seven seconds. I wouldnt doubt that she can hear us now.I tried to make common sense of this. Was someone else being forced to keep her eyes shut, like me? Or did she think my name was Bel a? I hadnt told anyone my name. I struggled again to smel something.More mumbling. I thought that one voice sounded off I couldnt hear any ring to it at al . But I couldnt be sure with Jaspers hands so securely over my ears.Three minutes, the high, clear voice said.Jaspers hands left my head.Youd mitigate open yo ur eyes now, he told me from a few steps away. The way he said this scared me. I looked well-nigh myself quickly, searching for the danger hinted at in his tone.One whole field of my ken was obscured by the dark smoke. Close by, Jasper was frowning. His teeth were gritted together and he was looking at me with an appearance that was almost frightened. Not like he was scared of me, but like he was scared because of me. I remembered what hed said before, about my putting them in danger with something cal ed a Volturi. I wondered what a Volturi was. I couldnt imagine what this scarred-up, dangerous vampire would be afraid of. Behind Jasper, four vampires were spaced out in a loose line with their backs to me. One was Esme. With her were a tal blonde woman, a tiny black-haired girl, and a black-haired male vampire so big that he was scary just to look at the one Id seen kil Kevin. For an instant I imagined that vampire getting a hold on Raoul. It was a strangely nice picture. There were three more vampires behind the big one. I couldnt see exactly what they were doing with him in the way. Carlisle was kneeling on the ground, and next to him was a male vampire with dark red hair. Lying flat on the ground was another figure, but I couldnt see much of that one, only jeans and smal brown boots. It was either a female or a young male. I wondered if they were putting the vampire back together. So cardinal yel ow-eyes total, plus al that howling before, whatever strange kind of vampire that had been there had been at least eight more voices involved. Sixteen, maybe more. More than twice as some as Riley had told us to expect. I found myself ferally hoping that those black-cloaked vampires would catch up to Riley, and that they would make him suffer.The vampire on the ground started to get slowly to her feet moving awkwardly, almost like she was some clumsy human. The breeze shifted, blowing the smoke across me and Jasper. For a moment, everything was invisible e xcept for him. Though I was not as blind as before, I suddenly felt much more anxious, for some reason. It was like I could feel the anxiety bleeding out of the vampire next to me.The light wind gusted back in the next second, and I could see and smel everything.Jasper hissed at me furiously and shoved me out of my crouch and back onto the ground.It was her the human Id been hunting just a few minutes ago. The twine my whole body had been focused toward. The sweet, wet scent of the most delicious blood Id ever tracked. My let out and pharynx felt like they were on fire. I tried wildly to hold on to my reason to focus on the fact that Jasper was just waiting for me to jump up again so that he could kil me but only part of me could do it. I felt like I was about to pul into two halves trying to keep myself here. The human named Bel a stared at me with stunned brown eyes. Looking at her made it worse. I could see the blood flushing through her thin skin. I tried to look anywhere else, but my eyes kept circling back to her.The redhead spoke to her in a low voice. She surrendered. Thats one Ive never seen before. Only Carlisle would think of offering. Jasper doesnt approve.Carlisle must have explained to that one when my ears were covered.The vampire had both his arms roughly the human girl, and she had both hands pressed to his chest. Her throat was just inches from his mouth, but she didnt look frightened of him at al . And he didnt look like he was hunting. I had tried to wrap my head around the idea of a coven with a pet human, but this was not close to what I had imagined. If shed been a vampire, I would have guessed that they were together.Is Jasper al right? the human whispered.Hes fine. The venom stings, the vampire said.He was bitten? she asked, sounding shocked by the idea. Who was this girl? Why did the vampires al ow her to be with them? Why hadnt they kil ed her yet? Why did she seem so comfortable with them, like they didnt scare her? She seem ed like she was a part of this world, and yet she didnt under suffer its realities. Of course Jasper was bitten. Hed just fought and destroyed my entire coven. Did this girl even know what we were?Ugh, the burn in my throat was impossible I tried not to think about washing it away with her blood, but the wind was blowing her smel right in my face It was too late to keep my head I had scented the prey I was hunting, and nothing could change that now.He was trying to be everywhere at once, the redhead told the human. Trying to make sure Alice had nothing to do, actual y. He shook his head as he looked at the tiny blackhaired girl. Alice doesnt study anyones help.The vampire named Alice shot a glare at Jasper.Overprotective fool, she said in her clear ternary voice. Jasper met her stare with a half smile, seeming to forget for a second that I existed.I could besides fight the instinct that wanted me to make use of his lapse and spring at the human girl. It would take less than an instant and then her warm blood blood I could hear pumping through her heart would quench the burn. She was so close The vampire with the dark red hair met my eyes with a fierce warning glare, and I knew I would die if I tried for the girl, but the agony in my throat made me feel like I would die if I didnt. It hurt so much that I screamed out loud in frustration. Jasper snarled at me, and I tried to keep myself from moving, but it felt like the scent of her blood was a giant hand yanking me off the ground. I had never tried to stop myself from feeding once I had committed to a hunt. I dug my hands into the ground looking for something to hold on to but finding nothing. Jasper leaned into a crouch, and even knowing I was two seconds from death, I couldnt focus my thirsty thoughts. And then Carlisle was right there, his hand on Jaspers arm. He looked at me with kind, calm eyes. Have you changed your mind, young one? he asked me. We dont want to destroy you, but we wil if you cant control yourself.How can you stand it? I asked him, almost begging. Wasnt he burning, too? I want her. I stared at her, desperately neediness the distance between us was gone. My fingers raked uselessly through the rocky dirt.You must stand it, Carlisle said solemnly. You must exercise control. It is possible, and it is the only thing that wil save you now.If being able to tolerate the human the way these strange vampires did was my only hope for survival, then I was already doomed. I couldnt stand the fire. And I was of two minds about survival anyway. I didnt want to die, I didnt want pain, but what was the point? Everyone else was dead. Diego had been dead for days.His name was right on my lips. I almost whispered it aloud. Instead, I gripped my skul with both hands and tried to think about something that wouldnt hurt. Not the girl, and not Diego. It didnt work very wel .Shouldnt we move away from her? the human whispered roughly, breaking my concentration. My eyes snapped back to her. Her skin was so thin and soft. I could see the pulse in her neck.We have to catch ones breath here, said the vampire she was clinging to. They are coming to the matrimony end of the clearing now.They? I glanced to the north, but there was nothing but smoke. Did he mean Riley and my creator? I felt a new thril of panic, fol owed by a little spasm of hope. There was no way she and Riley could stand against these vampires who had kil ed so many of us, was there? Even if the howly ones were gone, Jasper alone looked capable of dealing with the two of them. Or did he mean this mysterious Volturi?The wind teased the girls scent across my face again, and my thoughts scattered. I glared at her thirstily. The girl met my stare, but her expression was so different from what it should have been. Though I could feel that my lips were curled back from my teeth, though I trembled with the effort to stop myself from springing at her, she did not look afraid of me. Instead she seemed fasc inated. It almost looked like she wanted to speak to me like she had a question she wanted me to answer.Then Carlisle and Jasper began to back away from the fire and me culmination ranks with the others and the human. They al were staring past me into the smoke, so whatever they were afraid of was closer to me than it was to them. I huddled tighter to the smoke in spite of the nearby flames. Should I make a run for it? Were they distracted enough that I could escape? Where would I go? To Fred? Off on my own? To find Riley and make him pay for what hed through to Diego?As I hesitated, mesmerized by that last idea, the moment passed. I heard movement to the north and knew I was sandwiched between the yel ow-eyes and whatever was coming.Hmm, a dead voice said from behind the smoke. In that one syl able I knew exactly who it was, and if I hadnt been frozen solid with mindless terror I would have bolted. It was the dark-cloaks.What did this mean? Would a new battle begin now? I knew that the dark-cloaked vampires had wanted my creator to gain ground in destroying these yel ow-eyes. My creator had clearly failed. Did that mean they would kil her? Or would they kil Carlisle and Esme and the rest here instead? If it had been my choice, I knew who I would want destroyed, and it wasnt my captors.The dark-cloaks ghosted through the vapor to face the yel ow-eyes. None of them looked in my direction. I held absolutely stil .There were only four of them, like last time. But it didnt make a difference that there were seven of the yel ow-eyes. I could tel that they were as wary of these dark-cloaks as Riley and my creator had been. There was something more to them than I could see, but I could definitely feel it. These were the punishers, and they didnt lose.Welcome, Jane, said the yel ow-eyed one who held the human.They knew each other. But the redheads voice was not friendly nor was it weak and intense to please like Rileys had been, or furiously terrified like my cre ators. His voice was simply cold and civilized and unsurprised. Were the dark-cloaks this Volturi, then?The smal vampire who led the dark-cloaks Jane, apparently slowly scanned across the seven yel ow-eyes and the human, and then final y turned her head toward me. I glimpsed her face for the first time. She was younger than me, but much older, too, I guessed. Her eyes were the velvet color of dark red roses. Knowing it was too late to escape notice, I put my head down, covering it with my hands. Maybe if it were clear that I didnt want to fight, Jane would treat me as Carlisle had. I didnt feel much hope of that, though.I dont understand. Janes dead voice betrayed a hint of annoyance.

Macy’s Store Essay

1. Macys and different surgical incision chisel ins are faced with imminent problems where sales are declining each year. Due to high challenger and m any(prenominal) substitutions in the market, union must always analyze, investigate, and plan for decision making. Creating situational analysis is a neat way to analyze both the internal and external environments in order to understand the companys capabilities, business environment, and customers. In Macys case, some of the external factors are competition and frugality. Since competitors such as deductive reasoning stash aways and specialty stores are attracting many customers, Macys need to find a solution to differentiate themselves from others to preserve value. Some of the examples can be lowering prices to meet customer expectations, expand market by victimization online- shopping, or take a survey to gather which defacements or items customers want in Macys department store.Economy is another crucial factor store ha s to consider. When the economy is healthy, stores tend to worry less, but when the economy is in recession, customers will spend less and find a cheaper substitute items to purchase. Although Macys positioned themselves as speeding middle class, company can increase sales by also providing less expensive brands for customers to pick from. As for internal factors, training employees, contract with excellent suppliers, and positive recognized brand will corroborate Macys. For example, featured management can teach and lead employees to perform day-to-day operations and to be master key in what they do. Brand awareness is also an important factor since customers judge carrefour and service by its brand image.2. To this date, Macys is struggling to find a sustainable militant value in the retail pains. Clothing store such as ZARA and H&M break a definite advantage since they attract customers by displaying latest fashionable clothing with affordable price and Macys on the othe r hand, wipe out not yet able to deliver right messages to buyers. Moreover, Macys desegregation and efforts to become national-wide brand are not unique because most major retailers in the states are straight national brands.However, Macys strategy of positioning themselves as mid-level can become a unique competitive advantage in the future because good deal would believe its trade is neither cheap nor expensive. This way people wont judge Macys as a cheap store but store which carries affordable items. Nevertheless, Macys still face a serious threat since fashion clothing retailers such as H&M and Urban outfitters are targeting teenagers with very low prices. One way to reform competitive advantage may be quality. Customers know H&M is a cheap, fashionable store and they also know clothing will wear out if washed couple times. By focalisation on quality, people may recognize paying extra money to purchase Macys merchandise is saving money in long- term.3. Overall, Macys co nsolidation and repositioning strategy have many advantages since the company converted 15 department stores to Macys brand Remodelling stores promote a pleasant shopping experience to customers, displaying fashionable clothing to attract trend-followers, and developing private brands to increase profits. As mentioned above, the first ability to this exchange is the decision to consolidate. By using the same brand name, this will chasten advertising costs, customers will good recognize the brand, and since all stores carry same products they may have bargaining power over suppliers. conterminous advantage is locations. Since Macys now have approximately 810 stores in 50 states, customers can visit any Macys stores without inconvenience.Moreover, because all stores carry same products, services, and designs, buyers can visit any stores to buy what they need. Last strength is Macys focus on affordable fashion. People nowadays value fashion so ofttimes that they simply wont purch ase clothing that is boring and bland. By recognizing these factors, Macys are working(a) with top designers to attract and show buyers their brand is fashionable and also affordable. Despite of these advantages, Macys also have weakness to worry about. Customers are complaining that the price of merchandise increased and they would shop elsewhere. Macys would reduce these complaints by offering coupons or to perform customer relationship program to recognise those who are incorruptible to the store and give special incentives or discounts.4. ,Department stores are faced with serious threat since industry is declining and competitions are growing rapidly. But Macys have found a bold strategy to fence in a tough market. Macys has a good chance of succeeding in 5 years since the store recognizes the trend and strives to meet customers needs. In order to extremely thriving in the future however, Macys need to closely monitor competitors such as Nordstrom, ZARA, and H&M to gather com petitor intelligence and to react to fast changing market. Brand awareness is also a crucial factor for success. Brand loyal customers tend to be less price sensitive because they have a strong belief that it is worth paying more money. If Macys can build brand royal customers, they would reduce advertising costs, and have positive brand image. Lastly, pricing its merchandise will be a key point for success in 5 years because price is what makes customers to make a purchase or to find a substitute.

Ceremony: Native Americans in the United States Essay

In Leslie Marmon Silkos Ceremony, the use of tarradiddletelling is quite prevalent. Within the framework of Ceremony there are references of the tradition of natural American narrationtelling along with the progression of telling a story. Storytelling at heart the Native American culture is oral, traditionally. The method of storytelling within Ceremony at the beginning lays down the framework of the entire book.Silko starts out the novel with a series of stories. The first of which is about Tsitstsinako (or more easily said) Thought Women, who thinks of things and they appear. She happens to be thinking of a story and it bonnie so happens to be the story being told to us. This then leads us to the next story (1).The next story turns out to be a story about stories. This story tells us (the reader) the importance of stories, and that they arent just for entertainment, but are used to fight off death and illness. The narrator then states, You dont shake anything, if you dont deport the stories. Thus telling us the true importance of the stories of Native American culture, seeing as everything was passed down orally, and not much was written down if any at all (2).Now, for Tayo, these stories embody the understanding of the Native American world Tayo grew up with. Only the army, the doctors, and the white schools demonstrate to convince Tayo that the stories are wrong. As Tayo recreates and recalls the old tales, he begins to reunite with the community, pulls through the trauma of war, and ultimately brings rump the rain to his land. Tayo learns from these stories that he is not alone, because the stories are shared within a community, and because the contents of the stories show him that others have shared like experiences (Notes/Class Discussions).The rest of the stories within the text of Ceremony announce elements that will reoccur within the novel. As the story is told either by a single person or by a group of people, it can fashion between those people a sense of community. As stated previously, that stories have the power to fight of death and illness. The stories contain the ceremonies and rituals that have the ability to cure individuals and the communities. Stories are able to pop the question this ability by restoring the affiliations betwixt all things and people.The stories within Ceremony are an integral part of the story line. The stories within the novel show us how important they are to the Native American culture and musical mode of life. They provide us with the impending points of the plot, of how a ceremony is what can cure the people.

How to Increase Retail Sales Essay

1 IntroductionOne of the challenges for companies that have invested severely in customer entropy collection is how to extract important information from their vast customer entropy lows and carrefour feature informationbases, in modulate to gain warring advantage. mart basketball hoop abstract ( a same known as association rule mining) is adept of the information mining methods (Berry and Linoff, 2004) focusing on discovering purchasing patterns by extracting associations or co-occurrences from a stores transactional data. Several aspects of securities industry basket summary have been studied in academic literature, such as using customer interest profile and interests on particular features of the change magnitude for the product development and one-to-one merchandising (Weng and Liu, 2004), purchasing patterns in a multi-store purlieu (Chen et al., 2004), or distri providedor point at certain weaknesses of market basket psycho analytic thinking techniques (e.g. Vindevogel, Van den Poel and Wets, 2005). trade basket abstract has been intensively apply in many companies as a means to discover product associations and base a retailers progress strategy on them.When diametrical additional brands atomic number 18 change in concert with the basic brands, the revenue from the basic brands is not decreasing, but increasing. Buy two, get threegross revenue promotion defends atomic number 18 in truth successful, if market basket analyses are use in order to lay kayoed the right products to be promoted. Buy a product, get a gift gross revenue promotion campaigns are successful, if a basic product and a gift are cogitate and the basic product has eminent margin rate. Based on market basket analyses, sets of products are defined and interchange together with discount.Limitedbrands organizes inherent competition in up-selling.Our paper a case study presents and analyses the application of market basket analysis in a major trade famil iarity in Slovenia.2 The company Merkur, d. d.Merkur, d. d. is a craft company (Merkur, 2005) that has for years ranked among the top companies in Slovenia dealing in incidents for home improvement, home go as well as lawn and garden. Merkur, d.d. has recently strengthened its position on the foreign markets finished the supplies of goods to industrial enterprises, and by the establishment of its own retail earningswork abroad. Merkur, d.d. is the mother company of Merkur Group. The Group consists of two Slovenian subsidiaries and six subsidiaries abroad (Zagreb, Sarajevo, Skopje, Munich, Milan and Warsaw). Besides that, the free radical as well includes two offices (Moscow and Belgrade). Merkur plans to further strengthen its position on the domestic market, spread its gross sales to the foreign markets, especially to the markets of former Yugoslavia, and develop a high-quality range of products.The company is organised inseveral large departments Wholesale, Retail gross revenue, gross revenue to Foreign Markets, Purchasing, Logistics and Supporting Services. Customers include social face companies, trading organisations, installation companies, industrial enterprises, craftsmen and small entrepreneurs, as well as subvert consumers. The company makes nigh 60% of its sales revenues by selling goods sell. To make the sales quick and efficient, the Wholesale Department has been split into four sales sub-divisions. At present, Merkur has 38 retail sales decocts in Slovenia. Specialisation increases the effectiveness of sales, so two types of Merkur sales centres were developed MERKURDOM focusing on ordinary households, and MERKURMOJSTER intended for DIY (do-it-yourself) users. More information close to MerkurDom and MerkurMojster is available on Merkur internet site www.merkur.si.2.1 Characteristic figures of the companyThe scope of the company Merkur, d.d. do-nothing be shown by the following figures The sales programme consists of ab come f orward 200.000 active full stops (more than 120.000 items on logical argument), divided into 5 sales programmes, 74 lines of goods, 720 groups of goods and 5.600 basic goods classifications. Around 80% of sales are done with the top 12.000 items and 80% of stock is held on the top 20.000 items. The Purchasing Department put unders more than 250.000 purchase orders with 1.200.000 items one-yearly. Merkur purchases goods from more than 2.000 suppliers. About 80% of purchases are done with the top 200 suppliers. Wholesale has business relations with more than 2.500 buyers organizations.About 80% of wholesale sales are done with the top 800 buyers. Wholesale issues approximately 400.000 invoices with total 2.200.000 items annually. Retail sells goods to 13.000 buyers / organizations and to about 500.000 end consumers. More than 70% of sales to end consumers are modify with the Merkur committal card called the Merkur Card of cartel. Retail issues 6.000.000 invoices with more than 20.000.000 items to end consumers annually. In the completion from 1993 to 2004 Merkur achieved 19% average annual growth in revenues, 20% average annual growth in net margin and 27% average annual growth in profit from operations. Today Merkur is the sixth largest Slovenian company in revenues.3.1 The history of DW&BI in MerkurMerkur started to implement data warehousing and business intelligence (DW&BI) in 1999 with a project called KAS ( commercial message analytic System) (Svetina, 2002). Before 1999, different analyses and reports were performed in Merkurs transactional information systems, much of the analytic data was held in pass spreadsheets and Access databases. In the past, Merkur twice attempted to implement DW&BI technology, but failed because proposed technology was steady as well as difficult to use for the majority of the users. In 1999 Merkur started with a major business dish up reorganization and, at that statusfore, reform and new business analyses wer e needed in order to make better decisions. The need for a DW&BI system emerged, so the KAS project was given high priority. Merkur started to design analytical data models for sales data and succeeded in integrating sales data from wholesale, retail and sales to foreign markets in one unified data model.The IT department proposed Microstrategy DW&BI technology, which was installed and tested in the beginning of the year 2000. The technology was found to be appropriate and the decision was made to implement DW&BI with Microstrategy solutions. The first power users (sales analysts) were educated and the first KAS sales analyses were utilise in the decision-making exercise. In the beginning the ETL (extract transform load) process was carried out on monthly basis, but by autumn of 2000 the company started to perform ETL process daily. Later in the year 2000 the purchasing analytical system was introduced as well. In 2001, the data storage warehouse was upgraded with data on Merk urs business plans. Sales and margins were planned on a very low organizational level. The annual plan fact skirt has more than 1.000.000 records, so the salespersons performance is measured very accurately. Because the technology is easy to use, the number of KAS users increased up to 100. In 2002, the implementation of a very large and complex analytical module followed, containing record data.The inventory levels of each item in every warehouse on a monthly basis is stored in KAS and enables detailed inventory analyses and detection of critical items. Also, data on Merkurs partnersdebts and liabilities was added to data warehouse, which enables accurate cash flow management. Item price calculation elements and different prices were imported in KAS in 2003, so critical prices groundwork be detected and all inconsistencies eliminated. Many minor additions to the system were likewise made over the last few years. All the time Merkur tries to use adequate analytical and data mini ng methodologies in order to improve the whole system of business reporting. From the DW&BI history we heap see a controlled step-by-step development of the KAS system.such(prenominal) way of development gives opportunity for good rendering and implementation of analytical contents and enables Merkur to make many better business decisions. The KAS system brings Merkur an important competitive advantage, which enables the growth of the company. Improved decision making faecal matter be demonstrated done different measured key success factors which are improving eer. Key success factors such as net margin, net margin per item, net margin per customer, number of new customers and others are measured in KAS. These factors are eer accessible for KAS users and help them to make better decisions.3.2 DW&BI technologySince 2000 Merkur has utilise the Microstrategy DW&BI technology. Microstrategy provides ROLAP solutions, which enable a step-by-step approach in data warehouse developm ent and processing large amounts of data. The data warehouse is implemented in an Oracle relational database. This means that the same database technology is used in two transactional and analytical information systems. Therefore, Merkurs IT department can focus in one database platform preferably of two or even more. Oracle technology was used in Merkur before the implementation data warehouse was started, so the implementation of this technology was fast and smooth. In Merkur thefollowing Microstrategy tools (Microstrategy, 2005) are used MicroStrategy intelligence operation Server is the heart of the BI system and provides reporting and analysis for the whole enterprise. This BI server provides the beneficial range of BI applications through unified metadata and a single integrated server. MicroStrategy Administrator consists of a cortege of tools that provide the systems management environment for business intelligence.It maximizes uptime of BI applications. Its tools give an environment for developing, deploying, monitoring and maintaining of systems. MicroStrategy Architect is a rapid development tool that maps the physical expression of the database into a logical business model. These mappings are stored in a centralized metadata repository. MicroStrategy scope is the business intelligence software component that provides integrated query and reporting, mighty analytics and decision support workflow with a desktop PC. MicroStrategy Desktop provides an arsenal of features for on-line analysis of unified data. Reports can be viewed in various presentation formats, polished into production reports, distributed to other users and extended through a host of ad hoc features including drilling, pivoting and data slicing. The interface itself is customizable to different users skill levels and security profiles. In Merkur, the Desktop solution is used by 13 power users (analysts).MicroStrategy Web provides users a highly interactive environment and lo w maintenance interface for reporting and analysis. Using this intuitive HTML-only Web solution, users access, analyze and share unified data through any web browser on any operating system. MicroStrategy Web provides ad hoc querying, quick deployment and rapid customiz powerfulness, making it even easier for users to make apprised business decisions. In Merkur, Microstrategy Web is used by 90 end users of KAS. MicroStrategy Narrowcast Server is a proactive information delivery server that distributes individualise business information to users via email, pagers and cell phones. It includes an intuitive self-subscription interface that enables users to specify what information they want to receive, as well as when and how they want to receive that information. Narrowcast Server is becoming more and more important in Merkur because of its efficiency.3.3 Merkurs DW&BI system todayPresently, KAS Merkurs DW&BI system, is five years old. The development of the system continues constan tly and there is still much content throughout the organization which moldiness be implemented in the BI system. The most important content to be implemented in the future are the following Integral data from Merkurs finance and accounting system (the finance and accounting analytical system) germane(predicate) business data from Merkurs subsidiaries Data from Merkurs human resources analytical system Data from Merkurs e-business analytical system Data from Merkurs logistic analytical systemPresently in KAS (Merkur Commercial analytic System KAS, 2005) 13 power users (analysts) and 90 end users of both groups, 50 users have the ability and knowledge to set-up their own reports. Up to 30.000 reports are proceed on KAS on monthly basis. KAS consists of the following objects o 137 tables o 433 attributes o 1.195 metrics o 5.611 reports Over 35 automated services are run on the Narrowcast ServerThe KAS system enables many sophisticated business analyses such as market basket ana lyses, described later in this paper.4 Market basket analysis and the used methodologyMarket basket analyses are an important component of analytical system in retail organizations. There are several definitions of market basket analysis. In a broader essence, market basket analysis targets customer baskets in order to monitor buying patterns and improve customer satisfaction (Microstrategy, 2003). The following analytics can be used attachment rates, demographic baskets, brand switching, customer obedience, core items, items per basket, in-basket price, revenue contribution, shopper penetration and others. In a narrower meaning, market basket analysis givesus the answer to the following question which goods are sold together within the same transaction or to the same customer? By analysing this information, we try to bob up out recurring patterns in order to offer related to goods together and therefore increase the sales.We can track related sales on different levels of goods classifications or on different customer segments. In this paper, the narrower meaning of market basket analysis will be taken into consideration, focusing on the use of these analyses in Merkur. It has to be noted that several other name are in any case used to describe market basket analysis related sales, cross-sell, up-sell. The distinction between these terms is very unclear and the same terms are often used in different meanings. What can we gain from market basket analysis (Limitedbrands, 2004)We get the ability to learn more about customer behaviour. We can make more informed decisions about product placement, pricing, promotion and profitability. We can find out which products perform similarly to each other.We can determine which products should be placed near each other. We can find out which products should be cross-sold. We can find out if there are any successful products that have no significant related elements. 1. Discover the selling documents (transactions) wit h the item, for which we want to perform market basket analysis. This logic is valid, if we want to carry out item-related market basket analysis. We can withal perform good classification or even loyalty card holder-related market basket analyses, which will be shown later in this paper.2. Discover all the items in relevant selling documents and their selling quantities, prices, number of transactions and other relevant data. As an example, an item related market basket analysis will be presented. We want to analyse sales related to item 209525 Decorative lamp Saturn II. In the first step we determine the selling documents with this item. The partial result is shown in the table 1. Further, the result of the first step is used as a filter in the heartbeat step, which results in a table with items, sold together with item 209525.5 Areas of market basket analysesIn Merkur different kind of market basket analyses are done. Analyses are adapted to various business needs, and some of them are discussed in the following sections. In every section, the relevant examples of analyses are presented and opportunities for business action discussed.5.1 market and sales promotion campaignsWhen sales campaigns are prepared, promoted items essential be chosen very carefully. The main name and address of a campaign is to entice customers to visit Merkurs retail centre and buy more than they usually do. Therefore, we moldiness choose the right items and offer the right prices or other conditions. Margins on promoted items are usually cut, therefore, additional non-promoted items with higher margins should be sold together with promoted items. As we could see from the example in ingredient 3, item 209525 Decorative lamp Saturn II is quite adequate to be included in a promotion. in concert with it many other items are sold, so we can allow a lower margin of promoted item. Of course, there are some other criteria for an item to be included in a campaign, such as Where on the item life cycle curve is the item situated? What is our brand promotion form _or_ system of government? Can we reach an agreement with the supplier (producer) to assure larger quantities and better prices?Table 4. Sales promotion market basket analysis In table 4, data from a New Years promotion campaign is shown. The campaign was done through public advertising. Paper catalogues of promoted items were sent to households, there were also commercial spots on TV and radio, and advertisements in newspapers. Because of advertising a certain number of customers came in Merkur retail centres in order to buy the promoted items. Additionally, they also bought many non-promoted items (70% inappropriate to 30% of revenues and 75%opposed to 25% of margins) with much higher % of margin (29,08% opposed to 21,81%). This means that promoted items generated sales of non-promoted items. There are also many possible ways for organizing campaigns using direct merchandising tools for the inter action with Merkur loyalty card holder. This issue will be discussed in Section 5.5.5.2. System solutions offeringMarket basket analyses are also used to combine more items in a set or a system, because the majority of customers are interested in buying and using them at a time or in a short period of time after the purchase of a particular item. By designing sets and systems of related items a company can increase sales and also cut down costs of sales transactions, so that various discounts can be offered to customers. This results in a typical win-win situation. A retailer must know the needs of customers and adapt to them. Market basket analysis is one possible way to find out which items can be put together in sets and systems.Table 5. Classification Group Kitchen cartridge extractor hood market basket analysis In Table 5 we can see groups of goods which were sold together with the group Kitchen extractor hood. In the related groups are also different kitchen thingummys like r efrigerators, dish washers, kitchen-ranges, taps, dishes etc. This means that Merkur should design and offer the customers different kitchen systems. These systems should include kitchen furniture,major and small kitchen appliances and kitchen utensils. Such a system should be displayed in one place in a retail centre where customers could choose from whole system solutions to just several parts (items) of these solutions.5.3. Placement of goods in retail storesMarket basket analyses give retailer good information about related sales on group of goods basis. As we can see in Table 5, the majority of kitchen appliances groups are related. Customers who buy a kitchen appliance often also buy several other kitchen appliances. It makes sense that these groups are placed side by side in a retail centre so that customers can access them quickly. Such related groups of goods also must be located side-by-side in order to remind customers of related items and to lead them through the centre in a logical manner.In Merkur, two basic concepts of retail centres are used MerkurDom specialises in high-quality items for home improvement and garden, MerkurMojster specialises in high-quality products aimed at DIY users, craftsmen, and entrepreneurs. Centres are also classified by size of it as small and large centres. For each of these concepts, standardized placement plans were developed. Market basket analyses represent one segment of tools for decision making considering placement of goods. It can show us where we should change the placement of goods. by and by the change we can measure the business effects of the change.5.4. Education of salespeopleThe interesting results of market basket analyses must be presented to the salespeople in retail centres, because the employees must be aware of them and they should use them in the process of selling. every(prenominal) salesperson has some knowledge about related items from his or her experience. With marketbasket analyses we can structure this knowledge and use it to teach less experienced personnel. Merkur invests a lot in education of salespeople through both intragroup and external sources. Knowledge from market basket analyses is widely used in internal education.5.5. Segmentation of customersAs mentioned in Section 1.1., more than 70% of sales to end consumers are personalized with the Merkur loyalty card called Merkur Card of Trust. This data enables us to answer the following question What did consumers who bought item (group) X in period 1, buy in period 2? If we identify customers who bought item X today, we can anticipate what they will buy, for instance, in next three months, and we can advertise them the right products. A typical example is shown in Table 6. We analysed loyalty card holders who bought ceramic tiles in the period from April to June 2004. In Table 6 we can see product groups which were bought by the same card holders in the period from July to November 2004. They bought diff erent bathroom and kitchen accessories and central heating elements.It would be very useful, if Merkur organized a targeted marketing campaign for this specific group of customers in July 2004 and promoted these products. There are many other possibilities and opportunities in Merkur to use loyalty card-based market basket analyses as a support tool for direct marketing campaigns. Merkur usually organizes non-targeted unwashed campaigns, in which the majority of Slovenian households are included. But lately Merkur also started to implement direct marketing methods and therefore an effective data warehouse and business intelligence system is essential. This helps many interesting marketing ideas to be implemented.6 ConclusionThe practice in Merkur proves that market basket analysis is a very useful for marketing campaigns, good placement definition and education of sales personnel. Merkur uses market basket analysis throughout the promotion campaign process. When a sales promotion i s prepared, market basket analysis is used to define the right products and the right prices for the campaign. link up non-promoted items are also defined in order to place them in the vicinity of promoted items and therefore increase sales. When sales promotion finishes, its results are carefully analysed in order to discover opportunities for next promotions. Merkur widely uses market basket analyses to manage the placement of goods in retail centres. Related products and product groups are placed together in such a manner that customer can logically find items he/she might buy.The findings of market basket analyses are an important part of the process of teaching the salespeople of Merkur. Sales personnel must be aware of related products in order to increase satisfaction of customers and intensify sales. Market basket analyses are just a part in the holistic approach to the execution of marketing development strategy in Retail in Merkur. The analytical process is integrated in other marketing activities and analysts are an important part of Merkur marketing development team. police squad work is crucial for successful use of such analyses. Beside of the organization of the Merkur marketing process, a capable DW&BI system is needed.The BI system must have good performances when processing large amount of data. It also has to be scalable and flexible, but, above all, the BI system must be user-friendly so that different marketing specialists can use it without any problems.Fortunately, Merkurs KAS is such a system. But there is still much work to be done. We demonstrated that market basket analysis in Merkur can be done and that it brings useful results. In the future a working direct marketing strategy must be developed based on data already available in KAS. Then an organization and information systems for efficient execution of this strategy have to be established.7 ReferencesBerry, M.J.A., Linoff, G.S. 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