A Comparative Study of Consumers Prefernce for Big Retailers Against Small Departmental Stores

ASSIGNMENT OF : RESEARCH OBJECTIVE : â€Å"A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CONSUMERS PREFERENCE TOWARDS BIG RETAILERS AGAINST SMALL DEPARTMENTAL STORES . † SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY TUTOR BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS REGD NO. 11209876 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND ARTS LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY INTRODUCTION â€Å"Unorganized retailing† is defined as an outlet run locally by the owner or caretaker of a shop that lacks technical and accounting standardization. The supply chain and sourcing are also done locally to meet local needs.Its organized counterpart may not obtain its supplies from local sources. Indian retail is dominated by a large number of small retailers consisting of the local kiryana shops, owner-manned general stores, chemists, footwear shops, apparel shops, paan and beedi shops, hand-cart hawkers, pavement vendors, etc. which together make up the so-called â€Å"unorganized retail† or â€Å"traditional retail†. â€Å"Organized retail† is nothing bu t a retail place where all the items are segregated and brought under one roof, unlike the unorganized retail where there are different things are sold in different shops.It also aims to bring maximum of different brands making the same type of product together. In India there has been a huge growth in organized retail since 2002-03 and this is associated with the growth in the economy and the attendant rise in consumption spending. The last 3-4 years have witnessed the entry of a number of organized retailers opening stores in various modern formats in metros and other important cities. Organized retailing has begun to tap the enormous market but its share indeed is small. A number of large business houses have entered the retail business with very ambitious expansion plans.Big foreign retailers are also keen to invest in India but their entry depends on changes in the government’s FDI policy regarding retailing. Organized retailing played a significant role in the present-d ay developed countries during their period of high growth. Since the early 1990s, it is also contributing substantially to the growth of developing countries. In India, organized retail is poised to make a mark in the near future. Modern retail sector is at the crossroads where the growth of organized retailing and growth in the consumption by the Indian population is going to take a higher growth trajectory.It is undergoing a major transformation as entry of global players and watchful expansion by major Indian retailers has opened new vistas of joint ventures, tie-ups and franchise offering new formats, services, private labels, locations and recently to diverge from metros to smaller towns, Arvind Singhal Chairman Techno pak Advisors has rightly said that, â€Å"A lot of international retailers and brands are most likely to look at India, as global markets have stabilized and the Indian economy has proved to be better than most other countries†.With the changing retail sce nario the consumers are bound to look beyond traditional retail stores towards organized outlets may be with some reservations. This necessitates study of the factors which influence the consumers to move towards the organized retailing from unorganized one besides most prioritized attributes which attract the consumers towards either of them. Retailing in India is one of the pillars of its economy and accounts for 14 to 15% of its GDP.The Indian retail market is estimated to be US$ 450 billion and one of the top five retail markets in the world by economic value. India is one of the fastest growing retail markets in the world, with 1. 2 billion people. India's retailing industry is essentially owner manned small shops. In 2010, larger format convenience stores and supermarkets accounted for about 4% of the industry, and these were present only in large urban centers. India's retail and logistics industry employs about 40 million Indians (3. 3% of Indian population).Until 2011, Indi an central government denied foreign direct investment (FDI) in multibrand retail, forbidding foreign groups from any ownership in supermarkets, convenience stores or any retail outlets. Even single-brand retail was limited to 51% ownership and a bureaucratic process. In November 2011, India's central government announced retail reforms for both multi-brand stores and single-brand stores. These market reforms paved the way for retail innovation and competition with multi-brand retailers such as Walmart, Carrefour and Tesco, as well single brand majors such as IKEA, Nike, and Apple.The announcement sparked intense activism, both in opposition and in support of the reforms. In December 2011, under pressure from the opposition, Indian government placed the retail reforms on hold till it reaches a consensus. In January 2012, India approved reforms for single-brand stores welcoming anyone in the world to innovate in Indian retail market with 100% ownership, but imposed the requirement th at the single brand retailer source 30% of its goods from India.Indian government continues the hold on retail reforms for multi-brand stores. IKEA announced in January that it is putting on hold its plan to open stores in India because of the 30% requirement. Fitch believes that the 30% requirement is likely to significantly delay if not prevent most single brand majors from Europe, USA and Japan from opening stores and creating associated jobs in India. LITERATURE REVIEW Many studies have been undertaken to understand and analyze the changing consumer preference for organized retail outlet: Baker and Haytko (2000) in their qualitative study of teen girls and their mall shopping experiences, find that the teens are looking for stores that carry specific merchandise, especially the latest fashions. â€Å"Coolness† of the mall is tied to the types of clothes and the merchandise the stores carried. * (Pachauri Moneesha, 2001), attempt to develop a framework for studying consume r behavior by considering the evolution of the field of consumer research and the different theories of consumer buying behavior that have influenced the consumer preference.India is on the threshold of a revolution in its retail industry, and if managed cleverly, it would pay handsome returns beyond retailers' expectations * (Mangleburg et al. , 2004). ) teens like to â€Å"hang-out† at malls and meet their friends Indeed, the social aspects of the mall, such as visiting and shopping with friends, are major activities for teens. * Pan and Zinkhan (2006) found only gender as a key predictor of frequency of store visit—women visit the store more often than men.Other studies also found gender to be a major predictor of shopping behavior, with women playing a more significant role in retail shopping, especially in traditional societies. * (Mishra S. Mridula, 2007). The changing consumption patterns trigger changes in retail styles of consumers, for consumers, the shopping mall or variant of organized retail format is the preferred type of retail store, due to convenience and variety. * Singh (2007) had concluded that production oriented market has been shifting towards consumer oriented market. Traditional consumption pattern has also been facing large-scale changes.The study pointed out that the degree of brand awareness of various food products among urban respondents is more in comparison to the rural consumers. * Arshad et al. ,( 2007) have found that dynamics of the demographics, double income, urbanization and internet revolution tilt the consumer’s preference towards organized retail outlets. * Mathew and Gupta (2008) while studying the impact of organized retailing on traditional retailing observed that with the increase in number of various formats for shopping like malls, departmental stores, hypermarkets etc. the Indian consumer’s preferences are changing towards these. * (Paromita Goswami & Mishra S. Mridula, 2009). Custome r patronage to grocery stores was found to be positively related to location, helpful, trustworthy salespeople, home retail, cleanliness, offers, quality and negatively related to travel convenience. Kiranas do well on location but poorly on cleanliness, offers, quality, and helpful trustworthy salespeople. The converse is true for organized retailers. Tender and Crispen, (2009) studied the influence of in-store shopping environment on impulsive buying among consumers and the results show that among poor consumers, economics factors such as cheaper prices, coupons and helpful shop assistants were more likely to influence impulsive buying. On the other hand, factors with an atmospheric effect such as music, fresh scent and ventilation may have only been important in helping to keep consumers longer in shops although they were unlikely to directly influence impulsive buying. Ghosh and Tripathi (2010), attempted to analyze purchase pattern of customers towards organized retail outlets in terms of merchandise categories purchased, time spent within the store, number of merchandise purchased on each visit, stores switching behavior and store attribute. The results of the study depicted that the younger generation has greater tendency to visit organized retail outlets. The shoppers which remained within a store for at least two hours considered shopping to be a stress releaser and fun activity.The commonly purchased items from a retail outlet are garments followed by groceries, lifestyle products and household appliances. The study further reveals that customers in tier 2 and tier 3 cities evaluate a store on convenience and merchandise mix, store atmosphere and services * Urvashi, Gupta (2012) in her study in Jammu. RNCOS (2009) has stated that as per â€Å"Global Convenience Store Market Analysis†, changing consumer preferences, lifestyle and rising income level, which is heavily influenced by economic growth, remains the major driving force for c-store ind ustry in the Asian region. Purohit and kavita (2012) according there studies that the traditional retailers are not very much clear about the consequences of the modern retailing the traditional retailers are netural or undecided, modern retailing will cut the profit margin of the traditional retailers; the modern retailing will lead healthy competition in the market, modern retailing will reduce the sales volume of the traditional retailers and traditional retailers should improve customer care services in the era of modern retailing.RESEARCH METHODOLOGY OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY: â€Å"A comparative study of consumers preference for big retailers against small departmental stores at cc departmental store lpu. † For this study an interview was conducted and for this we visited the owner of cc departmental store at lpu and discussed various problems faced by him. The major problem he focused on was that his sales were declined because of the shifting consumers preferences from d epartmental stores to wanabuy mall located at lpu.He discussed various other problems also like promotion is banned due to policies of lpu, inventory management etc. So to look into this matter this survey is conducted and the results will be analysed later. There is a need to study shifting preferences of consumers towards various retail formats. Whether there is any relation between the demographic profile of the consumers and preferred retail format and does income besides other family attributes play a role in selection of the retail formats are some of the questions require a probe in.One of the objectives set for this study is to identify the factors that influence the choice of organized retail trade. For this purpose, the choice of retail store will be studied along with demographic factors like gender, age, qualification, occupation, annual income and location of the respondents. This present study will be conducted with a purpose of understanding the changes taking place i n the minds of consumers towards modern retail formats and traditional retailers. POPULATION: In my study the population will be all the students and staff embers of lovely professional university. SAMPLE: Primary data will be collected from 60 respondents which will include (40 students and 20 staff members). These respondents will be selected by convenience sampling technique of probability random sampling. Secondary data will be collected from various journals, books, articles, newspapers. QUESTIONNARE: A structured questionnaire will be prepared in which there will be questions asked to respondents related to their visits in departmrntal stores and big retails and various scales will be used i. Likert scale, and the questions wil be of open ended and multiple choice questions. The purpose of this study will be to grab the preferences of consumers, whether they like to visit small stores or big organized retails and what is the main reason for their shifting preferences. It will be helpful for both the organized as well as unorganized retailers. REFERENCES: * Baker, Julie, and Diana Haytko (2000), â€Å"The Mall as Entertainment: Exploring Teen Girls’ Total Shopping Experiences,† Journal of Shopping Center Research, 7(1): 29-58. Pachauri Moneesha (2001). Consumer Behaviour:a Literature Review. The Marketing Review, 2(3), 319-355. * Arshad, S. A. (2007) â€Å"Issues in Retailing†, Research in Management and Technology, Ed. by Aneet and Ramanjeet Singh, Deep and Deep Publications Pvt. Ltd. , pp 109-118. * Singh, H. (2007) â€Å"Consumer Awareness and Consumption Pattern of Food products in Haryana†, Journal of IMS group, Vol. 3, No 1, pp 24-33 * Mishra S. Mridula (2007). The Consumption Pattern of Indian Consumers Choice between Traditional and Organized Retail. Retrieved Feb. 1, 2012, from http://ssrn. com/abstract=994238 * Goswami, P. and Mishra, M. S. (2008) â€Å"Would Indian consumers move from kirana stores to organized reta ilers when shopping for groceries? † Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp 127-143. * Tender, M and Crispen, C. (2009) â€Å"In-store shopping environment an impulsive buying†, African Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 1(4), pp 102-108 * Goswami Paromita & Mishra S. Mridula (2009). Would Indian Consumers Move from kirana Stores to Organized Retailers When Retail for Groceries?.Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 21(1), 127-143. * Ghosh, P. et. al. , (2010) â€Å"Customer expectations of store attributes: A study of organized retail outlets in India†, Journal of Retail & Leisure Property, Vol. 9, No 1, pp 75–87 * Gupta, Urvashi (2012), â€Å"Impact of Organized Retailing on Unorganized Sector†, A study in Jammu Region. International Journal of Research in Commerce, IT & Management, Vol. 2(2012), No 01, pp 112-15. * India Retail Report (2009) â€Å"The India Retail Story† www. indiaretailing. om/in diaretailreport- 2009-detailed-summary. pdf * â€Å"Indian retail: The supermarket’s last frontier†. The Economist. 3rd December 2011. http://www. economist. com/node/21541017 * â€Å"India Goes Wild Over Wal-Mart†. The Wall Street Journal. November 29 2011. http://online. wsj. com/article/SB10001424052970203802204577066501218085104. html? mod=googlenews_wsj * â€Å"A good retail decision badly sold†. India Today. 3 December 2011. http://indiatoday. intoday. in/story/fdi-in-multibrand-retail-congress-cpim-bjpinflation/1/162586. html

Decision Making and Investment Decisions Essay

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Use of animals in medical research - Essay Example The first perspective is the animal welfare that is generally proposed and furthered by the animal rights groups. Most countries have laws to protect animals from unnecessary cruel. However, these animal rights groups maintain that the various legislations that have been put in place have not succeeded in prevent many horrific cases of animal abuse witnessed in research laboratories. They are of the opinion that most medical breakthroughs would still have been made without the use of animals and other solutions and alternative to animals can be found because research on animals often yields irrelevant results. The animal welfare view exists in respect to human’s right to use animals for human benefits but with the responsibility of doing so in a humane way. Animal rights activists believe that animal rights directly compare to those of a human being and therefore it is wrong to perform a procedure that sacrifices the animal’s life or puts it in danger even if the proced ure is to help save a human life. Various organizations support research procedures if it means there is a regular refining technique that causes minimum discomfort and use of painkillers and anaesthetic for invasive procedure. There have been minimal restrictions on animal experimentations with various laws broadening the mandate to use appropriate pain-relievers, include commercially bred and exhibited animals and providing the necessary laboratory animal-care standards and the reduction of unnecessary animal research experiments.

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Company Law contracts - Essay Example However, in Twycross v Grants1, Cockburn CJ went so far to state that a promoter is one who undertakes to form a company with reference to a given project, and to set it going, and who takes the necessary steps to accomplish their purpose2. In Whaley Bridge Calico Printing Co v Green3 Bowen J explained that the term promoter is a term not of law, but of business, usefully summing up in a single word a number of business operations familiar to the commercial world by which a company is generally bought in to existence. A promoter is an agent of the Company, as someone cannot be an agent of a non-existent principal Kelner v Baxter4. He is not a trustee (Re Leads). However, a promoter can be regarded as a Fiduciary (Finn, Fiduciary obligations 1977)5. Fiduciary obligations are duties owed to a third party to act with 'loyalty and good faith in dealings which affect that person' (Penner 2006). This means that the duty to act more than just acting honestly and fairly but rather the fiduciary 'must act to secure his principal's best interests and must not follow his interests. Lord Cairns LC explained the particular position of promoters as opposed to other type of fiduciaries such as trustees and directors in Erlanger v New Sombrero Phosphate Co (1878): They stand on my opinion, undoubtedly in a fiduciary position. ... They has in their hands the creation and mounding of the company; they have the power of defining how, and when, and in what shape, and under what supervision, it shall start into existence and begin to act as a trading corporation. The core duty of a promoter is not to make a secret profit from his position. In Kelner v Baxter6 promoters of a hotel company entered into a contract on its behalf for the purchase of wine the company, when incorporated, ratified. The wine was consumed but before payment was made the company went to liquidation.7 The promoters, as agents, were sued on the contract. Erle CJ, rejecting this argument and holding the promoters personally liable. It was exemplified by Natal Land & Colonization Co v Pauline Colliery Syndicate8, which the court from enforcing a pre-incorporation contract prevented the company made on its behalf. In Erlanger v New Sombrero Phosphate Co, a syndicate purchased a mine for 55,000.The syndicate then formed a company an through a nominees sold the mine for it for 100,000 without disclosing their interest in the contract. The mining operations were fruitless and the shareholders removed the original Directors and the new board successfully brought an action to have the sale rescinded. In Salomon v Salomon & Co Ltd9, the House of Lords took the view that if the Board was not independent, disclosure to all material facts should be made to the original shareholder. But note that in Gluckstein v Barnes10 the House of lords refined the duty further by holding that disclosure to original shareholders will not be sufficient if they are not truly independent and the scheme as a whole is designed to defraud the investing public11. As with directors, a promoter of a company selling property

Characters of Dexter and Missie May Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Characters of Dexter and Missie May - Essay Example The characters Dexter and Missie May Banks have been presented with memorable roles in developing the stories in Winter Dreams, and The Gilded Six-Bite respectively to achieve the themes within the stories. Winter Dreams as written by Scott Fitzgerald has been based on the events that affect the leading character Dexter Green as presented by the girl in his life. Although his background fails to meet the standards presented in the story, Dexter depicts the desire to meet satisfaction from material wealth. His definition of a perfect life had been inhabited by wealth, money and comfort in the arms of Judy Jones. Judy becomes the key to reveal Dexter’s potential as she advocates for him to be successful. The leading themes in power, beauty and success are represented through the leading character when Dexter desires the luxurious lifestyle. Dexter’s Character Dexter is hardworking, and we are told of the role that he features to be a caddie in the search for money (Fitzge rald). He had further sough to gain success ad wealth when he had declined his position as a caddie to join the ranks of the wealthy class. Dexter strives to lead a more flourishing lifestyle and he demonstrates the fete through joining the Eastern University. The more enthusiastic Dexter proves to be enterprising and ambitious. This is more evident when he borrows money to invest in the laundry hustle that made him borrow $1,000. Dexter’s ability to seek the determination needed to acquire wealth saw him become a leading entrepreneur at the young age of 27. Dexter presents the image required to reflect him as a hard worker and an individual who requires progress. He rises from his neighborhood in Keeble to become a prominent personality within the community. Dexter toils to rise the ranks into a group that holds more wealth within the society and differentiates from the class that had been created by the failure within the society to offer a counter measure. The winter dream s theme had been created to be based on the expectations needed by the young Dexter who works as a caddie and dreams of playing with the established personalities. He further improves his relationship with Judy after acquiring the wealth required to accord a complete life. However, the satisfaction that he presents in Judy is not fully presented because he loses interest as her beauty fades. He is depicted as an inconsiderate character after leaving her first wife Irene for Judy. Dexter places most effort on the image he relays towards the society as he values the wealth and power that he had worked hard to acquire. â€Å"The Gilded Six-Bite† by Zora Neal Hurston is written to delve on the theme of love betrayal and the desire to reconcile with those that share love. The story set in Eatonville depicts Missie May who is eager to impress her new husband Joe. However, their relationship is threatened by, the new wealthy, personality in Otis Slemmons. Joe brags of the wealth tha t Slemmons holds and acknowledges the power presented in the wealth realized in Slemmons but acknowledges that the power he holds is in his beautiful Missie. These fantasies push Missie to the arms of Slemmons who seizes the opportunity to lay with her in exchange for a gold coin. Although these events lead to tension between the couple, Joe forgives his wife, and they reconcile their differences (Hurston 53). Missie May’

Modern Business in Comparative Perspective Essay - 5

Modern Business in Comparative Perspective - Essay Example The model has been formulated by Porter with due consideration of trade theories. In this regard, Porter has devised the model based on different factors that include resources, cost and infrastructure among others and accordingly, the model developed is important to have an extensive understanding of competition relating to market segment, product differentiation and technological changes. Porter also recommended that the model would explain about the procedures with the assistance of which organizations are able to perform operations effectively and competitively. In this context, Porter while formulating the model conduct an examination in ten countries such as the US, Germany, Denmark, South Korea, Britain, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan and Singapore. This type of model helps in recognizing the elements of competitive advantage of the countries. Subsequently, diamond model makes a structure, which determines the rules of competition in a sector and marks the important role to be played for attaining the long-term effectiveness (Bakan & Dogan, 2012). In this regard, the essay intends to explain the concept of Porter’s diamond model and national competitive advantage as well as the key issues and problems in relation to competitive advantage of nations. Porter’s diamond model is a type of economic model, which is established by Michael Porter in the book The Competitive Advantage of Nations, where he explains the reason of competitiveness of particular businesses in specific nations. Porter analyzed and formulated the model based on two parts. Initially, the analysis has been conducted on ten important nations that include the US, Germany, Denmark, South Korea, Britain, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan and Singapore in order to develop a map based on which organizations can conduct operations for their success. Second analysis is the dynamic process through which competitive advantage can be accomplished.

What Problems do UEL Student Expect to have in their Future Essay

What Problems do UEL Student Expect to have in their Future Professional Careers and what are their plan to over come it - Essay Example It will gather data from UEL student and analyse it in more depth. The above question analyses two parts of the research. The first part analyses the data generated from the small scale. The second part includes a personal development plan showing how and to what extent studying for the degree has been beneficial to me as a student. The reason for this is because by being in the corporate market students will be capable to link their responsibilities at work with what they will be learn during their degree course. Today’s technology is significantly changing the way Universities teach and how students learn. There are great possibilities for the academic institutions with change in equipping graduates in competing in knowledge economy. Witte &Steijn (245–264.) describes that; students who want to do Master studies should have work experience before doing so. Dale et al.(1998) shows the other reason is that working before taking on degree builds student’s self con fidence and determination for them to take up the studies in order to improve their working skills. In certain areas of work, using a more practical approach and having acquired work experience enables one to have a competitive edge in the job market. Andrea (2010) shows having a working experience is necessary because it is true that some skills may never be taught in a classroom but are acquired though working experience. Methodology In my research I have decided to choose interview and questionnaire. Questionnaires method is one of the most popular concepts of conducting research because it’s easily filled and straightforward. However interview is more complex to analysis as it’s challenging to code and produce graph and chart to display the results. This type of method focuses on conversation between both the interviewee and the interviewer. (Rosemary 2009) quantitative questionnaire and qualitative interview research are the selected data collection methods. The d ifference between both methods is information to be collected in-depth and the other generated statistics. The questionnaire was simple and it started with few closed questions. The questionnaire was designed in a simplistic fashion. It consists of multiple questions in order to reflect the main aspects, which are; retrieving the demographics and the prospect of student aspect, the problems student would encounter in the future and finally plans and measures student would undertake to improve the chance of employability and reduce risks. The questionnaire was given out to student in my seminar and also in the library of UEL. To analyse the data gathered from the questionnaire will be coded and inputted into Microsoft Excel (Kothari 2001). Consequently the data will be integrated into graphs, tables and charts in order to assess and compare against each other. Interview was conducted after the quantitative data collection in order to gain more qualitative insight the issue. The inter view process was subjected to trial to prevent any issue up rising. In order to exclude this, a passive interview method was executed. One to one method of research will be conducted where both interview and the interviewee exclusively focus on the topic being researched (Kahn and Cannel, 1957). The interview was conducted at the same manner as the questionnaire. The reason for using this method is because it’s informal, it also takes less time to process data and it is flexible to use. Holliday (2007) puts it that this method is also effective as there is no moderation or control of data collection environment. Interview is also effective as it provided interactive features if the interviewer had appropriate technology. Personal interaction with the respondent is also beneficial as they feel more relaxed and candid to

Managerial Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 2

Managerial Accounting - Essay Example Initially, they started off with producing high quality record players which attracted customers belonging to a certain age group but gradually they shifted into producing technologically advanced products such as CD players, MP3 players and USB turntable. This helped the company to reach a wider customer base, rather only a younger one. This indicates that their primary strategy was to achieve a higher level of customer satisfaction. In addition to that, GEK’s leaders followed a team or sound style of leadership strategy which was concerned with both the production and employees (Zeidan 2009, 82-85). This was evident from the fact that highly skilled and experienced employees were paid sufficiently well. B. Strength: The development of the USB turntable has proven to be a huge strength for GEK technologies. With the rising demand for new style of products which demonstrated portability, USB turntable was a perfect introduction. This is evident from the sharper than expected i ncrease in sales for the USB Turntable over the last few years. Another strength associated with GEK technologies comes from the product Record player as the manufacturing of this product requires high level of craftsmanship. In 2012, the employees of GEK technologies working on the record player division were older, more experienced and very loyal. These workers displayed the highest level of craftsmanship in the company as well as in the entire industry. This was evident from the fact that record players represented a relatively high proportion of total sales in certain places. Weaknesses: GEK’s weakness can be identified in the CD player and MP3 player division where the sales growth became stagnant after 2010. This also shows that the development of USB turntable was mistimed as it halted the sales of CD players and MP3 players whose sales rate were significantly higher than any other product divisions. Opportunities: GEK’s opportunities can be witnessed in the USB turntable production division as it is shows a sharper than expected increase. The investment in this division is prospective. This is aided with the consistent increase in the sales rate and rising demand of new style of products which are portable, which in turn would help the division to generate significant wealth for the companies. Moreover, USB turntable as a product can be viewed as a ground work for further development of other products. Apart from that, another opportunity can be noticed in the record player division. Since the sales rate of this division is decreasing rapidly and the technology is becoming obsolete, the company can choose to shut it down and use the excess proceeds, generated from selling the assets, to either invest in another prospective project or distribute the excess cash as dividends to the shareholders. Threat: Having studied the report of GEK, record player and USB turntable division poses a certain degree of threat to the company. Record player w hich is an obsolete technology has accrued obsolete assets and inventories worth $287,000. Moreover, the company might incur losses as there was a sharp decline in sales in this division and high cost of production was associated with it. The USB turntable division is another threat to the company because a sharper than expected increase in sales for the USB turntable had resulted in delays in production and a backlog of orders. This

Youtube.coms Way of Producing Value and Transforming it Into Money Essay

Youtube.coms Way of Producing Value and Transforming it Into Money - Essay Example YouTube's uses video playback technology that allows the company to display videos with quality comparable to more established video playback technologies that generally require the user to download and install a small piece of software called a browser plug-in in order to watch the video. Although the Flash itself requires a plug-in, said plug-in is generally found in approximately 90% of Internet-connected computers, hence users could easily download. It was the use of this technology that explains a key component of company’ success as it viewers watch video instantly without installing software or dealing with a common problem found in other video technologies stock. According to a July 16, 2006, survey, 100 million clips are viewed daily on YouTube, with an additional 65,000 new videos uploaded per 24 hours (Wikipedia, 2006) (Paraphrasing made). YouTube business must have come to what has predicted long ago where the users of its website may be considered the ‘technocrats’ or part of the ‘knowledge class’. In the early 1970’s Bell (1973) predicted the advent of the information society would which inevitably lead to the hegemony of the creators of information: the Knowledge Class. Touraine (1974) was predicted also about the new dominant class [of technocrats] which defined as knowledge and a certain level of education. Youtube.com's production chain operational strategy is a combination of contributions from creative labor and immaterial labor.

Gabriel Oak Essay Example for Free

Gabriel Oak Essay The minor character in the novel, such as the farm labourers and Bathshebas maids, although appearing to be insignificant and unimportant actually have influential and crucial roles to play in the novel. They provide the story with many aspects which help move the plot forward whilst bringing authenticity, humour and personal views to the tale. Undeniably the most important minor character is Liddy, she provides the reader with large amounts of valuable information concerning the personalities of Bathsheba from the conversations they hold. This is mainly due to the close relationship between the two, Liddy being Bathshebas maid. As a result, the characteristics of the latter are shown, not through narration which would be too crude and observable for Hardys style, but through conversations between the two. By using this method Hardy can exercise his trademark subtlety and let the audience come to their own conclusions concerning Bathsheba, that of which Hardy originally intended. A good example of this technique where by using Liddy as a medium in which the characteristics of Bathsheba are fed to the reader is at the beginning of the novel where we first come into contact with Bathshebas excessive vanity. The following quote was from a conversation between the two women on the subject of Oaks proposal: HHHHHHHHHHHHsad A man wanted to once, she said, in a highly experienced voice How nice it must seem! said Liddy, with the fixed features of mental realization. And you wouldnt have him? He wasnt quite good enough for me. Although Liddys main role is to provide the reader with the characteristics of Bathsheba, she has also serves the purpose of moving the plot along. In fact, one of the most essential developments in the story was sparked by a comment from Liddy, the decision to send Boldwood the Valentine card which later lead to his complete psychological breakdown: What fun it would be to send it to the stupid old Boldwood, and how he would wonder! said the irrepressible Liddy. Besides Liddy there are also many other minor characters that play important and influential roles in providing the story with the ingredients that contribute to making the whole book an attractive read. One of the most major roles that they play is their comments on the main characters and actions which take place. This was Hardys method of relaying information that have not been directly covered in the narration to the readers. The mindless chat of the labourers and maids provide us with essential gossip on the actions of the main characters but also they provide the audience their own views on the subject in hand. By giving the reader views from characters in the book, Hardy knew that this would inspire our own thinking upon the subject and they for us to form our own judgements. From those judgements, the majority of the reader will come to the same conclusion, that of which Hardy originally intended. Due to the predictions that the reader will be subconsciously making whilst all this information is relayed to them it creates an air of suspense as one waits to see if their prediction was correct. An example of this can be seen when Gabriel Oak first arrives in Weatherbury and is told about the story of the stealing balif by the rustics: As to shepherd, there, Im sure misess ought to have made ye her baily-such a fitting man fort as you be. This comment by Joseph Poorgrass makes the reader wonder if Bathsheba will indeed employ Oak as her balif. And automatically the audience moves to the question of whether Oak and Bathsheba will actually develop a relationship should Oak work for her. This is Hardys technique of ensuring interest from the audience, by using the comments of the rustics he is able to create curiosity and suspense in the story. Another example of Hardys style of parallels of what is to happen comes from a conversation Liddy and Boldwood hold after the town hears of the death of Troy: My mistress certainly did once say, though not seriously, that she supposed she might marry again at the end of seven years from last year. Reading this remark once again sparks the interest of the readers drawing them to the question: will Bathsheba marry again at the end of the seven years and if so who? Boldwood or Oak? However, despite the subtle intention of drawing attention from the readers the rustics also have a more basic objective of providing the reader of more understanding of the characters and the events. Especially, we learn more detail regarding the past of the main characters which gives us a more comprehensive understanding of the saga as a whole. In addition, from this knowledge more accurate pre conceptions are made and leads back to the point I suggested previously on the topic of drawing interest. We learn that Boldwood has had madness in his family and therefore gain a more perceptive insight into Boldwoods passion and obsession: Oh Coggan, said Troy, as if inspired by a recollection, do you know if insanity has ever appeared in Mr.Boldwoods family? Jan reflected for a moment.

Can the media influence politics?

Can the media influence politics? Can the media influence politics? If so, how? If not, why not? There are numerous academic theories as to the relationship between politics and the media, and whether or not one is a dominant partner greatly influencing the output of the other. Some purport that the media hold extraordinary amounts of power in the political arena, however many other believe that the power they wield is in fact minimal (Newton Van Deth, 2009). What cannot be disputed is the idea that the media and its audience are interdependently connected; the media will alter their message to suit a specific audience, while the public are more likely to invest in media which reflects their viewpoints. Generalisation is something which should be avoided when discussing the media’s relationship with politics, as while the term media traditionally may have been used in reference to newspapers and radio or television programmes, (Newton Van Deth, 2009) it now encapsulates social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. There are those who may argue that media simply represe nts the political views of the public, and while that may be true in the cases of social networks, many may challenge its truth in relation to mass media news outlets. In this essay I will attempt to conclude myself as to the extent of influence media has on politics, and evidence how I have come to that conclusion. In the UK, the link between media and politics is undeniable. For a major newspaper to alter its political allegiance is a sizeable change, which would be expected to dominate all forms of media. For example the decision of The Sun, Britain’s most widely circulated newspaper and therefore the focus of my study, to remove its 12 year support for Labour in 2009 created national news, and ultimately forecast the downfall of the Labour government. It is worth noting that The Sun has supported the party that eventually forms the next government in the last 7 General Elections; something which suggests that The Sun hold great influence over the political opinions of their readers. However, in 1997, 2001 and 2005, the Conservative vote was not as effected as one may imagine, with an average32% of Sun readers saying they would vote Conservative through that period (Ipsos MORI, 2010). While this research may suggest that The Sun is a newspaper which will ruthlessly alter its allegiance in order to be on the winning side of an election, I would argue that this is not necessarily the case. In the 1992 General Election for example, The Sun had been consistently anti-Labour and Kinnock, including their infamous ‘If Kinnock wins today will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights’ headline, despite the polls suggesting either a minority Labour government or a very slim Labour Majority. The attacks on Kinnock in the final days of the 1992 campaign were widely regarded as responsible for Labour’s unexpected defeat (McKee, 1995), and even Neil Kinnock himself announced in his departing speech that ‘the Conservative-supporting press has enabled the Tory Party to win yet again when the Conservative Party could not have secured victory for itself on the basis of its record’ (Whitney, 1992). This would be used as an example for the theory of agenda-setting, whereby a media outlet has an opinion which it pushes upon its view ership, and attempts to influence which issues are considered important. Agenda setting is achieved by attaching priority to certain stories which may reflect the opinion which the media outlet wishes to push – in this instance the opinion that a Labour government would have been bad for Britain. Another example of how the mass media have exerted a great influence over British politics, and politics in general is the growth in the publication of scandal within Westminster. Prior to the Profumo Affair in 1963, the media and the public very much stuck to the idea that the private lives of politicians should be exactly that; private. The great public interest in this story however, meant that this affair was the watershed of political scandal, with journalists taking ever further measures in order to reveal the next big scoop. Albeit not immediately followed by a huge stream of revelations, the boundaries of privacy in the lives of politicians had been broken by the media and have not been the same since (Stanyer, 2012). This could be said to be an example of priming with, in the 1990s especially, the scrutiny over the dealings of Conservative politicians from the left-wing press leading to an environment whereby Majors administration was seen to be one full of sleaze and mistru st. This was achieved with revelations such as the Cash for Questions scandal and the backfiring of John Major’s Back to Basics campaign. This is priming as rather than directly stating the conservative ministers were untrustworthy, the media simply dripped out stories to highlight this way of thinking (Newton Van Deth, 2009).The mistrust of Conservatives created by the media environment of the 1990s is perhaps best characterised in the result of the 1997 general election in the historically safe Conservative seat of Tatton, in which the Cash for Questions tainted MP Neil Hamilton lost out to an independent, Martin Bell, standing on an ‘anti-sleaze ticket’ (Mann, 1999). The coverage of scandal can also be used in an argument to suggest that the media has little influence over political thinking. Those who believe in the reinforcement theory which states that ‘mass media can only reflect and reinforce public opinion, not create or mould it,’ (Newton Van Deth, 2009, p. 196) would point to the relatively recent shifts in what journalists publicise in relation to scandal in politics. While prior to the millennium scandal was often focused on the private lives and sexual misdemeanours of the political class, as such behaviour has become normalised in open society, the media has taken less of an interest in it. The public have gone from being shocked by behaviour that may be considered immoral, or not ‘Christian’, to now being shocked by primarily criminal activities. This has directly led to the kind of journalistic research which resulted in the Expenses scandal in 2009. The enormity of this story reflects the moral leanings o f the British people in the 21st century, and was a story picked up by media outlets nationwide – all of which will have held different agendas. Some may say that this proves to an extent that the media cannot control or influence, but merely just publish information which will reinforce public opinion. On a more international scale, it is difficult to ignore the way in which social media forms and revolution have gone hand in hand, specifically in the Arab Spring. It is not a recent idea that the new media of the late 20th and 21st centuries would create new dimensions from which politics can be influenced (Poster, 1995). In Egypt, ‘cyberactivism’ first came to existence in2004, and offered an alternative to the state-controlled media; allowing people to express opinion unpopular with the government. From 2008 onwards, in the shadow of a global economic crisis and an increasingly repressive government, there was a growing number of protests in which a key role has been played by new media forms (Khondker, 2011). It cannot be questioned that social networking was a pivotal player in the organisation and publicising of the protests across the region. One reason for this was the state control of traditional media, which left social media as almost the last voice of the pe ople. On a ground level ‘Facebook was used to schedule the protests’ and ‘Twitter to coordinate’ (Khondker, 2011), and then following on from this traditional media was utilised to present the uprisings to an international audience who in turn supported the uprising. In this case, and similar ones across North Africa, new media held great influence over politics. It mobilised opposition groups, allowing them to build a group identity as well as coherence. The influence that such new media can exert over politics in times of revolution and uprising should not, however, be overstated. It is important to point out that for such events to unfold, certain revolutionary conditions and the inability of the state to react to the actions of the people must be present. In this sense the media is merely a tool of the revolution, not a predetermined necessity for a revolution to occur (Khondker, 2011). Personally I believe that the media, both new and old, does not have a monopoly over the thoughts of the people and instead just provides them with a voice from which their ideas can be spread. The fact that revolutions have occurred throughout history in times before social media, such as the French and Cuban Revolutions, tells me that new media is more of an enabler than a driving force behind such events (Himelfarb, 2011). To conclude, I believe that the influence of the media over politics depends greatly upon the political situation in the region that it is being published. In more politically stable areas, such as the UK, while the media may have a certain agenda their consumers are likely to only access and take note of media that reflects their personal views. Mass media must cater to a certain readership in order to be sustainable as a business, and therefore cannot obviously attempt to mould public opinion. This is evidenced by the fact that in all post war elections but 1, the party with the greatest media support has formed the next government (Butler Butler, 2010). Despite this, the media can play a vital role in influencing politics, as displayed in the aforementioned Arab Spring. I believe this is a sign of the future, in which conventional media will play a comparatively small role to that of social media, in Africa and beyond.

Formal Analysis: Roman Sarcophagus Essay -- Essays Papers

Formal Analysis: Roman Sarcophagus There have been countless duels between two opposing sides in the history Roman artistry. This sculpture relief signifies the classic battle of good versus evil. Time and time again, benevolent heroes find themselves in a struggle to combat worthy yet malicious adversaries. The Roman sarcophagus, a two by five feet marble coffin, is certainly no exception. It represents another division to this timeless good-evil epic, its visual characteristics, emphasis on contrasts, and its extensive array of details give it an identity that is uniquely its own. It portrays a sense of legendary fantasy to the viewer, one pertaining to hostility, violence, and pure anger. The sculpture seems overly shallow due to the fact that the same mythical figures are repeated within the story setting, but with a little insight one can try and describe its true meaning. Every object, every expression, and everything that exists within this work are there for a reason. The Sarcophagus is in relatively good condition even though some parts of it seem a little worn possibly due to the passage of time. Some of the worn areas include portions of the centaurs’ faces as well as specific areas of the background. Several corners appear to be chipped off and missing. Given its small size in terms of coffins suggests that this had been intended for a child. In addition, some portions of the sculpture contain tiny drainage holes, as this funeral item was later used as a...

Medical Advances Essay -- Essays Papers

Medical Advances Besides the computer revolution, medical advances have caused tension between faith and reason. The medical advances of the Twentieth Century have many beneficial effects for humanity. Diseases that used to be dangerous or life threatening, like mumps, measles, and whooping cough, are no longer worries in todays medical world. Tetanus, typhoid, and the bubonic plaque can now be treated with antibiotics or other medicines. Vaccines, especially the polio vaccine, freed many people from the effects of a disease. Advances in heart surgery and organ transplants have saved many lives. Anesthetics and painkillers have been made to reduce or eliminate pain during surgery or a painful disease. Advances in cancer and AIDS have also been made, although many of the details of these diseases are yet to be learned. Another area of medical advancement is genetic engineering. Genetic engineering will detect and possibly stop diseases before birth. Many diseases are associated with specific genes that can be checked for disease and replaced if dysfunctional. Genetic testing has already revealed genetic mutations that cause hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, colon cancer, polycystic kidney disease, Alzheimers disease, and others. (5) Replacing missing, altered, inactive, or dysfunctional genes will prevent diseases or even death. Also, progression of a disease can be monitored, and proactive measures against recurrence and relapse of the disease can be made. Molecular medicine in genetics will also improve the design and testing of new drugs. Cloning is another new medical advance that allows for many great possibilites. Exact organ matches for organ transplants could be made through cloning. Animal... ...e" specific traits in people could lead to the "creating" of a specific person, also known as cloning. Although the ability to create people could mean Mother Teresa could be re-created or cloned, this ability also means Hitler could be re-created or cloned. The effects of this power depend upon whose hands the power is in. So, who has the power to play God? This question needs to be answered to decide if many of the latest medical advances are justifiable. Obviously, only God can have the power to be God. Only He truly understands peopleà ­s purpose on earth since He put them there. Court cases and congressional actions are taking place to decide how the United States stands on the ethics of medical procedures. Humans have been working hard to find medical techniques to save life and now all this progress is being reverted, especially through abortions and euthanasia.

Comparing An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge and The Snows of Kilimanjaro :: comparison compare contrast essays

An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge and The Snows of Kilimanjaro. Death is an intriguing thing. From time immemorial we have feared it, used it, pondered it. Frequently, stories allow the reader into the minds of those immediatly surrounding the one who will die; but all of us "will die." Our morbid interest is in dying, the going, that threshold between death and life. What happens there? There are similiarities and differences in how death appears to the protagonist, written by Ambrose Bierce in An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge, and Ernest Hemingway in The Snows of Kilimanjaro. Bierce offers An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge to show the incredible fantasy that passes through the mind of a man as he dies. Hemingway's engrossing description lies in The Snows of Kilimanjaro. Here, on the African savannah, a man encounters death slowly and with excruciating lucidness. While the differences between the two stories are easy to enumerate, it is the simliarities that may offer the most insight into the minds of the authors and, perhaps, into the minds of us all. The setting for An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge is northern Alabama during the Civil War. Peyton Farquhar (Peyton) is said to be a planter who is left behind by the Confederate Army due to circumstances "...of an imperious nature," but he longs for the "release of his energies, the larger life of the soldier, the opportunity for distinction." Immaturity seems the watchword for him; the eagerness with which he swallows the bait presented by a Union spy may give a glimpse of the lack of gravity in Peyton's character that leads to his capture and to the fantastic attempt at escape or denial that his mind fabricates just before his death. Peyton is not a realist. Harry is a realist. The protagonist in The Snows of Kilimanjaro faces his pending doom with distinct clarity and resignation. In fact, his insistance greatly distrubs his wife (naturally) who tries to cheer him up by telling him that help is only a day away, and all that is needed to make it is a positive attitude. Harry is positive. He is certain that he will die very soon. He knows the mistake that has sealed his fate. Although he would change the past if he could, he does not seem to lament his end except for the writing he will never do.

Who benefits from take over resistance tactics

Who benefits from take over resistance tactics? According to the finance literature, a takeover is a process whereby a firm acquires another firm, resulting in a change of the controlling interest of the acquired firm. Takeovers can occur through acquisitions, proxy contests and going-private transactions. They can be friendly when the management of the target firm is receptive to the bidder offer or they can be hostile when target firm managers resist takeover attempts by using defensive tactics. According to Ross et al (2010), takeovers can result in change of firm policies, layoffs, terminations, or overhaul of business operations.To analyze who benefits from a takeover resistance tactic, we should first examine the reasons or motivations of the defensive tactic by target firm managers. According to Ruback (1987), managers resist takeovers for the following reasons: Managers believe that firm has hidden values, this is due to the private information they have about the firms futur e prospects that is not available to the public and when managers assess the takeover bid by comparing the offer price with what they believe is the fair value of the firm (incorporating the private information) and the offer price turns out to be less, managers will oppose the offer.Managers believe the resistance will increase offer price, therefore, their attempt to resist slows the bid and create opportunity to an increase of the tender offer as the bidder after an initial unsuccessful friend offer, tries to buy through a tender offer and if not successful, try the auction for the firm. According to Ruback (1983) cited in Ruback (1987), the final offer price exceeded the initial offer price by 23% in 48 competitive tender offers between 1962-81.Managers may want to preserve their Jobs and positions, especially when they are ware that the bidder intends to replace the target firm's management. Target firm managers use a variety of defensive tactics to avoid takeovers, from alteri ng the terms of directors where managers amend charters of the firm to make takeovers more difficult; golden parachutes related to severance packages payable to managers in the event of takeover, increasing the cost of acquisition; poison pills provision that are deterrent to the acquirer diluting for example the acquirers share in the firm.Other tactics after the company in in play include greenmail and standstill agreement, white knight and white squire, recapitalization and repurchases where managers issue debt to repurchase shares aising the market share price, making it less attractive to the bidder; exclusionary self-tenders and asset restructuring. These tactics are built by management for self- protection reasons, being severe, (blocking takeovers) or soft tactics with no substantial impact on the offer price.However, empirical evidence shows that although manager's defensive tactics may sometime rarely shareholders by increasing wealth, in general, these tactics do not have a positive impact in the share price of the target firm. According to DeAnglelo and Rice (1983) cited in Ruback (1987. p56-57), they found no evidence of share price reaction to adoption of orporate charters amendment when analyzing 53 firms using staggered boards as well as the ettect ot super majority provision. Ho ( 6) cited in Ruback 7), tound no evidence of existence of abnormal return for a sample of 23 poison pills.This conclusion is also consistent with findings of Kidder, Peabody and Company for a sample of 167 poison pills where no stock price change was observed. Evidence by Dann and DeAngelo (1983) proves that there is a negative stock price reaction with the use of standstill agreements by -4% whereas, greenmails, cause a negative stock reaction of -3%. Dann and DeAngelo (1986) cited in Ruback (1987), analyzed 20 transactions where they found that acquisitions and divestitures, reduce by 2% the share price of the target firm. In general, empirical evidence supports the idea that manager's defensive tactics are harmful to the target firm value.For example, Bates et al (2012) reported that Microsoft Corporation offered USD 47 billion to Yahoo in 2008, a premium above 60% however; this offer was rejected by Yahoo executives. Following Microsoft's withdrawal of the acquisition bid, Yahoo's shares dropped by 1 5%; the CEO of Yahoo was later replaced for this costly and selfish behavior. According to Bradley et al (1988) cited in Devos (2009), companies merge to benefit from synergies. For a sample of 236 successful tender offers from 1963-1884, they noted that the equity value for the combined firms increased by 7,4% in average.Synergy is when the combined firm value exceeds the value of the acquirer and acquired firm before the acquisition. Therefore, synergy is attached to the incremental cash flows, coming from revenue enhancement, cost reduction, tax gains and reduced capital requirements. According to Brealey (2003), acquisitions can happen in th ree basic forms, merger or consolidation, acquisition of stock and cquisition of assets. The merger is the incorporation of assets and liabilities of one firm by another and the acquirer maintains its name whereas the acquired firm ceases to exist.The main advantage of this method over others rely on the minimum costs incurred on mergers as they do not require the transfer of title deed of individual assets of the acquired firm to the acquiring firm which is costly provided that the merger is approved. In addition, in the transfer of assets form according to Ross et al (2010), minority shareholders often cause problems to the majority shareholders. The acquisition of stock as we saw above, can be costly to the bidder because of the defensive tactics used by the target firm managers as an attempt to avoid the takeover.Therefore, the outcome aimed by the acquiring firm may not be achieved as the tender price may be pushed us, above the real market value of the acquired firm.

Habeas Corpus and the War on Terror Essay

The law of Habeas Corpus was created to permit the guilty to present their case in court and to be tried fairly. In today’s war on terror, the amount of such enemy combatants who were detained indefinitely without any trial has raised. The courts are split up on following the law by the letter or to practically change it according to the situation’s needs. I feel it’s necessary to follow these laws in the same context in which they were written, and the pragmatic approach leaves room for reckless changes. To deny an enemy combatant his or her day in court cannot be justified as taking the pragmatic approach in dealing with war criminals. This paper is an attempt to present the state of law today towards war criminals and the implications of denying the basic right of Habeas Corpus to suspected terrorists. Ever since the onset of civilization, arguments have routinely erupted between various members, families, factions, and groups within civilizations and between civilizations. In ancient times, arguments would be resolved by crude means, means not limited to the powerful person using brute force to show he was in the right. The stronger person would always have, say for example, the first right to food, to agricultural produce, cattle and to wealth etc. The weak wouldn’t dare pick an argument over the stronger person in fear for their life. But as civilizations grew and advanced over time, a code of ethics and laws began to form. Societies began to incorporate and adapt these laws in their daily functioning. Drawing inspiration from religion, past civilization practices and their mistakes, it was only natural that basic human rights were thought about and codified. The rights were guaranteed to all human beings, irrespective of who was physically stronger. The American Revolution has beyond doubt shaped the basic structure of human rights for the entire world to follow. Among many undeniable rights to citizens, the writ of Habeas Corpus was identified and established very early on in the Revolution. In Europe, the writ of Habeas Corpus was first traced to be used around the 12th and 13th centuries during the medieval period. Habeas Corpus translates from Latin to mean â€Å"you may have the body† or you may examine the body. It is essentially a writ that requires any person detained by law enforcers to be tried in a court of law and have his detention validated (Bbc. com, 2005). The writ doesn’t decide whether the accused is guilty or not, it merely stipulates that the accused be tried and detained if only found guilty of the crime being accused for. The US inherited this law from the English and codified it in the constitution in Article 1, section 9. The UN later incorporated it in their international human rights in 1952. The point of contention with the habeas corpus right is to whom it applies. The law stipulates that this right be never be suspended or denied except in cases of rebellion, invasion or when perceived as a threat to public safety. Surprisingly, this writ has been previously suspended twice in the past for seemingly similar reasons. President Lincoln suspended the writ in 1861 to prosecute the war prisoners captured during the American Civil war. His argument was that the confederates were a threat to the union and hence issued the order (Dueholm, 2008). This law was later restored after the war ended in 1866. President Bush in 2006 issued a similar suspension of the habeas corpus writ to detain enemy combatants captured in the global war against terror. It deemed these accused terrorists as a threat to national security and denied them the right to be presented and tried in court. This paper will focus on the consequences faced by the accused and the validity of enforcing such a suspension. Just suspending the writ wouldn’t seem very harmful when looked at by itself. But consider for a moment who the government arrests. American policy makers routinely count any military age males as enemy combatants. Drone strikes assume anyone in the vicinity of a drone strike of military age to be a enemy combatant first and then when sufficient intelligence is available to the contrary, they are posthumously declared civilians (Balko, 2012). In a likewise fashion, arrests were also made based on the very broad physical description of an age group, or depending on where they are and who they interact with, were picked up after being accused of terrorism. Next, consider the location of their detention. Accused terrorists were detained at prison, run by US military personnel backed by US administration; set up in a foreign land i. . Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The single reason for maintaining such an institution away from US soil was to escape the jurisdiction of laws that govern detainees which would apply if held on US soil. Laws of detention stipulate not only the kind of treatment but also the punishment meted out to convicted terrorists. The captors were free to torture their captives in any way they saw fit to gather any amount of relevant information, regardless of whether the person accused is an actual terrorist holding any real information to share. Terms such as enhanced interrogation techniques had to be invented to pass them as legal and humane methods in congress. Add to this polarized scenario, the suspension of the one single law that could serve as the difference between life and death of an innocent civilian – the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. The suspension took away with it the only chance an innocent civilian had to prove his innocence. In short, simply standing at the wrong place at the wrong time can get you to serve a lifetime of torture with not even a hint of a fair trial. Naturally, concern about the handling of such detainees grew and petitions filed by family and friends of detainees finally began to reach the courts. The Supreme Court finally in a landmark case of Boumediene v. Bush ruled against the suspension of habeas corpus for the detainees with a 5-4 majority. It declared that the suspension of the writ was indeed unconstitutional. Justice Kennedy who ruled with the majority supported his stand with examples from the history of the writ back in the 12th century and its recent applicability in territories outside the border of US but still falling in its control, such as Chanel Islands. His summary also compared the legality of this writ in Scotland, which is a sovereign nation and yet still under English laws. Once US jurisdiction was proved, Justice Scoter, Ginsburg and Bryer pointed out that it would have to be one that was based on the constitution or no jurisdiction at all. Justice Scalia argued that the habeas corpus law was in fact protected by the Detainee Treatment Act, and refuted the entire judicial intervention. He was supported by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Alito and Thomas. The Justices did a fine job of evaluating the suspension of the writ. From establishing jurisdiction and what kind of jurisdiction, to an alternate mechanism to protect the habeas corpus in spirit, all avenues were thoroughly investigated. The courts also recognized the extremely difficult nature of assessing an individual in a warzone to be a combatant or a civilian in a foreign location. And yet, the writ cannot be suspended out of fear of failure in acquiring adequate proof against the detainee. Personally, I feel strongly that the writ of habeas corpus is a right so basic that it cannot be suspended in any scenario. The very least an accuser can do is to offer a fair trial to the accused. I feel that the President was wrong to remove the last ray of hope of an innocent civilian that might have been unfairly detained. The case also established the judicial soundness of our nation even at times of war, and the entire exercise in judiciary coming in between the functioning of Congress was an example to the world. Denying such a basic right makes us no different than the terrorists who accuse and punish others that broadly fit their own enemy description. Living as a part of a civilized nation for over 200 years, we owe it to ourselves to act in a dignified manner, even with our captives.

Pasadena Foursquare Church Kitchen Renovation Project Essay

1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Purpose of Risk Management 1.1.1 Knowing and Controlling Risks to Project Assets The process of Risk Management instituted tothe Project with knowledge and control over the risk position of the project. Not all identified risks can be removed. The likelihood of surpassing requirements can be traded off against the risk of surpassing the budget constraints. Risk Management is a process used to balance the project risk position across all project resource areas, controlling the distribution and magnitude of the identified risks against the cost constraints while obtaining the best possible confidence in achieving high project performance return. 1.2 Risk Management is a Project Team Effort 1.2.1 Integral Part of Project Implementation It is intended that Risk Management be an essential element in the Project Manager’s tool kit. This involves considering risk at the very beginning of the project conceptualization. The key features of risk management (RM) activity within the project are: 1.Managed risks are essential elements of the project management control process 2.Cognizant personnel accept the time imposed to develop and maintain the risk list 3.Project Management Team plans the effort and the Project Manager takes ownership of the plan 4.Risk status reports are integral to the project review process 5.Effective metrics are identified and delivered per the plan to all stakeholders These activities require require commitment from the project manager, and the Risk Representative. 1.2.2 A Team Effort Risk Management is a team effort. The project Risk Representative is the coordinator of the risk management activity. All members of the project team have important roles in identifying, assessing, and tracking risk, and in identifying the possible approaches to dealing with risks that are  necessary for the project to make good risk decisions. Risk decisions are supported by analyses and recommendations from the project team, but are ultimately made by the Project Manager in the same manner as all cost, schedule and performance impact decisions are made. 1.2.3 Integrated Risk View The Risk List developed and managed through the RM Process is a composite of the risks being managed by all elements of the project. It includes in one place the management view for risks from independent assessments, reviews, QA inspections, principles and policy, risk reviews, and residual risks from all project actions. Only in this way can it be managed as a comprehensive assessment of the liens on all project resource reserves, which allows optimized decisions to use these reserves to mitigate risks. 2. OBJECTIVES 2.1 Objectives of Risk Management The overall objective of Risk Management is to identify and assess the risks to achieving project success, and to balance the mitigation of these risks (and hence the additional cost) against the acceptance and control of these risks (and hence a possible higher degree of project performance objectives). To further these objectives, the Project Management process involves identifying risks to the success the project, understanding the nature of these risks, individually and in total, and acting to control their impact on the success of the project. 3. RISK MANAGEMENT OVERVIEW 3.1 Definitions 3.1.1Risk Risk is defined as: The combination of the likelihood of occurrence of an undesirable event and the consequence of the occurrence. This combination results in a risk severity, which is:  A measure of the risk magnitude. The higher risks dictate greater attention and urgency for action to mitigate. Risk severity is also influenced by the urgency of applying effective mitigations. Primary Risk is: A risk which rates high on the severity scale – generally high levels of  likelihood and consequence A specific risk to a project, identified in this process as a risk item, has four components, namely the undesirable event the likelihood of occurrence the severity of the consequences of the occurrence the timeframe in which mitigation decisions are required Residual Risk is: An accepted performance or safety risk, which remains after all possible or practical measures have been taken to reduce the severity. The term is especially used in identifying the risk remaining from all discrepancies dispositioned as â€Å"Use As Is† or â€Å"Repair† and accepted single failure points, or other decisions made which leave less than complete closure. The project risk position is defined as: The aggregate of the assessments of the individual risk items for the project, including the decisions made to mitigate, accept and control, or take additional risk. It is a goal that this risk position be measurable relative to project reserves. 3.1.2Risk Management In this context, risk management is defined as: An organized means of planning the risk management activity (Planning), identifying and measuring risks relevant to the Project (Identification and Assessment), identifying, selecting and implementing measures for controlling these risks so as to control the project risk position (Decision-Making), and tracking the decisions made and the evolving risk status (Tracking). Project reserves can be identified in different ways and are managed by a number of effective tools and methods. The Risk Management methodology looks at two aspects of the Project risk position – the risk to resource reserves and the measure of the project success criteria. The Risk Management methodology is based on the project risk position, which is the understanding of the â€Å"knowable† risk, while acknowledging that there are inherent â€Å"unknown† risk possibilities in any project, and must be acknowledged when judging adequacy of the reserves. 3.1.3 Significant Risk A significant risk is a risk considered by the Project Manager to require  focused attention by the Project Management Team on a regular basis. This group is largely but not necessarily identically the group of yellow and red risks in the 5X5 risk matrix, although some green risks may be included if their mitigation time frame is near-term. These are also generally the risks which are reported at the regular monthly status reviews. The Significant Risk List (SRL) is the subset of all the project isks which are significant risks. Not all risks in the project risk are significant risks, but all risks should be rated according to the 5X5 matrix 3.2 Consequence Categories of Risk Risk consequences are assessed against three fundamental categories – called consequence categories 1.The threat to achieving schedule 2.The threat to achieving Scope or Project Performance Success Criteria 3. The threat to the project budget These categories may be expanded or added-to – for instance, impact on facilities, or church activities ..etc. 3.3 The 5X5 Matrix This project has adapted the 5X5 Risk Matrix, which defines the criteria for assessing risk likelihood and consequence for both project and implementation risk. Primary risks are generally considered to be those in the red zone of the 5X5 matrix. 3.4 The Elements of the Risk Management Process The Activities of the Risk Management Process for this project are described as: 1.Identifying and characterizing risks 2.Prioritizing or ranking risks 3.Developing potential project responses to risks 4.Making decisions utilizing existing resources to restructure the program to reduce the potential effect of the risks 5.Tracking the evolving risk exposure and iterating the above actions as needed 6.Developing a plan for the above activities throughout the project life-cycle Each element of the Risk Management process requires interactions among the project team, and the process provides methodology and tools to enable effective communication and documentation. The Figure Below shows a process flow for the activity of risk management in the process. 3.5 Risk Management in the Project Life-Cycle The figure above shows the periods of activity, and generally the times of inputs/outputs of the Risk Management Process, within the project life-cycle. Each Risk Management element extends through the entire life-cycle, and the majority of effort shifts from planning through identification and assessment, decision making, to tracking as the project risk position changes and evolves. While the risk management process is serial, there is significant iteration and updating as the project progresses and matures and thus the identified risks change, are realized or retired, and new risks arise. As risk matures, probability of occurrence and/or impact will change. Risks can reduce to the level of insignificance, where they are retired, or can increase to point of occurrence, or realization. Also, new risks can and will be identified throughout the project life-cycle. The Risk Management process considers and responds to all of these outcomes by returning to earlier activities for reconsideration and update. The project’s Risk Management process can change significantly for operations, since more of the risk attention will be associated with human factors, and an update to the RM Plan may be needed. 4. THE RISK MANAGEMENT PROCESS IN PLANNING 4.1 Understanding Risk in the Planning/ Proposal Phase The Project Management Team works to define the requirements and time frames of the project. The pre-project activity involves concept defininition and exploratation with decisions made in the Project team as to the scope and budget with which the â€Å"Plan & Design† Stage Begins. In the Plan & Design Stage Each Project Task is analyzed by the Project Team and â€Å"Make Or Buy† Decisions are Madke based on the availibillity of Qualified Volunteers in the church community. Buy Decisions are made for each outstanding activity. Rough Designs are formulated by the project team calling on Subject Matter Experts as required. Rough Order of Magnitude estimations are made on the cost of each task. RFPs are released to potential contract or volunteer candidates. Proposals are received and Reviewed by the Project Team. The Designs are finalized, Schedules and budgets made and the Work Break down sturcture and Gant Charts are updated with the project â€Å"Base Line† is  established. It is at this point that the Risk List is established by the Project Team, Pulling inforomation from contractors, Subject Matter Experts and the Experience and judgement of the Project Team. The Risk List can then be used to identify the most attractive of a number of options in contractor selection, Design Changes, Scope Schedule, Buget Needs. In addition to performance and needed resources, risk should be a major consideration in justifying the chosen options. This requires specific identification of the apparent risks in each option – mitigating them if possible in the process of maturing each option The relative weights of the risks combine with the weights of the performance and resource assessments in selecting the option to go forward. Fig 4-1 Accounting for Risk in Project Formulation 4.2 Using Risk in Establishing Reserves In establishing the budget reserves for the project to be confirmed at the â€Å"Permitting† Phase, risks are used to define the risk exposure of the budget. Rrisks that are identified in the Planning Phase can be assessed for the potential cost, should they occur. This requires quantification of the risk consequence (in $) and the risk likelihood. 4.5The Preliminary Risk Management Plan At the end if Planning Phase, Preliminary RM Plan is drafted. The plan will consist of all of the Risks associated with the poject and a specific plan for controlling Each SRL risk identified 5. RISK MANAGEMENT IN IMPLEMENTATION 5.1 Risk Management Planning The SRL will be reviewed and updated weekly by the Project Management Team. Montly Status will be reported to all of the stakeholders. New Risks will probably imerge as the project progresses. Oportunity will be made to the Project Management Team Includint the Projec QA representative to add new risks the project Risk List. 5.1.1 Risk Mitigations The following subjects are considered when documenting Risk Mitigations. a)Map the project success criteria and project objectives into an overall  approach to risk Reflecting the prioritization of performance of project objectives and constraints, and weights the emphasis on the following: avoiding risk, by minimizing risk through redesign, alternative developments, parallel developments, large margins, additional equipment to buffer constrained schedules, etc.; accepting risk, by developing contingency plans and margin management criteria for exercising those plans, and/or allowing descope/ reduction in Project Performance return to trade against cost, schedule, and other resources; or taking risk, by finding and incorporating high potential performance/cost/schedule benefits with acceptable additional risk to reserves or margins. . 5.2 Risk Identification and Assessment 5.2.1 Identification and Assessment Requirements The requirements in identification and assessment are to identify the risk items, to describe them sufficiently to allow assessment and decision-making, to identify practical mitigation approaches, and to develop the Significant Risk List (SRL), which is a list of the identified risks to the project and their decision-enabling data 5.2.2 Risk Description Effective risk descriptions identify the root source of the risk concern (the Risk Condition), the event that is feared (Risk Event), and the risk Consequence to the project. The format is generally: â€Å"Because of (the condition giving risk to the risk), it is possible that (such and such event) will occur, with the consequence that (describe the impact – e.g. delivery â€Å"n† weeks late, loss of â€Å"xyz† performance capability, need to build another component, etc.)† Another, less favored, descriptive format sometimes used is: â€Å"If (such and such an event) occurs due to (the condition that †¦), then (describe the impact†¦)† Sometimes there will be further words needed to describe the uncertainty, explain why the condition is present, and what other factors are need to be considered and why. 5.2.3 Inputs When the pre-formulation or early formulation phase feasibility demonstration and scope definition results have been approved, the required inputs for Risk Identification can be assembled. The information needed for identifying and assessing risk include at least preliminary versions of: Requirements and Project Success Criteria Project Management Plan Project Requirements Risk Management Plan Staffing Plan/ key personnel Schedule/ Schedule drivers Budget/ budget drivers 5.2.4 Identifying Risk Items 5.2.4.1 Risk Identification Methodology The first step in developing the risk list is generally a brain-storming activity where potential risk items are identified by the key project personnel. These risks are characterized by two parameters – the likelihood of an adverse event and the consequences of that event. Whenever a potential risk is submitted for consideration, it is accompanied by estimates of these two parameters. The risks are identified by the â€Å"experts† in the specific subject of the risk item – that is, the key personnel submit candidate risks in their project areas of expertise. Risks may be suggested in areas outside their expertise, but they should be then presented to the expert in that area for concurrence. As these risk items are characterized, other data are needed which are described below. The mechanism for obtaining these submissions will vary. The brain-storming may occur as a group, or by e-mail, or separately in one-to-one discussions. The submissions should be â€Å"standardized† to remove very disparate interpretations of the rules before the first group consideration takes place. The following characteristics should be observed in the process. The candidate risks submitted by the team should be inclusive – if the item might be a risk, input it. The Project Manager will work with the submitter to delete inappropriate risks or modify the assessment as needed. They should have a common basis for interpretations. This is accomplished by the Project Manager iterating with the specific group members The Project Manager may use team discussion to assess the risk list, and remove differences of understanding. 5.2.4.2 Resources for Identifying Potential Risks a)External Resources Risks to the project may be identified through experiences of other projects, or the Construction industry in general b)Internal Resources Sources and resources available within Church Comunity or within the project management team which are used to develop inputs to the Risk Identification and Assessment element include: Expert Judgment The RM risk identification and assessment process relies heavily on the expert judgment of the project implementers and their peers Schedule, WBS, Work Agreement Assessments One can systematically examine the planned work and identify uncertainties to which the project has high sensitivity, which can result in risk items to be assessed. Technical, and Design Organization Assessments Functional Block Diagrams, Requirements Flow-Down, Fault Trees, etc. are all systematic organizations of the planned product which can be examined comprehensively for risk items. Review Board Reports Review Board reports include recommendations and issues, as well as RFAs. Review Board can also consist of members or contracting companies. Residual Risk Residual risks, which are identified in many activities within the project as unavoidable risk remaining after all reasonable actions have been taken, should be carried in the risk data base. They should be considered for inclusions in the SRL if applicable, such that they would be reported at monthly and quarterly management reviews as accepted risk. Early in the project design activity, decisions such as allowing selected single failure points or marginal design against worst case possibilities may be made with due consideration of the risk taken. These considerations should be retained in the residual risk descriptions and rationales. 5.2.4.3 Categories of Risk Categorization can be used to allow the aggregation of subsets of risks, and so provide insight into major risk areas in the project. Risk Source Categories A useful set of risk source categories identifies areas of the project where potential risk might reside – for example performance, cost, Or schedule, constraints within which the project must work, to be considered. Other risk source categorizations which might provide insight include: The project systems or subsystem area in which the risk is manifested, The WBS element primarily involved,  Technology areas (if breaking technolgy is used with appliances etc..) Risk Source Categorization is optional. 5.2.4.4 Risk Status Risk status is the process for configuration management of the risks, and also an indicator to external reviewers of the projects plans to deal with each risk.. For Risks that have been dispositioned, there are status classifications definitions are shown in the table below. –RESEARCH – A research category is assigned when more knowledge is required about the risk or the mitigation options. The objective is to move to mitigate, watch, or accept as soon as possible –ACCEPT – A risk is accepted if there are no practical mitigations identified. Depending on the severity of the risk, it may be needed to justify acceptance to the CMC as a Primary Risk. The risk is tracked for changes as the project matures –MITIGATE – A risk is in the mitigate category if there are funded actions under way to reduce the risk. This may have future decision milestones, or milestones where the mitigation risk reductions may be claimed -WATCH – A risk in the watch category has known future points of change, and requires tracking and possible future reassessments. Candidate mitigation options may be carried, and the risk may be re-categorized as the project evolves. 5.2.5 Risk Item Descriptors The draft SRL should list each identified risk item, and for each item should  include as a minimum: Description of the adverse event (Condition, event, consequence) Context of the Risk (If warranted) Categorization in the categories chosen Implementation Risk Assessment -Consequence -Likelihood of occurrence Project Risk Assessment -Consequence -Likelihood of occurrence (If quantified assessment is used) -Level of impact on resources (technical, cost and schedule) -WBS elements primarily affected -Task/ schedule elements primarily affected Mitigation Options – Description of potential mitigation for consideration – Costs of identified mitigation options Timeframe – Urgency of decisions for mitigation effectiveness Time window of potential occurrence – if applicable Resulting reductions in risk likelihood and impact if mitigation option is implemented Project personnel who are identifying risk items will record as much of this as is available at the time a risk is input to the project. Recording the likelihood and consequence descriptors require that the thought processes of risk assessment (described below) be gone through, and in general a first cut at each can be entered with the other data. Risk Description Data Timeframe Implementation (Schedule Or Cost) Risk Project Scope Risk Mitigation Data Risk No. Title Description Impact Near-term, mid-term, or far-term ImplementationConsequence (Cost to recover) Likelihood (implementation) Risk Cost Project Consequence (loss of performance) Likelihood (Project) Mitigation Options Mit. Cost Risk Reduction Figure 5‑ Sample Risk Identification and Assessment Data Sheet Risk Number:An ID number which can be used to find data in a data base. The number can be indexed to indicate updates Title:A short reference for reports, etc.  Description:Text describing the condition or root cause, the feared event, and the consequence. (additional columns can be added here to denote classification schemes to be used. Some risk managers add a time-frame classification to highlight near-term risks from long-term risks. Impact:Text that describes the change to the project due to the event described above. For implementation impact, the description might indicate what would be necessary to recover. For a Project risk, the description might indicate the reduction in project capability to return Project results. Implementation Consequence: A measure against the 5X5 assessment criteria (qualitative) or in resources expenditures (e.g. $) as a result of the impact described to get back on track. Implementation Likelihood: A measure against the 5X5 assessment criteria (qualitative) or in percent (quantitative) of the described consequence being realized. Risk Cost:For quantitative assessment, the product of the consequence in resource measure and the probability (e.g. $) Project Consequence: A measure against the 5X5 assessment criteria of the degradation of Project return due to the event occurring. Project Likelihood: A measure against the 5X5 assessment  criteria (qualitative) or in percent (quantitative) of the described consequence being realized. Mitigation Options:A description of one (or more) possible approaches to mitigating the risk Mitigation Cost:An estimate of the cost in project resources to implement the mitigation Risk Reduction:A description of the effect of the mitigation on the original risk assessments 5.2.6 Risk Item Assessment 5.2.6.1 Qualitative Assessment Qualitative Risk Assessment is the assignment of adjective ratings to the degree of significance of either likelihood or consequence of occurrence. Criteria like â€Å"High, Medium, and Low† are generally used. Scales can have fewer gradations (i.e. high and low) or more (e.g. very high, high, significant, moderate, and low). Definition of these levels is essential, and some iteration and discussion will be needed before the team understands a common distinction between assessed levels. Consequence of Occurrence LevelProject Risk Level Definitions Very HighProject failure HighSignificant reduction in project return ModerateModerate reduction in project return LowSmall reduction in project return Very LowMinimal (or no) impact to project LevelImplementation Risk Level Definition Very HighOverrun budget and contingency, cannot meet schedule with current resources HighConsume all contingency, budget or schedule ModerateSignificant reduction in contingency or schedule slack LowSmall reduction in contingency or schedule slack Very LowMinimal reduction in contingency or schedule slack The advantage of this qualitative approach is that, while subjective, the project team can quickly get in tune with the distinction between levels by working through a number of risks together, and can then assess their own risks fairly consistently. The disadvantage is that the system does not straightforwardly allow â€Å"adding-up† or otherwise aggregating the total risk. Rather, a risk distribution is used to display the project risk position,  as will be seen below.

Competitive Analysis

Competitive Analysis One of the few advantages Japed has over its competitors is that they are t he most welkin hot dog stand in Vancouver. As they were awarded â€Å"Best of Vance feed' 3 years consecutively. Shops located at the YVES airport, Robinson Street, and Richmond d has proven to be very successful towards the company. These locations provide easy ace usability for potential consumers. The airport provides people from all over the world to g Arab a quick bite before their next flight. What better thing to grab than a cultural fusion hot do g a customer has never tried before?The convenience of Japed makes it easier for busy pep el, and hence why the restaurant location is on Robinson . While providing convenience for cue stokers, Japed also brings a unique taste to the market. This unique taste can be thou ought of as an advantage over other hot dog vendors/ restaurants. This differential advantage in culture can attract many consumers roaming around the area. The North Am erican culture e for comfort food usually consists of hamburgers, fries, and most importantly for Japed; hot dogs.This is one of the main reasons why Japed was able to gain its popularity; an teeth nice, distinct, flavors fusion of one of the most loved snacks in North America. The difference between Japed and other hot dog stands are the unique vary ties that they offer. Such as Spading signature hot dog topped with Tertiary sauce e, mayo and seaweed, these are the kinds of ingredients that makes their products unique . The price range of Japed starts from $5 for a simple hot dog $12 for a full meal inch duding its specialty hot dog, fries and a drink.Japed faces numerous competitors in d owe Anton Vancouver and many other food trucks, but with the increase of Japanese rest rants in the area, Sapwood's business has grown significantly. Japed has become very pop alular as the people of Vancouver have grown a love for Japanese cuisine. Other food trucks provide cuisines such as Mexic an cuisine are slightly more pricey than Japed. The price varies around $7 $14, despite the price, although the quantity that is given is also fulfilling, we have found the reputation, value and the taste oft he product Japed offers is on par with or surpasses other food stand competitors.Alone g with the product, Japed has the highest number of food stands in Vancouver, thus gig vying them a location advantage and easy accessibility over its competitors. The countless mount of flavors is also a major advantage that Japed possess. Currently with 13 SP Cecilia and 7 traditional hot dogs, as well as a separate category of fries, Spading menu pr vides customers an abundance of choices compared to other competitors. The main competitors of Japed are the other neighboring street vendors a ND obviously, other hot dog stands.Other vendors that have their own cultural TA set such as Mexican, Greek, Chinese or Persian are also a threat towards them. Fast food restaurants such as McDonald's, Church's Chicken and Wendy are also great threats to Jaw padded. The rice range for a burger in McDonald's is around 5 dollars and the meal is ABA UT 8 dollars and this is one of the reason why Japed is making less profit comparing to chain deed fast food restaurants. Fasted chains such as McDonald's and Wend's have been established for a longer time. They are very welkin to society and that's the greatest competitive a advantage they have.Established competitors usually take advantage of using television com Americas to advertise their new product or even a special package deal. Since Japed is q tie new compared to bigger fast food chains such as McDonald's, their locations are r stricter to only downtown Vancouver and Richmond Birdhouse strain station. They are no t as exposed as other fast food chains that have been around for a longer time. Spading AC accessibility is strictly towards the people roaming around downtown and Richmond Bright use strain station.Even with the excepti onal taste and popularity of Japed, there will be a few downsides. One of the few is that not all people like hot dogs. This difference I n taste may cause slower sales compared to competitors who do not only have hotdogs, but burgers, wraps, or salads. However, during the Winter Olympics that was held in Vance ever, Japed has experienced their busiest time with nearly 1 00 people lining up at one Tim e for the Japanese style hotdogs everyday, showing how they can provide sales with eve n only the menu selection of hotdogs, fries or drinks.In conclusion, after analyzing Spading competitive advantage we can see that t they are continually a very successful local food vendor comparing to other local of odd vendors, but must take further steps in order to grow internationally. Although there are n onerous factors that they must take carefully into consideration in order to further progress t heir business successfully.