Database Essay Example for Free

Database Essay Database systems are the spinal cord of any health care organization. It can be define as the collection of health data. The use of such systems has improve the health care system for decades helping set standards and even regulations to help the system be more efficiently productive. There are different database architectures available to meet the needs of each organization individually. There is a need for the continuum of database across the health care system. Definition A database is a structure that can store information about multiple types of entities, the attributes of those entities, and the relationships between the entities (Pratt Adamski, 2012, Chapter 1). How data is received, stored, processed, and made available to others has an effect on the success or failure of an organization. The use of different architecture is a most to fit the needs of the organization, however the value of the data still remains in been able to access and extract information from the database system, and the only way this can be reached is by organizing, storing, and analyzing it effectively. For many organizations these systems have become an essential part of their structural and operational success. The effectiveness of databases is based on the fact that from one single, inclusive database much information regarding a range of organizational principles can be obtained. In the health care industry database systems allows information to be shared and available to different users; it can provide an accurate, consistent, and up-to-date information about a patient’s condition and treatment, as well as provide a security measure so that the information is only viewable to those who should see it. Database Architectures A database consists of one or more tables; each containing data stored as individual records. Different database architectures determine how the tables and records are organized or related to one another. According to Penn State University (2008), â€Å"There are four structural types of database management systems: 1. Hierarchical- A hierarchical database is organized in pyramid fashion, like the branches of a tree extending downwards. Related fields or records are grouped together so that there are higher-level records and lower-level records. 2. Network- is similar to hierarchical databases by also having a hierarchical structure. There are a few key differences, however. Instead of looking like an upside-down tree, a network database looks more like a cobweb or interconnected network of records. 3. Relational- connects data in different files by using common data elements or a key field. Data in relational databases is stored in different tables, each having a key field that uniquely identifies each row. Relational databases are more flexible than either the hierarchical or network database structures. 4. Object-oriented- are useful for handling small snippets of information such as names, addresses, zip codes, product numbers, and any kind of statistic or number you can think of. It can be used to store data from a variety of media sources, such as photographs and text, and produce work, as output, in a multimedia format† (Database Fundamentals). The organization and delivery of healthcare services is an information intensive effort. Generally, the efficiency of healthcare operations is drastically affected by the level of the integration of information across all sectors (Wright, n.d.). Healthcare organizations that have not yet make the effort to integrate their data and relate information in an effective and efficient way will find it difficult to stay afloat or even compete within this part of the market. The healthcare market is undergoing changes were information technology has become essential to their every day functional activities. The need of database users across the health care continuum would increase with the demands of technology to be to focus on striving to provide a patient focus services in different entities. Recent advances in policy, practice and research are compelling health care leaders across the continuum of care to move beyond aspiring to be more patient- or person-centered to taking action to realize that vision. A growing body of evidence is linking adoption of a patient-centered approach to care to improved outcomes, including reduced lengths of stay, avoidable readmissions and emergency department visits, and increases in patient satisfaction and employee engagement (Planetree.org, 2012). Database systems serve as a connection pathway to future strategies of care. The need to keep up and try as much as possible to meet the demand is a most in the health care field. Since many changes are been made to health care, database systems would continue evolve, to improve and standardized the ability to organize, save, and share information throughout the system providing a more efficient and effective line of service for their customers and the demands of their markets for years to come.

Law and Morality Essay Example for Free

Law and Morality Essay There has been an ongoing debate about the relationship between law and morality. Numerous writers and philosophers have proffered arguments on how law is affected by morality. The question it is believed is no longer if morality affects law, it is to what extent is law affected by morality? And should there be any limitations on the relationship between law and morality? The law and morality conflict has been persisting for many years. Both the natural law theorists and the positive law theorists would agree that there is a relationship between law and morality. The argument has now moved to what degree morality should play in law? The obvious indication that this has been laid to rest is HLA Hart’s concession made at the onset of his book, Law, Liberty and Morality. He said that there is a definitive answer of yes, that historically and casually law has been influenced by morality. In his book Hart focused on the legal enforcement of morality and likewise this essay is concerned with that question. It is believed this is the only debatable divide between law and morality. The debate became a hot topic in the 1950’s after the creation of a commission to investigate and report back on sexual moralities. The commission led to the publication of the Wolfenden Report in 1957. The report at it outset defined the purpose of criminal law as: .. to preserve the public order and decency, to protect the citizen from what is offensive and injurious and to provide sufficient safeguards against exploitation and corruption of others especially the vulnerable, that is the young, weak in body or mind, inexperienced or those in a state of physical, official or economic dependence. The Law should not intervene in the private lives of citizens or seek to enforce any particular pattern of behaviour further than necessary to carry out the above purpose. Before embarking on the discussion proper, a definition is required for morality and for what law is. Morality according to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary is (a) a doctrine or system of moral conduct; (b) particular moral principles or rules of conduct; or (c) conformity to ideals of right human conduct. Law on the other hand is defined as â€Å"a binding custom or practice of a community: a rule of conduct or action prescribed or formally recognized as binding or enforced by controlling authority. † That is morality is not enforceable by its definition while law is. Moralities are normative rules applied to a society or a sub-group of society that does not bind them in a court of law. The only enforceability of morality by its definition is from the group applying peer pressure. There are two main schools of thought in this divide between law and morality, the natural law theorists and the positive law theorists. The natural law school bases much of their ideas of law in their religious beliefs or other transcendental force such as nature. While positivists argue that law has no necessary basis in morality and that it is simply impossible to assess law in terms of morality. Opposition Supporters of the legal positivist school, such as Hart and Mills, purports that law should be in a different sphere from morality. Utilitarianism, a subgroup of the positivism, believes that laws should only serve for the maximization of utility or happiness for the majority. John Stuart Mills said that instead of society imposing morality on members of a society, the individuals should be free to choose their own conduct. Utilitarian’s are not concerned with the morality of law. They believe that law should only play a minimal role in an individual’s life. Persons should be free to do whatever they want as long as it does not harm another. This is referred to as the ‘harm principle’. Mills said â€Å"the only purpose for which power can rightfully be exercised over any member of a civilised community against his will is to prevent harm to others†. Mills went on and said that not even for the individual’s own good should such power be exerted. This argument is rebuttable in that not because there was no immediate physical harm to another, there was no harm. It could be argued that someone taking drugs or proliferating pornography causes ripple effects that may result in harm to others. Pornography promotes women as sexual objects and thereby promotes sexual violence against women. Drug users, by their combined effect, have led to the growth of large underworlds that not only supply drugs but commits direct victim crimes such as murder. If Mills theory is to be adhered to, this would mean that even in a situation of explicit sadomasochist sexual practices that could result in the injury to participants, the law should not get involved to prevent harm. This is because the individuals consented to such acts and no one will be harmed except the willing participants. In this light R v Brown would have been decided incorrectly. Hart said that the judges in Shaw v DPP, where the defendant was convicted for conspiracy to corrupt public morals after publishing a booklet containing details of prostitutes and their sexual practices, â€Å" seemed willing to pay a high price in terms of the sacrifice of other values for the establishment or re-establishment-of the court as custos morum. † The value Hart was referring to is the legality principle of Lon Fuller. He was suggesting the ruling made the law imprecise and thereby itself immoral. Fuller suggests that for law to be moral there must be eight elements referred to as the ‘inner morality of law’ or ‘principles of legality’ or ‘procedural natural law’. The eight elements are generality, promulgation, non-retroactivity, clarity, non-contradiction, capability of compliance, constancy and congruence. These elements Fuller suggests are what a good legal system should aspire for but no one system has or is expected to perfect all elements. However, significant lack of these elements may mean that a system is an immoral legal system and could support tyranny. Fuller said that tyranny is a result of the break down of the internal morality of law and was the case in Nazi Germany. Hart made that very connection between the principles of legality and tyranny when he suggested that there was no adherence to the principles of legality in Shaw v DPP and by extent was in itself immoral law. The central problem with morality is whose morality is the right morality to enforce. Nazi Germany is the best example of law enforcing morality. This is why caution must be used with the continued growth of the court making moral judgements and pronouncing itself as the custos morum. Hart said that there are several flaws with the use of law to enforce morality and if no such enforcement exists it would not necessarily lead to the disintegration of society. He said that society can support several different and sphere of morality. What is considered moral in one country is not necessarily the same in another. On a smaller scale, what is considered moral in one religion within a country may not hold true for another, yet they can exist in relative harmony through mutual respect. He also said that by using law to enforce morality will result in the stagnating of morals in time. It is evident that morality changes with time and what was immoral years ago would not be immoral today. Sometimes the existing laws do not match changes in societal. In the case R v R, where a husband was charged with attempted rape of his wife, the existing law at the time was outdated in respect of the current moral standards of society. If the courts had followed the law as was, they would directly contradict the will of society and the husband would not have done anything illegal. In that case the court made a value judgement, one based in morality to adapt to the change in the morality of society and found that a husband could in fact rape his wife. This case demonstrates the role morality plays in law. If courts did not have any moral basis, then this may lead to disconnect between the law and society. In R v R the courts had a choice either observe an immoral precedent or to adapt itself to the changing morality of the society. Although the judges may try to propound that they only declared what the law was, this judgement is one on moral basis. Should the judges have followed the law at the time that a man cannot rape his wife? Wouldn’t that have led to an infringement on the woman’s individual right? Are judges the right people to expound morality? Supporters The idea that morality has no place in law has been refuted by many theorists such as Hyman Gross and Lord Devlin. Gross contended that Law and morality are one and the same. Laws are inherently moral and that is why acts like murder, rape and theft have been made illegal. Law and morality cannot be separated as the society creates law based on the foundation that the behaviour being address has to be immoral or undesirable by the reasonable man. The problem with this view is that this cannot explain acts that are prohibited by law but not immoral or the reverse. Sex outside of marriage brings a very strong social scourge but no one believes that adultery rise to the level for legal reprimand. Devlin argued that there is an underlying moral web that keeps society together and it should be protected by law. His approach has some aspect of social contract theory, which suggests that everyone in society is there by agreement. He said that to exist in a society there must be some general principles that members have a consensus on. It could be said to be analogous to a family. In a family there may be several different personalities, but what keep them functioning like a unit is that there are underlying similar values that act as a cohesive bond between members. Devlin said in â€Å"The Enforcement of Morals† (1959) that: Societies disintegrate from within more frequently than they are broken up by external pressures. There is disintegration when no common morality is observed and history shows that the loosening of moral bonds is often the first stage of disintegration, so that society is justified in taking the same steps to preserve its moral code as it does to preserve its government the suppression of vice is as much the laws business as the suppression of subversive activities. Former Minister of Justice of Jamaica, Senator Harding, in his speech at the inaugural lecture at the Institute of Law and Economics said it would have been helpful if Lord Devlin had provided examples of some modern societies which have disintegrated because of the loosening of moral bonds. And it might be a better thing for some societies to disintegrate by loosening its moral bonds. Nazi Germany comes to mind; those societies disintegrate from within more frequently than there are broken up by external pressures†¦ Devlin said that it is morals that hold society together and should therefore influence the development of law. He goes further and said that even if private acts are considered to create sufficient public disgust, that is if the ‘reasonable’ man finds this act so unacceptable then it threatens the moral fabric of society and should be subject to criminal punishment. He describes a limit of tolerance as to how much of an immoral act society or the reasonable man can tolerate. Once society passes this limit then something must be done to intervene. Lord Devlin did not suggest that it is all immorality that should be sanctioned. He suggested that the ones that bring ‘right-minded man’ to disgust should be. It is not believed that Devlin was out of touch with the state of developing individual liberty. It is how far those individual liberties will be allowed to infringe on the general public morality and liberty? There needs to be a balance between the individual’s right and the general public’s. Lord Devlin asked if society has the right to make judgment on individual morality. He answered yes, and this seems to be the accepted approach in R v Brown and Shaw v DPP. There is no where in the past were law has developed in an abstract. Law has developed along with the social changes as R v R Devlin also proposed a guideline for the implementation of statutes. He supported individualism and suggested that persons should have the maximum amount of freedom to do as they wish, except when it conflicts with the society’s integrity. He also said that law should only be created to sanction behaviours that are gross, not just merely immoral. And finally, the law should only set the minimum basic standards expected of individuals. Conclusion Morality is important to the integration of society and if the mythical social contract theory has any weight it is in fact as Devlin suggest the web that holds it together. However, it can also be dangerous and may also be the underlying reason for actual disintegration of society as in Nazi Germany. There is no correct answer or side. The answer rest in the balance: the balance between the individual right and that of society, the balance between the positivist and the naturalist, the balance between the heterosexual and the homosexual. The individual should have the right to do as he feels but there has to be limitations. The extremes of either side of the debate are the danger zones but the answer lies in the indefinable, undiscoverable shadows of the gray that rest between the divide. Bibliography 1. MDA Freeman, Introduction to Jurisprudence 8th Edition (Sweet Maxwell) 2. Http:sixthformlaw. info/01_modules/other_materials/law_and_morality_/08_hart_devlin. htm 3. HLA Harts, Law, Liberty and Morality (University of Stanford Press) 4. Dwight Bellanfante, â€Å"Keep the law out of Gays Bedroom† (The Jamaica Observer October 31, 2004). 5. Elliott Frances Quinn, English Legal System 11th Edition (Longman-Pearson, UK), 6. ‘Criminal Law’, Clarkson and Keating, (Sweet Maxwell), 2007 7. Gary Slapper And David Kelly, The English Legal System 11th Edition (Routledge, UK) Page [ 1 ]. Law, Liberty and Morality, H. L. A Hart, Stanford University Press, 1963. Page 1 [ 2 ]. Catherine Elliott Frances Quinn, English Legal System 11th Ed (Longman-Pearson, UK), Page 657 [ 3 ]. http://www. merriam-webster. com/dictionary/morality, accessed 20th October 2010. [ 4 ]. http://www. merriam-webster. com/dictionary/law, accessed 20th October 2010. [ 5 ]. Gary Slapper And David Kelly, The English Legal System 11th Ed (Routledge, UK) Page [ 6 ]. Catherine Elliott Frances Quinn, English Legal System 11th Ed (Longman-Pearson, UK), Pg 655-656 [ 7 ]. Law, Liberty and Morality, HLA Hart Stanford university Press, 1963, page 3 [ 8 ]. Ibid [ 9 ]. Catherine Elliott Frances Quinn, English Legal System 11th Ed (Longman-Pearson, UK), Page 656 [ 10 ]. [1993] 2 All ER 75 [ 11 ]. [1961] 2 W. L. R 897 [ 12 ]. Law, Liberty and Morality, HLA Hart Stanford university Press, 1963, page 7 [ 13 ]. [1961] 2 W. L. R 897 [ 14 ]. Catherine Elliott Frances Quinn, English Legal System 11th Ed (Longman-Pearson, UK), Pg 658 [ 15 ]. Ibid [ 16 ]. [1992] 1 A. C. 599 [ 17 ]. [1994] 1A. C. 212 [ 18 ]. ‘Criminal Law’, Clarkson and Keating, sweet Maxwell, 2007 [ 19 ]. ‘Keep law out of gays bedrooms’ says Harding, Dwight Bellanfante, Observer staff reporter Sunday, October 31, 2004 [ 20 ]. [1994] 1A. C. 212 [ 21 ]. [1961] 2 W. L. R. 897 [ 22 ]. [1992] 1 A. C. 599 [ 23 ]. Catherine Elliott Frances Quinn, English Legal System 11th Edition (Longman-Pearson, UK), Page 658.

Strategic Planning And Analysis Of Primark Marketing Essay

Strategic Planning And Analysis Of Primark Marketing Essay Strategic Planning is a complete process about making strategies, or direction, and allocation of recourses to achieve targets. There are numbers of business analysis techniques which can be used in strategic planning and these are SWOT Analysis PEST Analysis STEER Analysis EPISTEL Analysis Strategic planning simply describes the main objectives and future targets of the organization and the efficient and effective process to achieve those targets. Strategic planning covers three main areas which are as follows Present Position Future Prospects and targets Means to achieve those targets PRIMARK Primark is a one of the leading clothing chain of UK. It was founded in June 1969 in Mary Street Dublin under the trading name of PENNEYS. The store added four more brances in local area within its first year of operation. The first store which was opened outside Dublin was opened in Cork in 1971. In that year there were 12 more stores opened 11 in irland and 1 in Northeren Irland. Move Into Great Britain In 1973, four out-of-town stores opened and like this Primark began its trading operations in Great Britain. In 1984, the first multiple acquisition took place when five Woolworth stores were purchased in Ireland. Further in 1984 to 1994 in ten year period Primark opened 25 stores together in UK and Ireland. In 1992 one of BHS stores was purchased and added in the chain. The year 1995 was the year in which primark made most of its expension when the acquisition of the BHS One-Up-Discount chain took place. With this major expension 16 sotres wew added in UK region and most of them in Greater London with a significant sizes. Another major aquisation was in 1999 when 11 Co-Op stores were added. In 2000, another 11 stores acquired from C A. In October 2001 massive store was opened in Manchester. Primark continued its expension in the following year. As a result, number of reached to 109 in the end of 2001 consisting 75 in Uk and 34 in Ireland. In 2005 six stores were acquired from Allders. In April 2007 two more stores were opened, one in London and the other one was in Livelpool. Entrance to Europe Primark entered in Europe by opening a store in Spain in May 2006 and later in the same year in Semtember a second store was opened in Murica. In 2007 two stores were opened in Spain and in Xanadu. In 2008 three more sotres were opened in Bilbao, Islazul and in Oviedo. In the same year more braches were open in Parque, Zaragoza, Asturias and Coruna. Primark entered in Netherlands market in 2008 by opening its first store in Rotterdam. In 2009 more stores were added in eorupe business by opening the branches in Portugal, Germany and Belgium. Currently, In total 196 stores are in business under the name of PRIMARK. The counts is as follows   Region Number of Branches UK   138 Ireland 38   Spain 14 Portugal 2 The Netherlands   1 Belgium 1 Germany 2 Total 196 STRATEGIC PLANNING HISTORY OF PRIMARK Primark is second largest clothing retailer and runs 13 department including Children wear, women wear, men wear, foot wear, assocries and house holds. New and fashion able clothing with cheap prices are very challenging task among the high intensity of competition among the competitors. Primark has a firmly defined target consumers which are under 35 age group. There are two main methods to earn profits more than normal rates, by establishing a product leader ship or can be through cost leader ship. Primark established a cost leadership because in cost leader ship the firm supplies same product at lower price rather then to provide strong differentiation as like in product leader shipe where coustomers are ready to pay high prices. Primark established a strong strategy of cost leader ship. This strategy is pursued by companies selling affordable products across all sectors. In united states, Southewest Airline has same strategy with success in aviation sector. To maintain this strategy Primark always focuses on buying, logistics and supply chain management. To get world wide fashion trends and discovering of cheap supplies a separate team has been set in UK that travels all over the world. The company sources the manufacturing of its clothes to developing countries like India which have cheap labor. With this strategy PRIMARK saves huge cost. Primark also keep a strong warehousing and distribution network because of its strategy to reduce the time-to-market to as less as possible. To keep that promise Primark uses computerized customs clearance. TNT who provide logestic service world wide, dedicates one of its huge ware house exclusively to Primark stock distribution. Primark established a customer confidence about its cheap price promises. To sustain this strategy Primark has to maintain high efficiency level and effective cost controls on on going basis. WOOLWORTHS Woolworths, the high street retail chain that collapsed in 2008, was founded in 1909. Since then it had grown into a chain of about 800 stores. But the recent history is one of trials and tribulations that ended in entering into administration in November 2008. The retailer faced intense competition from supermarket chains like Sainsbury, Tesco etc. Lately it had entered into entertainment and electronics retail after its acquisition of Entertainment UK. In September 2008, Woolworths announced a pre-tax loss of pound 99 million for the six months ending on August 2, 2008. The company then embarked on a turnaround plan. It decided to sell 120 stores, axe about one-fourth of its products from the stores , reduce web operations and cut jobs. In 2008 the financial crisis brought a severe credit squeeze. The companys banks, GMAC and Burdale decided to recall their loans. The company that was burdened with debts worth pound 385 million had to enter administration. By January 2009 all 807 Woolworths stores in UK were closed. But Woolworths was more a casualty of its flawed strategic planning than the economic recession. STRATEGIC PLANNING AT WOOLWORTH Woolworths strategy had no target segment or focus point. It lacked a single Unique Selling Proposition ( USP).Its product leadership was in the pic n mix sweets. In other product segments like music, books toys etc it was neither a product leader nor a cost leader. (Chandler 1990) Even in the childrens clothes and school uniform segment it soon lost its leadership to retailers like Asda and Tesco. Woolworths strategy had always been to achieve cost leadership. The original US chain founded by Frank Woolworth sold everything at 5 cents. When the chain opened its first store in UK in Liverpool, every item was priced below 6 pence. Woolworths pursued successfully this cost leadership strategy for many years after that. It reached its peak in the 60s and 70s. The company hardly spent anything on branding. Its stores were without frills. But lately the company lost its cost leadership to discounters like Wilkinsons, Tesco etc. Almost anything that it sold now, the competitors were able to sell at a lower or at least the same price. Woolworths was also using a lot of debt or leverage in its capital structure. It was also using debt to open new stores. While it was opening new stores, many of its existing stores were in mess. Another part of Woolworths strategy, right from the beginning, was to sell a variety of merchandise. In its early days the chain was able to undersell its competitors through mass production. This strategy worked so well that at one point of time Woolworth was opening one new store every seventeen days. The IPO of Woolworths in the London Stock Exchange was so successful that for just 15% offloading of its equity in Woolworths UK, the parent company was able to give its shareholders a dividend of 90 cents for every dollar worth of their shares. During the World War-2 the company suffered badly with many of its stores bombed and destroyed during the air raids. Prominent among them was the bombing of the New Cross High Street store in which 160 people were killed. The post-war inflation forced it to give up its under six pence strategy. (Cooper 2003) Woolworths then capitalized on the pop mania of Beatles. It made a fortune selling the Beatles merchandise like dolls and other mascots. It followed this by expanding its entertainment offerings. For opening new stores, Woolworth was taking the real estate on rent or lease. At the last count it had about 700 landlords. Its lease payments were rising at the rate of 2.5% per year. Its rent bill had soared from pound 70 million in 1998 to pound 160 million in 2008. So when the credit crunch and the recession started, Woolworths had no fixed assets to fall back on. After its demerger with Kingfisher in 1982, Woolworths aimed long term growth through operating the following: (Coulson 2004) Hypermarkets. The Big W stores. Woolworths general stores. Streets online. But the company soon reversed its strategy, discontinued the above three stores and started focusing once again on its traditional strength products like confectionery, toys and entertainment. But in spite of narrowing its focus in order to cut costs, Woolworths was not able to match competitors like Wilkinson and Poundland which ate into its market share. Even in the range of product offering, it proved to be no match to Tesco.Its price points were higher and it also lost out on the convenience quotient. When all its strategies failed to bring a turnaround it approached the restructuring specialist Hilco. Hilco agreed to buy Woolworth for a nominal sum of pound 1 and take pound 300 million debt of the retailer. But at the last minute the deal was thwarted by its lenders, Burdale and GMAC. This led the retailer into administration in November 2008, just before the peak Christmas season. (Fifield 1998) COMPARISON AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE STRATEGIC PLANNING OF PRIMARK AND WOOLWORTHS The strategic plan of Primark consisted of the strategy of growing inorganically as well as organically. For inorganic growth it made strategic acquisitions. For its organic growth the company successfully pursued cost leadership. It was also successful in churning out fashionable clothes that were up to the latest trends. And it churned these at very affordable prices. It did so through strategically using outsourcing and having an integrated supply chain that was extremely fast in delivering. It has a much focused target segment of consumers. (Fleming 2009) If we conduct the SWOT analysis of Primark, we get the following: Strengths- Its cost leadership and its supply chain and logistics processes. These have become a source of competitive advantage for the company. Weakness- It is not into branding. Lack of having brands with high brand equity may hurt its profitability in future. Excessive reliance on outsourcing for manufacturing and supply chain processes make it dependent on suppliers and vendors. Opportunities- There are huge opportunities for retailers of discount fashion clothing. The recession has reduced the disposable income and the consumers have become more value conscious. Threats- The company has recently come under the attack of anti-poverty campaigners for the sweat shops in Bangladesh and India. The company is fighting off its reputation of being an unethical company driven solely by the lust for more profits. On the competitive front it has tough competition in the form of Marks Spencer, Debenhams etc. FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS OF PRIMARK Threat of competitors or intensity of rivalry- The competitive rivalry is reasonably high in the discount fashion segment. Threat of substitutes- The threat of substitutes is high. Fashionable clothes have a large number of substitutes. Bargaining power of suppliers- Discount chains like Primark use a lot of outsourcing from developing countries like India, Bangladesh etc. The bargaining power of these suppliers is low as they are dependent for their revenues on large clients like Primark. Bargaining power of customers- The bargaining power of customers is high. Customers of discount chains like Primark are bargain hunters who look for the best bargain. (Oakland 2003) Threat of new entrants- To produce fashionable clothes at the lowest prices is quite a challenging task. This raises naturally a high barrier to entry. Thus the threat of new entrants is significantly lowered. CORE COMPETENCY OF PRIMARK Core competency is that capability which is central to the existence of a business or corporation. A capability or set of capabilities qualify as core competency if they have the following attributes: (Peter 1989) It is the source of value proposition to the customers. It is difficult for competitors to acquire similar capabilities. The capabilities can be leveraged across different products and markets. The core competency of Primark is to produce fashionable clothes for as low prices as possible. It has been able to do so through entering into strategic partnerships with companies like TNT logistics and outsourcing manufacturing to cheap offshore locations like Bangladesh. VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS OF PRIMARK The value chain of any organization is divided into two types of activities: Primary activities. Secondary activities. The primary activities of the value chain comprise the following: Inbound logistics. Manufacturing. Outbound logistics. Marketing and Sales. Services. The secondary activities include: Human Resource Management. Technology support and research and development. Procurement. Primark has been able to gain and sustain competitive advantage by focusing on inbound logistics (supply chain), outbound logistics (distribution network), manufacturing (outsourcing to cheaper destinations), technology support (computerized supply chain and distribution connected to point of sales). (Pride, Hughes, Kapoor 2009) As far as its marketing strategy is concerned it has responded to the 4Ps of the marketing mix in the following ways: Product- It has been able to understand the latest trends in fashion. A team of experts travels across the globe and monitors new trends in fashion. Price- The company has been able to deliver the products at very low prices. Place- Primark has an effective distribution network. Its stores are located strategically. Promotion- Primark does not spend too much in branding or promotions. Woolworths, on the other hand, lacked a clear strategic plan. It seemed to be bungling with its strategy. It made many strategic experiments, all of which failed to sustain the 99 year old chain. The SWOT analysis of Woolworths, done retrospectively, reveals the following: Strengths- A ninety-nine years old brand name and a reasonable number of loyal customers. It has a very high brand recall and brand recognition. Weakness- It has no target segment. It lacks product leadership as well as cost leadership. It is trying to sell too many products and is competing across too many categories. Opportunities- The opportunities for discount retailers are always high, especially for high street retailers like Woolworths. Threats- The threats are many. It is using too much debt. It is into too many lease agreements. Most of its stores are on rent. It lacks fixed assets to fall back upon. FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS OF WOOLWORTHS The five forces analysis of Woolworths, if done just before its collapse, reveals the following: (Robert 2008) Threat of competitors- Formidable competitors in the likes of Wilkinson, Tesco etc. Wilkinson and Poundland are especially threatening as they are eating into the share of Woolworths. Threat of Substitutes- The threat of substitutes is high in the retail industry. Bargaining power of the customers- The intensity of competition, the business model to offer products at discounted rates; all serve to increase the bargaining power of customers of a chain like Woolworths. Bargaining power of suppliers- The bargaining power of suppliers is not that high. But since Woolworths was operating on rented real-estate, the bargaining power of landlords (suppliers of real estate) had increased tremendously. The annual rise in the rate of rents of Woolworths was 2.5%. Threat of new entrants- The capital intensive nature of the business raises barriers to entry. Thus the threat of new entrants is not that high. CORE COMPETENCY OF WOOLWORTHS The core competency of Woolworths had been once its capability to offer the lowest cost products in categories like children clothing. It also enjoyed product leadership in pic n mix sweets which it continued to enjoy till its very last days. VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS OF WOOLWORTHS The key to maintaining cost leadership is managing the value chain activities well. Woolworths failed to manage these value chain activities as well as competitors like Tesco, Poundland etc.It was unable to get the lowest cost supplies. Its distribution (outbound logistics) was such that was unable to enhance its convenience quotient. During its hey-days the company was efficient in large scale manufacturing that enabled it to get lowest cost products through economies of scale. Later on it failed to manage this value chain activity as well. Because of the mismanagement of its value chain activities, Woolworths soon lost its competitive advantage. Primark was able to execute the how question of its strategic plan well. It was able to have such processes that enabled it to achieve its objectives. Woolworths failed on both what and how aspects of strategic planning. It lacked vision about where it wanted to reach in future. And since it did not know where to go (goals and objectives), it also did not know how to reach there. Its strategy was like groping in the dark. It was opening too many stores on debt; it had no target segment and finally it was dealing in too many products. As a result both diseconomies of scale and scope had set in. (Sheshinski, Strom, Baumol 2007) OUTCOME OF THE TWO COMPANIES The outcomes have been starkly opposite for both the companies. For the year to 12 September, 2009, Primarks sales jumped by 20%. Its profits were up by 8% to pound 252 million. The company has acquired the nicknames of Primarni or Pradamark because of its ability to sell catwalk fashion at rock bottom prices. In the recession hit economy of UK, which has entered its six consecutive quarter of GDP contraction, Primark has increased its retail space by 9%. It opened six new stores in UK since the recession started.The chain also contributed 40% to the profits of AB foods which is its holding company. Its stores in the continent are also performing well, especially those in Germany. To support its high rate of growth during recession, Primark opened a new distribution centre in Thrapston, Northampton shire. On the other hand, the recession proved to be the final nail in the coffin of Woolworths. Its debt of pound 340 million proved to be too much. All efforts to salvage it failed when its lenders, GMAC and Burdale, recalled their loans. In November 2008 it entered into administration. Neville Kahn, Dann Butters and Nick Dargan of Deloitte were appointed joint administrators. On 26th November 2008, trading in the Woolworth groups shares was suspended. The 807 stores of Woolworths were closed in phases. In the last days, the stores offered discounts as high as 90% in order to dispose of their merchandise. Some of the stores have been reported to have sold their fixtures and fittings also. 207 of these stores closed two days after Christmas on 27th December 2008. The remaining stores were also closed by 6th January 2009. Approximately 30000 jobs were lost as the 99 year old chain went under, in its centenary year. Now Woolworths has come in its new incarnation of a purely online store from its earlier version of a brick-and-mortar retail chain. After it entered administration and was closed down the Woolworths brand name was bought by Shop Direct Group. On 2nd February 2009, Shop Direct announced its intention to continue Woolworth as a purely online store.The online store uses the same URL as the earlier Woolworths groups retail website, Woolworths.co.uk. The outcomes of the strategic planning could not have been more different for both the companies. Primark capitalized on the need of lower cost fashionable clothes during the current recession. Woolworths through its faulty strategic planning, or more accurately, through its lack of strategic planning became its prey.

Religion in the World Today Essays -- Religious Religions Essays

Religion in the World Today Taking a look at world religion, we will look at different countries from different parts of the world; analyzing the different religious problems and human rights violations. The overall question that we propose is: is there a simple solution to these problems and what can be done about them? Throughout history, the lower class: those who are considered poor, minorities, and women, have been taken advantage of, denied their inalienable rights, and forced into unfavorable situations. Even in the United States within the last century, women have been denied the right to vote. Minorities, such as African Americans, were denied equal treatment. Blacks were legally obligated to separate themselves from places that were considered â€Å"white only.† Certain schools, restaurants, and other public places, were the locations for the cause of embarrassment and social inferiority. This discrimination and denial of inalienable rights, however, has not historically happened only in the United States. On the international level, many countries experience social animosity, specifically due to religious tensions. In Mexico and Central America, there is a long tradition of the non-cooperation of human rights, â€Å"human rights activism in these countries can be traced back to the first Indian freedom- fighters against Spanish rule, over five- hundred years ago.† (www.amnesty.org) Even during the past history of civil conflict in countries such as Guatemala and El Salvador, people have demonstrated for basic human rights and personal and religious freedoms. Among the religious conflicts between the nations and its people, there is also a long tradition of persecution of the autonomy of in... ...and Mexico: Human Rights defenders on the Line: Update.† 3/4/2003. http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/AMR020041996?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIESEL+SALVADOR 10/12/1996 â€Å"Center for Reduction of Religious-based conflict.†3/3/2003 aps.naples.net/community/NFNWebpages/storyboard.cfm?StoryBoardNum=142&PageNum=140 â€Å"Defining human rights: The nature of Human Rights: Commonly Accepted Postulates.† 2/24/2003. www.britanica.com â€Å"Human Right Violations-It's Happening Now and Most People Don't know about it or Don't Want To Know About It, But People Are Suffering So A Few People at the Top Can Have A Lot More Money Than They Deserve.† 3/5/2003. http://hometown.aol.com/violin39/opinions/index.htm â€Å"United States Policies in Support of Religious Freedom: Focus on Christians.† 2/16/2003. http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/970722_relig_rpt_christian.htm.

Free Essays - Holden Caulfield Needs Logotherapy :: Catcher Rye Essays

Catcher in the Rye - Holden Caulfield Needs Logotherapy Throughout the book Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, a boy who does not know his place in life, illustrates the human need for logotherapy. Viktor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, wrote "Mans search for meaning", in which he describes his experiences and ways of resisting the efforts of dehumanization in the holocaust. In Viktor Frankl's writing he delineates Logotherapy, which are three principles of mankind. The main character in Catcher in the Rye is Holden Caulfield, he is an unstable young man, who wanders around New York for three days, without knowing where to go or what do. Holden Caulfield would benefit if he applied Logotherapy to his everyday life. The first principle of logotherapy states that's man has an inborn will to meaning, "We seek to live not only for ourselves, but to contribute something of worth to other people and to the world we live in."(370) Holden Caulfield rarely shows this trait, but he does reveal it seldomly to people he does not know for example when he says to a cab driver, "You know those ducks in that lagoon right near central park? That little lake? By any chance do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over?âˆÂ ¦"(60) This exhibits that Holden cares for some things, which means he has a will to meaning somewhere inside of him, he just needs to find it, like one of his teachers says, "âˆÂ ¦but I can very clearly see you dying nobly, for some highly unworthy cause"(188) In this quote, Mr. Antolini is telling Holden that he believes he will do something worthy with his life, but it will not be something very useful. Man has free will acts as the second aspect of logotherapy. Viktor Frankl states, " Man's freedom is no freedom from conditions but rather freedom to take a stand on whatever conditions might confront him"(371) Holden Caulfield sometimes shows free will, "âˆÂ ¦I couldn't think of a room or a house or anything to describeâˆÂ ¦So what I did, I wrote about my brother Allies baseball mitt."(38) This shows he can think for himself and that he does not just do what people tell him to do. Free Essays - Holden Caulfield Needs Logotherapy :: Catcher Rye Essays Catcher in the Rye - Holden Caulfield Needs Logotherapy Throughout the book Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, a boy who does not know his place in life, illustrates the human need for logotherapy. Viktor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, wrote "Mans search for meaning", in which he describes his experiences and ways of resisting the efforts of dehumanization in the holocaust. In Viktor Frankl's writing he delineates Logotherapy, which are three principles of mankind. The main character in Catcher in the Rye is Holden Caulfield, he is an unstable young man, who wanders around New York for three days, without knowing where to go or what do. Holden Caulfield would benefit if he applied Logotherapy to his everyday life. The first principle of logotherapy states that's man has an inborn will to meaning, "We seek to live not only for ourselves, but to contribute something of worth to other people and to the world we live in."(370) Holden Caulfield rarely shows this trait, but he does reveal it seldomly to people he does not know for example when he says to a cab driver, "You know those ducks in that lagoon right near central park? That little lake? By any chance do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over?âˆÂ ¦"(60) This exhibits that Holden cares for some things, which means he has a will to meaning somewhere inside of him, he just needs to find it, like one of his teachers says, "âˆÂ ¦but I can very clearly see you dying nobly, for some highly unworthy cause"(188) In this quote, Mr. Antolini is telling Holden that he believes he will do something worthy with his life, but it will not be something very useful. Man has free will acts as the second aspect of logotherapy. Viktor Frankl states, " Man's freedom is no freedom from conditions but rather freedom to take a stand on whatever conditions might confront him"(371) Holden Caulfield sometimes shows free will, "âˆÂ ¦I couldn't think of a room or a house or anything to describeâˆÂ ¦So what I did, I wrote about my brother Allies baseball mitt."(38) This shows he can think for himself and that he does not just do what people tell him to do.

Malcolm Barber Essay -- Religion, The Templars

The Christians were fortunate individuals in the Middle Ages; Christendom received its own religious military order to protect many Christians who undertook pilgrimages to Jerusalem after it (Jerusalem) had been overrun (5). This Western order endorsed and sanctioned by the Pope; and the papacy in general, was known as the Knights Templar. One of the Templars missions was to predominantly fight against the Moslems. The Moslems had been perceived as a polytheistic religion, that encompassed the worshipping of evil pagan Gods and a religion that encouraged illicit acts. This idea however is contrary to the true Islam; Islam is indeed a monotheistic religion that is categorized under Abrahamic religions as worshipping one God. The knights were affiliated with the crusades which remained popular within the 12th century (1). The Templars were respected within Western Christendom and; the order was given numerous economic advantages such as: land, the erection of fortifications and lucrati ve job positions such as bankers. Sadly, the Christians were expelled out of Palestine and the Templars ability to fulfill their duties to serve and protect Christians in the holy lands and elsewhere were in jeopardy. Support for the Templar Order and the crusaders caused an entity to fade. Furthermore, the respect level and the anticipation of wanting to become a crusader by individuals in Western Christendom declined drastically, disabling the order to fulfill its protective duties. Moreover, the King of France Philip IV who was deeply in debt; made it known that he was aware of the orders riches. He stated The Templars must make immense effort to relieve the acute financial problems of the reign through paying taxes, if they fail to do so I must f... ...were taking precedence or a two- century existence of the order did not merit much historical recording. Yet the wealth of information presented and the legal proceeding which climaxes this monograph are not only illuminating but articulated through print by Malcolm Barber. I would personally recommend this scholarly work to individuals who already have immense knowledge on the Templars and to individuals who are new to the whole idea of this historical event. This monograph, in my opinion, should be a course reader within post-secondary institutions that promote advanced education and Barber should be commended on tackling such a controversial subject. Because the crusades are a huge stain on how religion was advanced in the middle ages. Many ethnic groups suffered at the hands of Christendom however, this does not legate Barber’s wonderful scholarly work.

Case Study on Kaye West University Essay

Companies and businesses adopt different organizational structures when they pursue different strategy. In Kaye West University case, it has developed a strong student administration and services infrastructure while it aims to provide high quality and supportive education experience to all its students and to foster an environment that leads to outstanding research. However, the Global Financial Crisis has caused Kaye West University to suffer a decline in the number of students’ intake. In addition, the increase in the university’s operating cost and decrease in state government funding have caused the University’s new Vice Chancellor to look into reducing the university operating cost. He had hired a firm of business consultants, Efficiency for You Consulting, to look into saving cost. In the following report, we will be discussing about different organizational structure that a firm can take. Firstly, we will be discussing about the current organizational structure that Kaye West University uses for its student support services by defining what different types of organizational structure mean and providing justification to our explanation. We will also evaluate on the advantages and the disadvantages that current organizational structure has. Next, we will look into the organizational structure that Efficiency for You Consulting has recommended and provide a detailed outline of the organizational structure recommended. The advantages and disadvantages of the particular organizational structure will be assessed. Finally, we will evaluate on the strategy that Kaye West University is pursing and whether the recommendation provided by Efficiency for You Consulting is suitable. Section B: Kaye West University Decentralized Organizational Structure Decentralization refers to the delegation of decision making of routine works to lower levels of managements (Iqbal 2005). Work units are created and each unit will be headed by a manager. Managers of each work unit have the power to act independently and make decisions (Management Study Guide 2008). In Kaye West University case, decentralized and market-based work unit organizational structure best describe the student support services. The student support services are provided at faculty level, so that services provided are more relevant, timely and specific to student’s needs. Each support service is incorporated as a centre, with each having a manager in charge of the centre’s performance. The manager in-charge has the power to make decisions. This is similar to decentralization structure, where decision making power is delegated to lower management level and managers get to act independently. Business (Market-Based) Work Unit Organizational Structure In market-based structure, employees will concentrate on understanding the needs of the particular group, unlike in functional work unit. It is a work unit based on particular market group (CliffsNotes 2000). Each centre is work units. The staffs will focus on meeting the needs of students of a particular faculty, providing customized assistance. The centres provide information or services that are tailored made to the students’ needs. For instance, the counselling centres, where students will be counselled according to their academic circumstances, have counsellors with specialized knowledge of the particular degree they are pursuing. This is similar to market-based structure, where the staffs in the centre focus on the needs of students from a particular faculty. Advantages and Disadvantages of using Business (Market-Based) and Decentralized Organizational Structure The advantages of having a decentralized and market-based organizational structure are that students’ needs can be addressed timely, and more specific assistance can be given to them. The managers, who understand certain procedures, are able to make rapid decisions to control the situations. Co-ordination of the different activities in the same faculty is also easier. Decentralization empowers the managers, and motivates them to strive harder (Jordan 2002). The staffs are more committed to serving one particular faculty students, providing services that are more customized to their needs and hence providing a high quality and supportive education experience to students. The disadvantages are that there may be lack of goal congruence and difficulty in communication of objectives between different faculties. As different centres serving different faculty will have diverse objectives, it will be difficult to set the same goal for all, let alone communicating of similar objectives between the faculties. Also, there may be unhealthy competition between the different faculties. There will also be duplication of non-production staff in different faculties. Functional economics of scale will be limited as a result. Also, this means that the manager becomes less skilled as he or she does not have chance in dealing with students of other faculties. Section C: Efficiency for You Consulting Centralized Organizational Structure The consultant of Kaye West University wants to remove the 6 student service centres from different faculties to a central administration, and this shows that the consultant wants to change the student service centres to a centralized organizational structure. CentralizationcentralizationThe degree to which decision-making authority is concentrated at higher levels in an organization. is the degree to which decision-making authority is concentrated at higher levels in an organization. There is little or no delegation of decision-making authority given to the lower management level (Web Books). Since the service centres will be changed to one university-wide centre, decisions will be made by the authorities in that central administration. Functional Work Unit Organizational Structure Functional work units limit attention to one function and that is what the consultant has recommended the school to do (Cohen & Bailey 1997). It plans to remove the student services from the 6 faculties and incorporate them into one central administration. Hence, by doing this, the consultant wants the University’s central administration to be the only functional work unit that serves the students. Advantage and Disadvantages of using Functional and Centralized Organizational Structure With all employees specializing in one function, they get to specialize in a common skill and there will not be a need to multi-task several different activities at the same time. In the new organizational structure that the consultant has proposed, fewer employees will be required to staff the student services and the staffs will be able to focus in one area only. At the same time, lesser employees will be needed to staff the services and this will significantly cut cost. In addition, they will know their respective job scope and they will use similar processes in centralized student service centre, so it is an efficient and effective way of operating (Fontaine 2006). With the single university-wide centre, all the support services will be standardized. All the students will get the same service throughout the school. Hence, the students in different faculties will not feel that they are receiving unfair treatment. However, there are some disadvantages of using functional organizational structure. The focus of functional organizational structure is often on efficiencies of operation, at the expense of creativity and customer value (Fontaine 2006). With one centralized unit for each support service, it may not be able to give the same level of high quality and customized service to its students as is traditionally provided. Furthermore, under the new organizational structure, the students may not get timely and relevant support services. Since there is only one centralized unit for each support service, it may not be able to cater to all the students’ needs at the same time. Section D: Our evaluation Kaye West University’s strategy An organization’s structure and process is determined by the management’s strategic choices (Miles & Snow 2003). Thus to determine the most suitable organizational structure for Kaye West University, we would need to examine the goals of Kaye West University. The two strategic aims of Kaye West University are to provide a high quality and supportive education and to foster an environment that leads to outstanding research. To achieve this, the University has developed strong student administration and services infrastructure at faculty level. Efficiency For You Consulting Recommendation According to Efficiency For You Consulting, it is not as cost-effective to carry on providing students services at faculty level when compared to incorporating the services into University’s central administration. When providing services at faculty level, staffs in each faculty also had to multi-task and are responsible for multiple roles. Decentralized Organizational Structure As each of the school has unique and diverse academic program, it would be good for Kaye West University to continue adopting decentralized organizational structure in order to maintain its efficiency in making decision for each school. Students’ needs will be attended to faster, with specific assistance given to them. The managers, with more specialized knowledge, are able to make decisions more efficiently to control the situations. Business (Market-Based) Work Unit Organizational Structure The advantages of providing students services at faculty level include being able to be more responsive and customized to students needs, in a more timely manner. The staffs are more committed on serving one particular faculty students, providing services that are more customized to their needs and hence meeting its aims of achieving high quality and supportive education experience. When we examine the different student services that each faculty provides, including enrolment and administrative matters, assessment method, special consideration, counseling, disabilities, academic program, workshops, employment upon graduation, we understand that detailed knowledge and understanding in each course is essential before staffs can be able to give quality advice and assistance to the students. Our recommendation and Conclusion If Kaye West University were to adopt the advice provided by Efficiency For You Consulting advice, the quality of advice and assistance that the staffs can provide for the students will decrease substantially as it is unlikely for the staffs to be able to know in depth knowledge for all the courses in the entire faculty. As mentioned, the focus of functional organizational structure is often on efficiencies of operation, at the expense of creativity and customer value (Fontaine 2006). With the adoption of Efficiency For You Consulting recommendation, it may not be able to give the same level of high quality and customized service to its students as is traditionally provided. Furthermore, under the new organizational structure, the students may not get timely and relevant support services, it may not be able to cater to all the students’ needs at the same time. If the university were to adopt the functional and centralized organizational structure as advised by Efficiency For You Consulting, the university would be able to save on costs, but the quality of the services provided for the student would decrease and may cause a drop in reputation. In the long-term, it will affect the potential students’ impression of the school leading to a possible drop in student intake. Therefore, we would recommend that Kaye West University to continue using business (market-based) work unit and decentralized organizational structure.