Employee Resistance and Change Management

Identify and Evaluate Key Personal Essays

Identify and Evaluate Key Personal Essays Identify and Evaluate Key Personal Essay Identify and Evaluate Key Personal Essay Samsung Electronics Company (SEC), founded In 969 as a member of the Samsung Group, Is the largest manufacturer In Korea, with a sales turnover of $23. 9 billion in 1 997, and accounting for 32. 8 percent of the total output of the electronics industry. In investment, product development, marketing, and technology development, SEC has played the leading role in expanding the frontier of Koreans electronics industry. The case study can be enlightening to many industries that struggle to strive In a highly competitive business world. SEC is one of Americas fastest growing companies and an acknowledged leader In the digital nonviolence revolution. SEC developed strategies to build the competitive advantages required to cope with the unfriendly market environment dominated by world-class U. S. And Japanese electronics corporations. Though founded in 1970, SEC commenced reinventing itself after 1993, whilst positioning itself globally. Therefore, SEC can be studied for the various strategic models used, tools and techniques developed from the inception of the company. Moreover, the case study may provide a basis to Investigate strategies In place at SEC In long, medium and short terms. Due o the enormous size of the organization, SEC can be studied for ethical values within the organization. SEC was ranked as the fastest growing brand in the world in 2006 by Interbrain. Therefore, SEC can be studied for the participation of stakeholders, the commitment of senior management and the way in which its employees are committed in implementation of its strategies. Theories and principles that underlie strategic planning The goal of strategic planning process is to organize the future. It develops a clarity of purpose of the association and allows scarce resources to be targeted for axiom results Environmental analysis: An environmental analysis identifies the internal and external parameters of the environment in which the association operates. Environmental scanning provides invaluable insights. After completion of environmental analysis, the strategic plan is to be developed using the following principles: Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, Legal Factors Develop a vision statement Develop a mission statement Set goals. Goals, which flow from the mission statement Set objectives. Identify strategies and tactics to achieve the objectives set forth under the goals. Scenario planning is a framework that Samsung can use to develop a general strategy. There are many complex ways of doing scenario planning, but a simple process is based on creating alternative visions of the future and then developing a long term marketing plan for 2-3 scenarios, using robust strategies. Scenario planning is most safely viewed as less trying to foresee alternative futures, and more challenging the validity of the current strategy from different perspectives. The framework comprises of three stages: 1. General scenarios for 10-15 years 2. Industry/topic specific scenarios for 5-10 years 3. Eng term marketing plan for 2-3 scenarios Stages 1 2 (general/specific scenarios) 1. Define the scope of the scenario: o clarify with creative problem solving techniques, such as word replacement, word diamonds etc. 2. Conduct general research: o desk o interviews o focus groups/Delphi 3. Identify current trends (almost everything to happen in the next 20 years can be identified today in embryonic form, the so-called weak signals): o use Post-it toe brainstorming o reverse key assumptions o pick out most far-fetched ideas and get people to champion them/make them more realistic 4. Apply trends too matrix of impact vs.. Likelihood: o Locus can Issue as to winter It Is Important or not, Ana winter It Is cert. happen or may happen split ideas if parts of an idea fall into different boxes be aware that those trends that are certain to happen will form the basis of any scenario; those that may happen will group into different scenarios o discard those trends that are considered unimportant 5. Work up 8-9 mini scenarios aspects of the larger alternative scenarios to follow): o identify 6-10 key drivers the major themes that underpin all the trends o get each member of the team (or sub-teams) to write up one mini scenario based on one of the 6-10 key drivers 6. Identify 3 major scenarios: o the mostly likely scenario o the scenario that offers the greatest opportunity offers the greatest threat 7. Work on each major scenario: o the scenario that o elaborate each scenario by defining the major issues o test each scenario by suggesting the sorts of events that would have to happen for the scenario to be realized write up each scenario o critique each scenario with a wider audience 8. Identify issues arising from each major scenario: o what implications does each scenario have for the business? Stage 3: long term marketing plan 1 . Summaries the scenarios 2. Identify turning points: o identify the main events/trends that will impact the organization identify issues arising from each event/trend 3. Identify the robust strategies: o identify strategies that are necessary to address the key turning points identify issues arising from each strategy 4. Compare robust strategies with current strategies: identify strategic gaps o identify issues arising from the strategic gaps 5. Identify strategic actions required: o identify specific actions o priorities actions o allocate resources o allocate timeliness Task 1 Part d. Describe and critically evaluate a small range (3 to 5)of models tools and techniques that could be used to develop a marketing plan for your chosen organization.

Existentialism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

Existentialism - Essay Example Their work shows a world with no hope. It is also a world they have created through their imagination and it bears little to no resemblance to the world we live in. In essence, existentialism is more of a thought experiment than a living, breathing philosophy. Two of the most famous existentialist philosophers were Sartre and Camus. At the beginning they were friends, but soon they became enemies. Sartre was more theoretical and Camus more allegorical, but both promoted the same ideals of existentialism. The truth is that Sartre essentially made up his philosophy in his own mind. He didn’t look to evidence from the outside world to make his own ideas less abstract. In Being and Nothingness, he even said: â€Å"Life has no meaning a priori †¦ It is up to you to give it a meaning, and value is nothing but the meaning that you choose.†1 Again, this is made clear when Sartre says elsewhere, â€Å"Nothingness haunts being.†2 One of the most famous quotations from Being and Nothingness is â€Å"Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.†3 The notion that an individual’s freedom is a negative quality—something which an individual is condemned to is an unusual notion. It is certainly not an idea which would have popularity in North Korea, where no one has any real freedom. Sartre’s idea is overly abstract. He is really saying that freedom is frightening and that it doesn’t mean what we think it does. But this is clearly just a random opinion and not one that is true in any real political sense. On occasions such as this, Sartre appears to be more of a charlatan than an actual philosopher. Lack of control over one’s own life can breed desperation. One element that is common in the work of existentialist philosophers is the glamourization of suicide. It is sometimes portrayed as an act of rebellion or freedom. It is suggested that this is one free choice a person could make. What

Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc - Case Study Example The Group operates 375 stores spread across the United Kingdom. The Group operates in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the Isle of Man.' Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC - Company Profile Snapshot, (http://wrightreports.ecnext.com/ coms2/ reportdesc_ COMPANY_C826N2770, viewed on 24th March, 2009) The company was founded in the year 1899 by William Morrison. The Headquarters was at Bradford inWest Yorkshire. The company initiated its expansion by the takeover of another company viz., Safeway in the year 2004. Thereafter the company registered commendable growth and at present it has a total of 382 superstores across the UK. The Morrison family currently owns around 15.5% of the company. Morrisons has now a remarkable stronghold in the supermarket chain and has earned good profits through the years and has given good divident to its shareholderes. The adoption and implementation of effective marketing strategies with the support of latest technologies have helped the company in the flawless management of inventory, logistics and warehousing. Here, in this essay the Technological, financial and marketing techniques implemented by Morrisons for its success is being discussed.. Wm Morrison Supermarkets LLC (Morrison) one of U.K.'s largest food retailers and has its area of operation related to retail supermarket stores and connected actions. The varied range of products which Wm Morrison has to offer include fresh foods, home and leisure products, wines and spirits, groceries and beers, through its 365 stores, 13 manufacturing sites and 12 distribution centers in the whole of U.K. The different branded products of the company are; Eat Smart, Organic, free from, At Home, First Home, BettaBuy, skin colour products and private label products. The market share of the Morrisons gained and it extended beyond its rivals. Consumers became more and more health and budget-conscious and they started preferring necessities to improvised spending. GBP 655 million was the profit before taxation for the year. This is an increase of around GBP 43 million over the previous year profits. But the net income for the equity share holders reduced by 17% and the earnings per share also dropped down. The yearly turnover for fiscal 2009 is higher by 12% and 3% of this growth is because of its very high prices of fuel. The growth in the existing stores were 7.9%, increase in customer numbers by 4.2% and average basket used up by3.6%. Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc branded advanced profit before tax in fiscal 2009, after it wheedled consumers with freshened and rebranded stores. The supermarket chain also increased its dividends and also announced that it was going to open up more stores across U.K. Morrisons has raised 601,212 in aid of Help the Aged and Childline. They have been able to do this by: Selling pin badges in store Charity of the Year Collections (more coming in December!) Donations from reusable charity carrier bags Stop for Tea parties nationwide Recycling mobile phones History of the Company Morrisons started their business as as an egg and butter merchant in Rawson Market of Bradford under the name of Wm Morrison (Provisions) Limited. In 1952, his son, Ken Morrison took over the company while he was only 26 years old. In 1958 it opened a small self-service store in Bradford. This store was the first shop of its kind in Bradford delivering poducts with a price

Case 11-1 SHOULD YOU HIRE A FORMER EMPLOYEE Essay

Case 11-1 SHOULD YOU HIRE A FORMER EMPLOYEE - Essay Example 2. How valid were David Heard’s concerns about the effect of returning employees on the company’s culture? David Heard’s concerns were valid in terms of affecting the company’s culture when a former employee who left the organization is eventually rehired. For a small organization, the camaraderie is more close-knit and the company’s culture would somehow dictate the firm’s overall sentiments, values and beliefs in terms of embracing a returning employee. If the culture is more of acceptance and the skills of the former employee are indeed worthy to be kept (especially if the position is still vacant), then, there would not be any potential dilemma. However, if the culture shuns employees who had not been loyal to their organization’s thrusts, then, accepting or rehiring a returning employee would prove to be difficult and would compromise the work behavior of others who were deemed loyal for considerable lengths of time. 3.

Unstructured Free Time for School Age Children

Unstructured Free Time for School Age Children How Important is Unstructured Free Time for School Age Children? It has been said that children do their best learning when they do not believe they are doing so. We most often see this trend with kindergarteners, of whom find themselves playing games to learn to count, and singing songs to learn their ABCs. While the classroom has been an efficient location for the learning of academics, the playgrounds have been spheres of critical social skill development. These periods of unstructured free time, also known as recess, are essential for the childs development. The skills they learn during these periods of constant personalized play and imagination provide benefits that extend far beyond sharing and friendship making. There isnt one single reason as to why recess has been eliminated from many schools by their local school boards; there are a combination of factors of which have catalysed this motion. The most influential being a concern for safety and adequate supervision during the childrens recess periods. Some parents and administrators have felt that letting kids roam free for even 20 minutes during the school day is a safety hazard for the child. They fear that the child could get lost, or injure themselves from the unstructured and guiding free environment. This is the reason why many schools have banned dangerous games and activities, which further constricts what the child can and cannot do. Additionally parents also express concerns for the number of staff, meaning teachers or aids, available to supervise their children. Every parent wants their child to be the center of attention, and many carry with them the fear of their child being forgotten or ignored if something were to happen. Mor e often than not the issue rises to a greater level in the schools which lack an excess of funding to be able to hire extra aids in order to fill the teacher to student ratio requirement; most frequently the urban schools which lack much of the property taxes that fund rural schools. Additionally the past few decades have seen a larger push for academic success within our schools. States have pushed for schools to educate children where it matters, forcing the children to sit still and be quiet (Adams, Caralee). We can link this trend to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. It was created with the aims to even the playing field for disadvantaged students, but it instead lead to many controversial reactions and effects. Schools were required to test the students annually, and were required to show progress and success both as a whole district and on the individual student level. Those who failed to meet the acts requirements were penalized; meaning the school could be shut down or t he leadership team within the school could be changed entirely. (Lee, Andrew) The constant pressure to succeed in the classroom lead many schools to restrict recess for the children, and increase the amount of classroom focused time. It is unfortunate to see that when recess is concerned, the hazards outweigh the countless advantages which can be brought unto the childs mind and body. On the forefront of a childs development we most often find their social and emotional skills at an immediate influence. School is a large jump for many students, and their periods of recess activity have been found to be even more influential than their time in their classrooms. Socially, the free time provided during recess can facilitate the cultivation of new relationships by the children with their classmates. These relationships lead to the development of valuable communication skills and coping mechanisms. Take for example a group of children trying to organize a kickball game. First they must decide between themselves which people will be the captains, hence the development of their negotiation skills. Then they must choose which children will be on each team; creating the foundation of their cooperation skills, and problem solving abilities. Taking turns between kickers and outfielders is a prime example of sharing, as well as perseverance when someone gets tagged out and se lf control when someone gets upset about a decision. It has been seen that these skills, which can be perfected over the duration of the childs schooling, last for years past their graduation into higher education levels as well as the outside world. Learning to cope with problems and communicate when an issue arises are two social skills which can be continuously put into action throughout ones lifetime. Recess is a period of time wherein a child is given the freedom to choose; and even when the child doesnt participate in large group games they are still able to develop emotionally and socially. They can hopscotch and hula hoop; forming smaller and closer friendships with their counterparts. They have the ability to watch the kickball game; all due to the fact that recess gives the child the ability to chose to be themselves freely unlike in a classroom where the teacher makes most of the decisions. (Murray, Robert et.al) It is not to say that social and emotional skill arent deve loped in the classroom; we see children learn to understand authority through the teacher as well as when and where play is appropriate. Instead it can be said that the skills learned through free play create the foundation upon all other skills can be based. Where some have argued that recess is a waste of crucial school time, others have been able to recognize the cognitive and academic benefits unstructured free time provides for children. Through their own imaginative actions and experiences, children construct their own individual understanding mechanisms. The periods of recess create what is referred to as optimal processing; meaning a period of unstructured interruption after structured cognitive work. In order to effectively learn, the children need recess to subconsciously process all that has gone into their brains during the preceding classroom time. While they freely play, the childs brain files all of their newly acquired knowledge into new files and sections of their brain for future use. It has also been observed that recess serves as a means for children to become more attentive. When they burn off excess energy and are able to let their imaginations run free, returning into their classroom settings allows them to produce more attentive and productive work (Murray, Robert et.al). Not only is their work more productive, but their brains are then rewired to be better. The complex environment on the playground leads to the complex rewiring of the childs prefrontal cortex. This is alternately known as the executive control center; where emotional, planning, and problem solving skills develop. Complex situations become easier to navigate for the child, as circuits construct themselves through the free play recess allows them to have. If recess is used in the manner by which it was designated, then we could see new generations better prepared for life, love, and higher education (Hamilton, Jon). Children must learn to be children, and all else can fall behind this simple fact. Just as it is essential for a child to go to school, it is also vital for them to learn how to use their imaginations. We can not as a society force children into all work and no play environments; it would be hypocritical seeing as our previous generations have always had recess and some had even had it twice a school day (Adams, Caralee). As it has been said, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Recess provides the essential periods of play for the childs development into a creative and productive adult. We must remember as a society that we are raising our future generations, not crafting mindless robots always focused on work. Our ancestors didnt create new inventions with rigid minds. They were innovative and creative to forge a new path forward for their futures, and our today. Thus, it is imperative that instead of following societys trend of fear and worry, we weight recesss benefits mor e heavily. It isnt about play; but about childhood and the betterment of our futures. Works Cited Adams, Caralee. Recess Makes Kids Smarter. Instructor 120.5 (2011): 55-59. ERIC. Web. 23  Dec. 2016. Hamilton, Jon. Scientists Say Childs Play Helps Build A Better Brain. NPR. NPR, 6 Aug.  2014. Web. 22 Dec. 2016. . Lee, Andrew M.I. No Child Left Behind (NCLB): What You Need to Know. Understood.org.  Understood, n.d. Web. 02 Jan. 2017. Murray, Robert, MD, and Catherine Ramstetter Catherine Ramstetter, PhD, et al. The Crucial  Role of Recess in School. The Crucial Role of Recess in School | From the American Academy of Pediatrics | Pediatrics. American Academy of Pediatrics, Jan. 2013. Web. 22 Dec. 2016.

Candide :: essays research papers

Candide Voltaire's Candide is a novel which contains enlightmenet and at the same time is also exaggerated. Voltaire offers disguised by jokes and sarcisam, and the story itself presents a distinctive outlook on life in the 1700’s. The crucial contrast in the story deals with irrational ideas as taught to Candide about being optimistic, versus reality as viewed by the rest of the world. The main theme that I got out of reading Candide is optimism. Out of every unfortunate situation in the story, Candide, the main character, has been advised by his philosopher-teacher that everything in the world happens for the better, because "Private misfortunes contribute to the general good, so that the more private misfortunes there are, the more we find that all is well". As Candide grows up whenever something unfortunate happens Pangloss would turn the situation around, bringing out the good in it. Candide learns that optimism is "The passion for maintaining that all is right when all goes wrong ". Candide also believes that he could make the world a better place by spreading his theories on optimism. One could say that Pangloss is an irrational figure, and Voltaire tries to expose how incomprehensible his beliefs are which do not measure up to reality. It is possible, however, that all along, deep down inside, Candide doubted the philosophies of his teacher because of his exposure to immorality in the real world. For example, Candide witnessed the public hanging of two Portuguese Jews simply because they refused to eat bacon for dinner.It was occurrences like these which demonstrated the inhumanity that one person can do to another, leading Candide to disbelieve Pangloss' philosophies. Cunegonde, the object of Candide's affections, wa s thought dead by Candide but she had really been raped and sold into slavery.

Circus the Circus

Blue Ocean Strategy Institute BOS007 The Evolution of the Circus Industry (A) xOverall winner of the 2009 European Case Clearing House Awards xWinnerofa2006EuropeanCaseClearingHouseAwardinthecategory â€Å"Strategy and General Management† 06/2009-4999 This case was prepared by Matt Williamson, INSEAD MBA 2000, under the supervision of Professors W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne and Ben M. Bensaou, all at INSEAD. It is intended to be used as a basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation.Copyright  © 2002, INSEAD-EAC, Fontainebleau, France. To order copies of INSEAD cases, see details on the back cover. Copies may not be made without permission. This document is authorized for use only by Janis Rozenbergs at Vidzeme University until August 2013. Copying or Blue Ocean Strategy Institute â€Å"If you ask a kid to draw a circus, they draw a tent. † Pam Miller, Big Apple Circus, New York. Indeed, t he circus tent is a unique and evocative icon that has featured prominently in circuses for centuries.Relying heavily on a flamboyant entry into town, the big top was their primary tool to attract audiences to the spectacle taking place inside. Nevertheless, while the symbolism of the tent is important in the contemporary interpretation of circus, most early shows, particularly the European precursors of what would be recognized today as circus, took place in theatres and dedicated buildings. The Origins of the Circus The circus was created in 1768 by Philip Astley, an Englishman who set up a ring format for equestrian events, still in use today.Classical circus is considered to consist of four elements, whether inside a tent or a large arena: equestrian acts, clowns, acrobats and jugglers. The word circus originally denoted a competitive arena for horses, with the Roman Circus Maximus the most imposing classical example. 1 The circular space is perfectly suited to a galloping act, and largely unnecessary for any other form. 2 The centrifugal force generated by a horse galloping around a small diameter ring enabled the equestrians in the show to stand on horseback and perform other similar tricks.Juggling, tumbling and trained animal events had been popular through the ages, but by adding a clown to the mix to parody the other events and add some humor, Astley transformed these separate acts into a real show. 3 Astley’s innovation spread quickly throughout Europe and showed up in America in substantially the same form in the summer of 1785. Building on the basic equestrian component, legends such as P. T. Barnum and lesser-known players like W. W. Cole and George Bailey sponsored elaborate acts from trained zebras to trapeze artists.Around the core circus, promoters grafted sideshows such as menageries, human and animal ‘curiosities’, and carnival games to enhance the spectacle of their shows. Barnum, perhaps the most celebrated huckster of modern times, was so successful that many of his efforts have entered the modern lexicon. He marched Jumbo the Elephant across the newly dedicated Brooklyn Bridge and proclaimed General Tom Thumb, a midget from Connecticut, the smallest human ever to have lived. The Development of the Traditional CircusThough an extremely popular form of entertainment during the 19th and 20th century, the circus conjures an image of drifters and dreamers with gaudy clothes, aggressive hawkers and a standard routine of acts. Whereas whole towns had once turned out to see historical revues and the latest mechanical marvels along with other events as the circus passed through town, 1 Personal communication from Fred Dahlinger Jr. , Director, Collections and Research, Circus World Museum, May 9, 2001. Author’s interview with Dominique Jando, Associate Artistic Director, Big Apple Circus, May 8, 2001. 3 John Culhane, The American Circus (New York, USA: Henry Holt and Company, 1990), p. 1. CopTyhr iisgdhot c ©um20e0nt2isINaSuEthAoDriz-eEdAfCor use only by Janis Rozenbe1rgs at Vidzeme University until August 2013. 0C6o/2p0yi0n9g-o4r999 ———————– [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] ———————– posting is an infringement of copyright. [email  protected] harvard. edu or 617. 783. 7860.

Transparency and the Location Mystique

Transparency and the Location Mystique Free Online Research Papers Transparency In Retail Site Location Models Transparent: Free from pretense or deceit, frank. Obfuscate: Mask, conceal, disguise as part of a hidden agenda. Location Decisions: Science or Intuition? When it comes to selecting retail locations, knowledge is power. Experience plus intuition are the key drivers. The large majority of location decisions continue to be made on the basis of intuition and experience, not science. Why? Well, a large part of the reason is that this common sense decision process works pretty well in many situations. Good locations are good locations after all. Mom, my neighbor George, or even Aunt Sally can all tell the difference between good and bad locations to a point. The next step, however, that goes beyond good and bad to actually estimate a store’s performance in that location, does require special intuition and experience. This also works quite well to a point. The best decisions come when real estate expertise is complemented by objective, scientific knowledge that can come from demographics or other data and from predictive models. Because so many companies use models, or other kinds of intelligence, today to evaluate sites, it’s important to take our understanding one step further. Both intuitive predictions and model predictions tend to be used in ways that are not transparent. And, if a decision process is not transparent, it’s also not generally open to shared feedback and improvement. If you are on the receiving end of model predictions delivered as either mystery statistics or the oracle, as real estate or development personnel often are; then a lack of knowledge about how the model works may be beneficial. Usually, the normal â€Å"good† locations are not the ones people remember; it’s the dog sites. In the long run, however, everyone (especially your company) benefits when the basis for a decision is objective, understood and shared. This enables the criteria for current good locations to be extended into future â€Å"good locations†, and the problems with bad locations to be understood and avoided. Companies that have this attitude usually benefit enormously from predictive modeling because the model results are simply one piece of the decision pie, and they don’t step on anyone’s toes. If everything is on the table and above board transparent then new information is always welcome. Unfortunately, the more common problem is that a history of relying on the company’s version of a â€Å"location mystique† (which just means your company’s shared, intuitive understanding of what makes a good or bad location), is combined with a general lack of transparency and understanding around the factors that drive store sales. This results in a decision process that attempts to be good, open, and feedback-oriented, but ends up driven by tradition and opinion. Why Location Decisions Often Lack Transparency Real estate information and decision-making, certainly on the commercial side, lacks transparency because the key players benefit from controlling access to information at different points in the process. We see, for example, that commercial databases listing available sites are very incomplete because the local brokers have a wealth of inside knowledge. They know which property will be available soon, or could be available at the right price and their competitive advantage comes from controlling this knowledge. Sales Prediction Models Typically Do Not Please Everyone It won’t surprise anyone reading this to know that most real estate decisions are driven by experience and intuition, not models or objective criteria; or to learn that the decision-making process for site selection often loses transparency because of internal politics, communication barriers that prevent knowledge sharing, hierarchical administrative structures, and IT or technological issues. The truth is that, much of the time, brokers and real estate VPs don’t want the interference of a model unless it supports their decision. Why? Because models generally get in the way of doing deals. In cases where the model predictions and expert opinions converge, great! The model is not a problem, per se, but actually it’s agreement with the expert is setting up a big problem because now, anyone examining the results is likely to conclude that the model has some validity. Right? Well, look at what happens when a site comes up that the VP likes but the model is not enthusiastic about. Ouch. The VP wouldn’t have proposed the site if he/she didn’t think it would work. Now the model’s second opinion really hurts because the last site got high ratings and everyone was happy. Who is right in this case: the model or the VP? Transparent Site Features Help All Parties Communicate Objectively The problem here is transparency. Store sales are obviously based on a combination of factors. Some are location-related (like the site attributes or demographics), and others are not, like operations, marketing or even brand strength. If the VP and the model were talking the same language, they could agree or disagree on the strength of each of these factors, and eventually reach a consensus opinion on the site. Lacking this transparency in the decision process, both are left only with their differing opinions, and supporting justification. This matters little, since they are not speaking the same language. We addressed this issue in our modeling systems by listing specific site features, or rating the quality of certain demographic measures. This does help some. What stops it from being very beneficial, is that we didn’t take the issue of transparency far enough. The problem was confusion about the role of the location in store sales. This varies from one extreme, â€Å"If it’s a dog site then the location is at fault bring me the head of the real estate manager who picked this site:†, to the other, â€Å"The location may be part of the problem but lets take a good look at marketing, operations and competitive positioning first.† In general, the way this confusion appears, is that because the influence of all key factors on store performance is not measured quantitatively, or well understood, the role of the location is typically perceived to be much too strong. In my experiences over twenty-five years, with several hundred retail companies, I would have to admit that the number of companies willing to make the location decision process transparent could be counted on just a few fingers. Dick Riveria, the former president of TGI Friday’s did a rebuild of their sales prediction model just to open up the process and the information to a new team of real estate managers and executives. Ron Stegall, the founder of BizMart, insisted that everyone, both core staff and brokers, be familiar with their site model’s components so they could validate them. Gary Wyatt at Lowe’s introduced modeling to bring transparency to a process shared by both marketing and real estate. Jim Kirkpatrick at Applebee’s, and Jim Torcivia at Cracker Barrel, always tackle problem stores from a â€Å"bring me better measures so I can understand what is happening† perspective, rather than simply as location problems. As a forecaster, my biggest challenges in making store performance transparent were situations where the concept was part of the problem. In these situations, the concept name, the differences between store prototypes across markets, the competitive positioning of the concept, and so forth, often impacted sales. Yet, raising the concept flag was not something the owners were willing to handle. I won’t share any bad examples here, but Ruby’s Diners, Staples, and Red Robin are good examples because their hard work in the other direction to fine-tune the concept component of performance in objective, shared ways that impact the bottom line. One of the major ironies of location modeling is that it is common for sales prediction models to be the ultimate in non-transparency. They are often statistically complex (which is intimidating by itself for many people), difficult and time consuming to learn or use, access is often controlled and limited to a special group of analysts, and who gets to see what reports when may be determined by political agenda rather than â€Å"need to know.† You would be shocked at the major corporations for whom I’ve conducted workshops that have never had all the key people involved in location decisions real estate, finance, marketing, operations and executives in the same room together to discuss what is needed when from whom. Transparency Helps to Create Actionable Results Another problem with most models is that they are either largely based on statistical â€Å"mumbo jumbo† that could not be made transparent if you wanted (some of the early neural network models fit this description well) or are so simplistic (like common regression or gravity-based models) that they lack credibility because even a statistically naà ¯ve person can understand that they cannot explain the complexity of many stores in many retail situations in many markets. Even worse, what good is transparency if you cannot do anything with it? We’ve built models with fairly transparent reports for some time but so what! The user can disagree with what they see, but the battle is already lost because the results don’t change! If I disagree with the answer, and I can see why the answer is wrong because the system is transparent you had better let me be able to act on it. Now that you know my biases, you know what’s coming next. There is absolutely no good reason for Site Selection and Sales Prediction to be a covert, mystical process with hidden rules, hidden agendas, and controlled access to information. One of the biggest misses I’ve seen has to do with franchisees. I would guess that at least 25,000 franchisee locations have been selected using our modeling systems and reports. Most of these franchisees saw a Site Quality Rating, the factors that contributed to the rating, and a sales prediction; yet, not a single one has (to my knowledge) ever been able to sue the franchiser successfully over a poor performing store based on information in our report, largely because it is transparent. The courts have made it clear for many years: not sharing critical information is generally risky. Sharing (being transparent) with an appropriate disclaimer offers more benefits to all parties, and more protection from liability. Benefits of a Scientific Approach to Site Selection There actually is a science of site selection with a good deal of research on what factors matter where. My book, The Site Book, is a synthesis of much of this knowledge as we apply it in our modeling programs. Companies that have made the culture shift to use and share these objective rules for location decisions not just the financial estimates have seen tremendous benefit on many dimensions, not the least of which is their bottom line. One of the simplest statistics that illustrates the value of this scientific approach is sales volume. When we looked back over the last 7,000 locations for 13 different concepts that were evaluated using the logic in The Site Book, we found that locations that had a Site Quality rating of 65 or higher (the average rating is 50 on a 1-100 scale) also had 17% higher sales than the average store for that concept! Yes, there is a strong relationship between an objective measure of site quality and sales. PAI’S Approach to Modeling The rules used to make decisions in models need to match the rules of the retail world, not just fit a set of mathematical criteria. This statement, which is really talking about transparency, simply means the models need to be thinking about the world in ways that match the logic that you or I might use as real estate professionals. To some degree we met this goal in the past by creating reports that listed the criteria used to estimate site quality and sales but I don’t think we went far enough. Why? Because the best, transparent models are also: Logical: The rules in the model match what happens in reality Open: You can see the rules and logic operate Robust: The model can predict reliably despite the â€Å"noise† or error associated with most sales modeling Adaptive: There is a way to learn from the errors in prediction to improve the model If you had asked me five years ago, when I wrote The Site Book, I would have touted our logic for location analysis as pretty complete. And, I might have said the same about sales forecasting. Yet, how can this be when locations are responsible for only approximately 50% of store sales! What about the missing 50%? For many years in our presentations to clients, we represented this 50% with the following pie chart: This is transparent to a degree if you know the Location Factors and can specify their influence. Yet, you cannot have a truly transparent sales prediction without all of the components. It’s impossible to know if a store’s weak performance (when you think it should be doing well) is due to a problem with your location models, or store operations, marketing, etc. This shift in thinking led to a series of analyses to explain the other factors: the market, competitive positioning in the market, operations, the concept, the brand and many others. Could we explain the sales contribution of these other components? Typically the answer was â€Å"yes† because we had so much detailed customer data that let us get at problems with operations or marketing and in doing theses analyses, we also learned that once the non-location components could be predicted, it was also possible to predict the contributions of many small location factors in our original model. How much is a new sign worth? What about being on the corner versus down the street two blocks? What is the contribution of the tourist population to sales? What’s the contribution of Market A versus Market B to sales? Answering these questions led to a very detailed Transparent Report in which all of the factors underlying store sales could be viewed and analyzed. The high-level version of the report is illustrated in the table that follows: Making Changes to Model Predictions†¦ Adding Validity or Fudging Logical, open, robust, adaptive†¦ that’s a great list of attributes to define transparency; but they don’t mean much without the ability to make changes in the model’s predictions to reflect what you’ve learned. Model predictions, even from the best systems like PAI’s, the National Weather Service, or election polls, are not perfect. You should expect that they will change when knowledge improves. Remember that transparency in almost any context interpersonal, financial, business management, politics, and so forth usually goes hand in hand with getting good feedback and being flexible enough to act on it. Part of the value in watching the individual gears turning in the â€Å"big machine† is to be able to notice the wobble and make a correction when needed. This couldn’t be truer in many domains than it is for location analysis where the change in a single factor (a new manager, construction on the road in front of the store, o r a competitor opening down the street), can dramatically impact performance in one week! FOUL you say. A fudge is still a fudge. We wanted a model to provide an objective, unbiased prediction, not one that could be fudged to fit someone’s biases. Let me see if I understand what you are saying. When you are ill, would you rather rely solely on the results of blood tests and temperature readings than to add the interpretation that is part of the physician’s expert opinion? Or, if surgery is called for, to would you forego the expert opinions of several physicians? In the case of location analysis there is a lot of knowledge about a site, the market, competition, and experiences in similar markets that may not be in your modeling program. Besides, transparent is as transparent does. In other words, because it’s transparent, everyone can see the gears turning. There can be no mathematical cover-up, as you might experience with a single prediction driven by complex statistics. Transparency means you are looking at the facts, at least as the model sees the world. There can be no hiding because everyone else sees and shares the same view. If there is disagreement about a â€Å"fact† such as the quality of the ma rket, name recognition, the manager’s performance, visibility of the store, or any other parts of the transparent report that’s actually good! You are working at a concrete level where a consensus can probably be reached. If the consensus opinion is that the model is wrong about one of these components, you want to change it and determine how this change will impact the predictions. In our work with clients, disagreement with the model results, and the process to understand these disagreements (that we call â€Å"field validation†), is encouraged. We see the whole proposition as 50/50. Fifty percent belongs to the objective model results; fifty percent belongs to the intuition and experience of an expert in the field actually evaluating the site, or as a part of a real estate committee in a Board room. Historically, adjusting the models predictions meant adjusting or tinkering with the input parameters until you got the predictions you wanted. Today, what we attempting to do with our transparent approach to modeling, is encourage shared understanding and communication about all of the components of sales, especially the large, non-location components such as operations or marketing, that are not well understood in many companies. How much do operations or marketing contribute to store sales? Quite a lot and when you can measure this contribution, guess what happens to your location model. It gets a lot better because you are not trying to predict the performance of operations with a demographics report. You are predicting only that part of sales explained by demographics with demographic predictors, site sales with site features, market sales with market features, and so forth. We’ve witnessed that transparent models completely change the nature of the conversation when there is a disagreement between a model’s prediction and actual sales. Instead of a conversation that begins, â€Å"What’s wrong with the model. It’s under-predicting performance for this store by 25%;† It goes, â€Å"Here’s a large discrepancy. Let’s look at the transparent model report and see if we can understand where it’s coming from!† What you want from a model is â€Å"it’s† version of the truth, not an oracle. The key to understanding and utilizing this truth is transparency. Transparency transforms what traditionally was a black box process into an intelligent dashboard, with gauges that explain what is happening in each of your stores, and dials to make the needed adjustments. Now you have a wise partner in your modeling system, not an idiot savant! RETAIL SYNERGY By Dr. Richard Fenker, PhD For the last twenty years I (and more recently with two colleagues, Lynn Cherry and Selby Evans) have been tracking an elusive phenomenon, which at times is as plain as the nose on your face, and at others as elusive as a wisp of clouds on a clear day. Its a force in the world of retail that is as obvious and strong as the force of gravity when you toss a ball in the air. Yet, it is also as mysterious as the physical principles that underlie gravity and its relationship to other forces which are still not well understood by physicists. The phenomenon is retail synergy. As obvious as the value of a collection of synergistic retailers sharing a common shopping center may seem, especially their influence on the gravity of the center or its ability to attract customers, relatively little beyond common sense is known about this practical yet ephemeral concept. In our everyday experience, we live the concept of synergy as we are attracted to clusters of retailers that work well together. In fact, we even name these clusters with familiar labels such as shopping centers, malls, strip centers, power centers, lifestyle centers and the like. There is no mystery here, other than a wait for the next clever name to come from a developer in California, Minnesota, or New York. There is also no mystery about the fact that some of these centers work (meaning they are more effective draws for retail traffic) much better than others, or that certain types of people are attracted to certain types of centers. There is also an obvious parallel to atomic physics. We study the behavior of atoms and molecules, and the attractions between heavier particles such as a proton and the lighter particles such as electrons, or the special universe of quantum entities such as charm, flavor, spin and quarks more on this in a moment. The mystery for me started in the early 1980s. I was working with Norm Brinker and Ron McDougall on a customer research project for Chilis. In developing the research instrument, we asked the question: What other retailers are linked to a visit to Chilis either before or after? Our intention in asking this question is obvious. If there are supporting linkages, or other retailers likely to be visited in connection with my restaurant visit, why not locate a Chilis near centers containing these retailers, thus increasing the probability of a visit to Chilis? The first answers that emerged from our research made sense. While we couldnt identify specific retailers that mattered, we could say that being near upscale shopping or entertainment activity mattered a great deal for some locations. So, at the most general level, certain classes of retail activity were clearly synergistic with casual theme dining. I can sense that yawn beginning hold on for a moment. What we didnt understand at the time were any specifics. What types of retailers were best or did we need to get to the next level and deal with specific retailers? We could count the stores in a shopping center (although the databases at this time were much more limited than today), but we didnt understand the relationship between the stores or how much this mattered. Finally, there is obviously some relationship, or interaction, between the people who live and work in the neighborhood, and the retailers. However, it was not obvious how this interaction contributed to the synergy of the area. Yes, we were scientifically curious, but were driven by a much more practical problem. Our forecasting model was telling some of these early clients (such as Steak and Ale, TGI Fridays, or BizMart) that they would do well in certain centers because of the synergistic activity and we were dead wrong. I remember driving a site in Washington DC with a retailer that had used our model, in part, t o make the decision to open the store. The retail energy was awesome. With a regional mall nearby, it was also a great neighborhood filled with our clients customers. What was the problem? The answer wasnt obvious. However, as we studied the problem, one area where our thinking was muddled did become more clear. We had been mixing the idea of Retail Draw and Retail Synergy, essentially treating these as the same concept in our model. The more good retail around YOUR concept the better. Unfortunately the world doesnt work this way. As we studied the DC mall carefully, it was obvious that our client was near a hundred supporting retailers in the mall or in other shopping centers near the mall. However, they were actually adjacent to a smaller center filled with junk retail, and badly positioned with respect to the competition. Im sure youve heard this story before it was a great location, except for the At least the concept of Retail Draw seemed clear. And based on the results of a couple of million customer surveys that weve administered since, and over 100,000 sites evaluated, it has remained so. Retail Draw is essentially a measure of the pull of a retail area based largely on the number of businesses in that area. Regional malls have huge pulling power, while local strip centers have very little, with power centers and lifestyle centers in between. The importance of pull, or retail gravity as it is called in many modeling approaches, is that the following principle seems to be consistently valid: The larger the number of retailers in an area, the stronger the Retail Draw, and the larger the effective trade area for most of the retail businesses. There is little mystery here. The city center in healthy cities is the ultimate retail area, drawing from the entire city. Regional malls can have as much or more pull. Everyone in the community, to a degree, becomes a customer of the businesses in these areas. What was still a mystery, however, was the synergy of the area, or the synergy of the businesses in the malls or shopping centers of the area. A definition of retail synergy was emerging in our thinking: Retail Synergy describes the degree of compatibility between a collection of retailers such that customers who use one of these retailers are also likely to use other retailers in the same center. This is not a bad definition of synergy as we would view it today, but there was still a major flaw in our thinking that took several more years to fully appreciate. Can you see what we were missing? In any case, armed with this definition of synergy, we could begin to understand that the best centers were ones that attracted distant customers, not only because of Retail Draw, but because the stores in the center had some degree of Retail Synergy. Looking back, this seems like an obvious step, and in some respects this is true. However, as our understanding evolved in real-time twenty years ago, a philosophy was also evolving, and it is one that has influenced our thinking about location analysis and sales forecasting models, from the 1980s to the present. What was happening was that in the pursuit of answers for why the statistics in our models didnt work in some cases (this is a euphemism for bad predictions), we were forced to look more carefully at the behavior of the customers w e were trying to model. This shifted us from a find a better methododological approach, to one of explaining how shoppers and diners actually use the retail world. One of our first chances to test this thinking came with the modeling research for two clients, Eckerds and Cracker Barrel. As we designed their customer surveys, we added sections that gave us much more detail on the behavior patterns of users, and the specific combinations of adjacent retail businesses that helped or hurt sales. It may not surprise you to learn that a visit to Eckerds has a high probability of being linked to a visit to other kinds of retailers or institutions; or, that travelers, service stations, motels, and certain retailers all interact in certain ways to influence Cracker Barrels performance. At the time, it surprised and delighted us and even though we didnt see a large jump in the sales forecasting accuracy of our models, our risk models (models designed to spot potential dog locations) did get a nice bump in accuracy. We could now identify certain kinds of retail situations that just were not right for our clients. This synergy component has remained a par t of our models ever since. The Cracker Barrel and Eckerds research was moving us in the right direction, and several mall modeling projects finally got us to yet another plateau. What every developer and mall-based retailer who is reading this article understands, that we eventually figured out, was how important adjacency influences are in driving behavior. Shoppers have patterns, driven to a large degree by the occasion. On a practical Saturday, I may bounce from the grocery store, to the hardware store, to the drug store, to the post office or whatever. On a shopping Saturday, I visit the mall, going to six stores that sell my kind of clothing, have lunch, and then look for a wedding present. Which stores I visit in any time period is obviously influenced by my needs and the time factors; but both synergistic factors (which stores are in the retail area) and adjacency factors (which stores are near each other in the centers) also help determine which specific retailers I will visit. Retail Adjacency Effects describe the local spatial relationships between key retailers and any nearby concept. The strongest adjacency influences occur when the convenience of having certain retailers nearby increases the probability of a linked visit to your store. New car dealers figured out a decade ago that the best way to bring shoppers into their showrooms was to create a cluster of dealerships, because, when people shop for new cars, they typically visit a number of dealers on a single trip. Today, unless you are a Lexus, Mercedes or other destination dealer, you are asking for trouble if you ignore the presence of this common behavior pattern tied to Retail Adjacency. Now, we are getting a little warmer. As we incorporated adjacency influences into our models, predictions did improve. In fact, the combination of adjacency and synergy could make as much as a 30% influence on the bottom line for some types of clients. If you are a fast food concept, for example, how do you feel about locating in grocery-anchored shopping centers? Our research findings here might surprise you. (Send me $1,000, and a box-top from my favorite brand of cereal, and Ill share them with you.) What we had done was to get down to some very specific behaviors of consumers that were closely related to the way the retail world was arranged. Retail Draw, Retail Synergy, and Retail Adjacency what is next? The next step is in some respects a digression, since our discussion is about retail synergy; but, it happened so naturally and with little contribution on our part, other than to say, yes, we can do it, that it is worth mentioning. Two major big-box retailers in different industries, one grocery-related and one merchandise-related, asked essentially the same question at the same time. Can you help us design the layout of the store to increase the potential that customers who come to purchase one product have easy access to related products they might also purchase? The answer was, of course, yes, and within a couple of months, our list of synergy-related products had been expanded to include the concept of Product Adjacency. Product Adjacency, or Department Adjacency, describes the layout of store departments or merchandise in order to optimize synergistic patterns of purchasing behavior. To meet the needs of these retailers, we modified our standard customer research instrument to include in-store behavior patterns, so we could track what customers actually did while in the store and surprised ourselves with the results. The same strong proximity-related patterns we were observing for Retail Adjacency outside the store continued in the store. A few departments (the destination departments), for example, attracted most of the initial visits to the store. Other departments visited were strongly influenced by their proximity to these destinations as were purchasing behaviors. In one case, a radically new store design was created by clustering secondary departments, that appealed to certain customer segments, around the destination departments that attracted those same customers. This principal, while undoubtedly not novel, proved so effective that we have adopted it as one of our classic approaches to store design. Despite all of this work, there was still a missing piece in our definition of synergy. We could see from our customer research studies that some busy retail areas and malls seemed to attract customers from all over the market, while others of a similar size behaved almost like local malls or shopping centers, even when many of the same brands were present in both centers. Ridgemar Mall and Hulen Mall are two of the major shopping centers in the Fort Worth area of Texas. The difference between them is profound. Despite the presence of a Neiman Marcus in Ridgemar Mall, plus essentially the same retailers as the Hulen Mall, it behaves much like a local mall, drawing largely from a five-mile area, with many of the surrounding stores and centers struggling with marginal performance. Hulen, on the other hand, is a major destination mall that draws from the entire city with its mix of mid-scale and up-scale retailers and restaurants. Whats wrong with this picture? You already know the answer, dont you? You can see what obvious component is missing in our understanding for synergy - demand, destination-driven demand. Looking back, it is obvious, but it was not obvious at the time. The retail world is filled with centers of retail activity, each with some level of Retail Draw, ranging from a dozen stores to many hundreds. These centers can become strong attractors of shoppers and diners for the reasons explained above, primarily Retail Draw and Retail Synergy. However, the strength of the Retail Draw depends not just on the number of stores, and the tendency for people to link shopping visits to several different stores on a trip, but also on the lifestyle focus of the center. Secondarily (because customers will cross neighborhood boundaries if the draw is strong enough), it depends on the lifestyle fit of the center to the surrounding neighborhood. In other words, large clusters of retailers sharing a common focus on a certain set of customer segments or lifestyle groups, have by far the strongest drawing power. Not everyone in the market will visit these centers, but the core lifestyle groups will travel quite a distance, and deal with other hardships associated with traffic or locations, because the draw is so strong. Have you ever been to the IKEA location outside of New York City? Well, you cross the Hudson River into New Jersey, drive North on the freeway until you are in the middle of the warehouse, factory, and wasteland zone. Next, you proceed East a couple of miles into no mans land along the river bottom, and arrive at one of the most successful destination retailers in the world capable of creating their own draw and synergy because the lifestyle pull is so strong for some segments. Lifestyle Synergy describes the focus of the retail area, or shopping center, on a limited set of customer segments or lifestyle groups. The larger the retail mix, and the stronger the focus, the more Retail Draw for the targeted groups. Now, we are almost finished with the components needed to build a good model of synergy. They include Retail Draw, Retail Synergy, Retail Adjacency, Lifestyle Synergy and last but not least, the mystique that accompanies any successful business venture. By mystique I mean that for the best of everything, the whole is always greater than the sum of the parts wines, personalities, art, sex, and certainly the most successful centers or retail businesses. You cannot explain IKEAs remarkable performance without mystique! The concept of synergy speaks at the classical level to clusters of similar or related retailers. In reality, it too is a much richer concept, linked inevitably with the properties of the retail world that are one step beyond you get what you see, and more closely linked to an entangled, interdependent, universe where a healthy respect for the mystique of a Krispy Kreme, a McDonalds, an IKEA, or a Lowes is appreciated even if not completely understood! CUSTOMER KNOWLEDGE FIVE EASY QUESTIONS: CAN YOU ANSWER THESE FOR YOUR COMPANY? 1. Who are your customers? Knowing Who are your customers can guide planning, marketing, and site selection if your research asks the right questions. Bad answers here serve as little more than an afterthought in an annual report. 2. How do they use your concept? Usage patterns feed operations the information needed to improve perceived service by meeting the needs of each user type; this knowledge also helps real estate understand the site features most important to each group. 3. How far, and for how long, will they normally travel? A concept normally has three trade areas that matter, not one. Time and distance data for users coming from work, and for users coming from shopping or other retail activity, is as important as it is for people coming from home. 4. What drives their visit, and how well are you executing on these attributes? For improving operations and encouraging return visits, there is no comparison to directly matching customer expectations on key attributes with satisfaction ratings. Higher satisfaction ratings mean higher sales. If you want to know how to boost these ratings, just ask the right questions! 5. How are you positioned relative to your competitors? Knowledge of your competitive positioning goes hand in hand with location planning, marketing, and new market development. You are handicapped if you know your competitors, but dont know which user groups they impact or why. Research Papers on Transparency and the Location MystiqueIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaThree Concepts of PsychodynamicThe Project Managment Office SystemResearch Process Part OneBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfOpen Architechture a white paperRiordan Manufacturing Production PlanStandardized Testing

buy custom Past Influences on Present Societies essay

buy custom Past Influences on Present Societies essay Colonialism was a major milestone in world history. European nations took over countries in Africa, Asia, and America in order to exploit resources and find markets for their manufactured products. However, many other effects resulted from colonization of different countries. Current socioeconomic or political situations in many countries are influenced by the systems introduced by the colonialists. Different countries were influenced in various ways by colonization. Some of the legacies introduced by colonialism have ended while other persist and are part of the social organization of different countries. This paper will look into some of the legacies that have persisted in different countries from colonialism. It will involve examples of countries where the legacies of colonialism are reflected in the organization and social structures of the countries. Ways through which legacies of colonialism are reflected in the world Discussion of religion as an important legacy Europeans travelled to their new colonies with the aim of converting the colonies into extensions of their home countries. This resulted in the expansion of their religious beliefs and practices to their colonies. Many of the countries that were colonized had traditional and indigenous religions that Europeans did not like. Christianity was the main religion practiced by Europeans. Therefore, the native communities in countries colonized by the Europeans were taught the importance and advantages of modern religions (Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin 40). Most of the countries that were colonized were converted into Christianity. Religion is a central part in the organization and socialization of a country. Colonialists were of the opinion that their religion was superior to the indigenous religions practiced by the natives in their colonies. Changes that were made by the Europeans concerning the religious beliefs of people in different European colonies have persisted to the current state. Many countries in Africa, Asia, and America practice the religions that were introduced by their colonial powers. This situation resulted in variations along the lines of Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. These countries chose their religions based on the beliefs of their colonialists, as opposed to their early beliefs. Countries that were colonized by the Germans or Portuguese are mostly protestant while many Italian colonies are Roman Catholic (Poddar, Patke and Jensen 358). The colonialists discouraged the practice and teaching of other religions such as Islam. The colonizers felt that their culture and religious practices were superior to those of their colonies, which they termed as backward. Most of the native people in the colonies were convinced about the superiority of European culture and religion and followed them. In light of this, most of the people in former European colonies still practice the religions introduced by their colonial leaders. The motives for colonization were varied, while most of the colonizers were interested in the resources that the colonies had, others were interested in spreading modernity. This resulted in their persistence in teaching the doctrines of westernization, which included teaching Christianity to the natives. Assimilation was the main strategy that Europeans used to get conformance from the natives. It was thus necessary for them to ensure that the teachings would be followed without rebellion. Europeans gauged their power in comparison with other European nations by considering how much influence they had on their colonies. Therefore, they ensured that the doctrines of religion and their beliefs were incorporated in the administration of their colonies. Western imperialism was central in the indoctrination of native colonies for the Europeans. This perspective of the superiority of Western religions compared to native religions practiced in different colonies has persisted to the present (Duiker and Spielvogel 816). This makes religion one of the most significant reflections of colonial legacy in the world. Discussion of Economic Activities as a Legacy of Colonialism Economic activities practiced in different parts of the world vary depending on resource endowment. Colonialists viewed resource endowment as the main factor influencing their decisions to colonize other countries. Africa, for example, was colonized for its resources in minerals and arable land. The colonialists were only interested in the raw materials that they could derive from their colonies. This meant that little processing was done in the colonies. The colonies were also markets for the finished products that emanated from the industrial revolution in Europe (Chiriyankaandath 38). Colonialists were of the opinion that their wealth as nations could be increased by gaining control over resources in other countries and exporting as much as possible. This legacy has persisted in many developing countries that were former colonies. They maintain trade ties with their former colonial superiors by exporting raw materials to them. The result of this is economic activities that focus on the production of primary products such as unprocessed raw materials and agricultural products. Most countries in Africa produce raw agricultural goods such as coffee, cotton and others, which are exported for processing in other countries. This was the organization of the economy during the colonial era. European nations wanted colonies to extract minerals and agricultural raw materials such as cotton, which were exported to Europe for processing. Although this practice results in loss of revenue due to the low value of exports, many former colonies import the processed products from their buyers of raw materials. This practice was embedded in the policies implemented by the colonial rulers in order to retain economic control over their colonies. Policy change in these countries has been slow in these countries, with the former colonialists having control of government agencies in order to protect their interests. Production of primary goods is labor intensive, which the colonialists utilized for their economic progress. Economic emphasis in different colonies was dependent on the abundant resource in the colony. This resulted in varied types of economies in the territories. Production was meant or exports, as opposed to local consumption, which has influenced economic practice in former colonies today. Many former colonies still focus on the producing of products for export such as production of cash crops, instead of food crops. Legal and governance system as a legacy of colonialism Many colonial territories had indigenous governance systems that they followed before their colonization. The colonial governments had to impose their rule on the territories in order to gain control and govern them effectively. The governance policies implemented in the different colonies were in line with the governance structures of their colonial rulers. The legal systems of many colonies such as those in Africa were deemed as being disorganized and ineffective in giving adequate control to a central government. Colonizers, therefore, had to implement their legal systems to govern the territories. Upon independence, many former colonies did not change the legal systems that were put in place by the colonialists. In many cases, colonies had a common constitution with their colonizers. The government structures in these colonies, therefore, resemble those of the colonizers. Judicial and other administrative systems are also derived from the colonial government. The maintenance of law and order in the colonies was the main reason for the setting up of colonial governments. This resulted in a government that did not act in the interests of the natives. Therefore, the governance structures were undemocratic and imposed rules and policies on people. Decisions and policies were made in the government without any input from the local people. This practice has persisted in many former colonies especially in Africa, where government policies are implemented with minimal input from the citizens. Though most countries have adopted democratic forms of government, participation of people in decision-making is limited in matters such as formulation of the national budget. Government and legal systems are very crucial in a country. The legacy of colonialism on the legal system adopted in the countries is significant because it was difficult for the former colonies to change these structures after the end of colonialism. The legal and governance structures of many countries are greatly influenced by the structures introduced by the colonial government. Examples Spread of Christianity in the Philippines The Philippines is the only country in Asia, which is predominantly Christian. A majority of the people in this county are Roman Catholics, with only 5% being followers of the indigenous Asian religions such as Taoist Buddhism and other indigenous animistic religions. This spread of Christianity in the country resulted from the long period of colonization of the country by Spain. Spaniards colonized the Philippines between 1550 and 1898 and influenced the religious beliefs of the Natives. Most of the communities in the country were not centralized, and power was vested in few individuals such as warriors and headmen (Russell). The political organization of the country enabled the Spaniards to convert large numbers of people. One of the first strategies used by the Spaniards in converting the natives to Roman Catholicism was mass baptism of locals as a favor from Chief Humab for healing his son. The Spanish friars were protective of the people against collonial oppression, which won them favor from the locals. Christianity is practiced in a variety of forms in the country; the native Filipinos adapted the practices of Roman Catholicism. Initially, the Spanish clergy destroyed indigenous religion by destroying their places of worship and their idols. New moralities were also imposed on the Filipinos by discouraging polygamy, slave holing, and consumption of alcohol (Russell). In essence, the colonization of the Philippines resulted in a legacy of syncretism in the form of Christianity practiced in the country. Catholic practices introduced by the Spaniards blended with the indigenous practices of the native Filipinos. The legacy of colonialism on the religious practices of Filipinos is evident in the enactment of Christian scriptures, which were used to teach Christianity to the natives by the Catholic Priests (Russell). Kenya as an Agriculture-Driven Economy Kenya was one of the countries in Eastern Africa that was colonized by the British. The British colonialists were interested in the agricultural potential of the country. The central highlands were especially lucrative for the British due to the resemblance of the climate to that of their homeland. Their exploitation of the country was in introducing cash crops such as coffee and tea, which would be exported to Europe for processing. The native4s were forced to grow coffee and tea on their land, as opposed to food crops such as sorghum and sweet potatoes, which were common. The productivity of the land in these crops was high, and the British discovered the importance the climatic conditions for these crops, which were important for their industries (Ndege 10). Development of development of the economy and over reliance on agriculture can be traced to the colonial economy. The British exported the harvested tea, coffee, and other products for processing in their country meaning that there was little development of industries in Kenya. The market for these primary products was used as a tool for exploitation and political control. This legacy has persistent in recent times through the regulation of prices by the government (Ndege 7). The economy also has a narrow base, which was inherited from the colonial structure of limited diversification. The economy is also dependent on Britain in terms of technology and financing. This means that the deficit in the balance of trade because of the economic structure is a significant impact of the legacy of British colonialism in Kenya (Ndege 8). French colonial governance in Guinea The governance institutions implemented by the colonial government in Guinea were meant to suppress the natives. This was aimed at allowing the French exploit the resources available in the country. They were mainly principles of denomination, which was the mission of colonialism (Sawyer 3). Democracy was not a very significant item in the agenda of governance practices implemented in the country. The government is over centralized, which results in too much control on the founders. The structure of governance implemented in Guinea was specifically meant to prevent rebellion from the natives such as the Samoure Toure led resistance. The nature of the colonial experience in Guinea shaped judicial and other forms of legal governance in the country. The French administration was repressive and extractive, which resulted in low levels of goodwill between the elites and the government. Guinean leaders wanted immediate freedom from the French, which caused an angry response from the French. The abrupt departure of the French resulted in destabilization of the country. The Malinke leadership took over the social order in the country causing a divide in the country. Political parties that were formed in the country were aimed at filling the gap left by the abrupt exit of the French. The first political party was formed by trade unionists and focused on democratic centralism (Sawyer 5). Therefore, the structure of political parties in Guinea is a direct replication of th e structure of governance adopted by the French colonialists. Conclusion From this analysis, it is clear that colonialism resulted in aspects that have persisted in the social, economic, and political structures in the former colonies. The religion imposed on the natives in The Philippines resulted in development of syncretic religion, which incorporates aspects of the indigenous religion in Roman Catholicism. The legacy of colonialism on economic development is clear from the analysis of the Kenyan economy, which is based on agriculture and little diversification in manufacturing. French colonization of Guinea led to development of democratically centric political parties modeled after the policies implemented by the French colonial government in the country. This paper, therefore, provides some of the examples of reflection of legacies of colonialism today. Buy custom Past Influences on Present Societies essay

Unmanned aerial vehicls Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Unmanned aerial vehicls - Essay Example The U.S. military has used UAVs for surveillance and for actual military operations. In 2009, a UAV-controlled missile was successful in neutralizing a Taliban leader. Future plans of the U.S. Air Force include using UAVs and robots in ground assaults or in beach assault situations. UAVs can also perform military tasks like acquiring targets and rescuing soldiers from dangerous situations. Other uses include collecting data from sensors for use in making digital maps, dropping supplies extremely dangerous territory, and assisting with cyberwarfare attacks. Military UAVs are also known as the ‘flying eye’ because they are designed as surveillance system equipped with sensors and computerized components. The flying eye is deployed in the air to conduct surveillance, take pictures and collect information valuable for military or civilian purposes. When the UAV is in the air, it is programmed to fly for a predetermined flight path until it reaches back to the ground or base. Popularity and applications of UAVs UAVs were first popular with the military because they offer greater flexibility and are more advantageous in dangerous environments than manned aircraft. When it comes to technology, UAVs are effective with the newest technology, such as sensors, microprocessors, and propulsion systems, which can endure and are more effective than human pilots. In the military perspective, UAVs have proved effective in military missions and have also been proven successful in dangerous and contaminated environments where it is very dangerous for human-driven aircraft. (Nonami et al. 2010, p. 3) Complicated UAVs designed for military use are expensive and difficult to operate in crowded places. Designers have devised inexpensive UAVs and make it smaller and easy to operate. Micro air vehicles were built lightweight, with a wingspan of just about 15 cm. and weights about half a kilogram. MAVs can perform military tasks what larger ones cannot do. They can fly to clo se terrain or at dense forest environment, and collect data without being detected. MAVs can also be used for atmospheric studies without influencing airflows. MAVs can also perform surveillance missions for the military as they are built like stealth aircraft. (Langelaan & Roy 2009, p. 1642) Japan has the largest number of registered UAVs, particularly unmanned helicopters used in agriculture. In 2002, it exceeded other countries, such as Australia, West Europe and USA, in the number UAVs registered for civil and military use. The low risk and greater success in missions are major motivators for the use of UAVs in military and civil operations. It has been predicted that in the U.S., market for UAV will reach $16 billion, next is Europe which is currently spending approximately $3 billion. In Europe, this has increased slowly. (Nonami et al. 2010, p. 4) UAV components and designs Major components of a UAV include a microcontroller system, a compass, GPS, servo-controlled mechanism, and cameras or sensors. These components vary per different manufacturing specifications. More sophisticated UAVs are created by different manufacturers depending on the purpose for which they are made. There are various AUV designs which are made relative to their purpose; manufacturers provide designs for military surveillance and operations, for civil use and for hobbyists. More designs have been introduced for civil and military purposes. The industry is even made more competitive and vibrant as smaller firms have

Construction management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Construction management - Essay Example The schedule may specify the specific roles for the unskilled and skilled. For instance, starting time can be set at 7am and ending at 5pm. Similarly, construction manager is required to consider the pay rate of overtime schedule. The major role of the unskilled workers involves preparation of construction material mix, timely. The superintendent is responsible in carrying out the activities as instructed by the construction manager and with the help of the project or center map. The function of the superintendent to perform close examination to ensure that, the laid daily schedule is followed such that, the set down period for the whole construction process can be adhered to. More over, the superintendent ensures that the specified ratio of the materials is followed to the latter. The superintendent, ensures that proper records of equipment is well taken especially when begging the daily schedule and at the end of every day. This practice is endeavored to ensure safety and availabil ity of such equipment as to when and where they are needed in the right condition. Labor situation The concept of labor requires the underlying principle of availability to be embraced. Te superintendent, under the construction manager’s instruction should ensure that, the adequate labor is sustained all through the construction period. The labor schedule depends on the schedule of each day. For instance, less sub supervisors may be required when more work requires the supervisors. The superintendent, who in turn reports to the construction manager, directly does all this labor adjustments with proper consultation of the supervisors. However, in some cases, the superintendent can deny the construction managers’ projected schedule if it appears untenable. A successful completion of this project entirely depended on the cordial and timely coordination of among the supervisors, superintendent and the construction. There should be continuous flow of correct information fro m top to down and vice versa. It should be observed that, the three levels of command have to coordinate all the activities in the site wit all aspects of professionalism and ethics. Construction ethics is necessary follow element because of its fundamental benefits attributed to it. The site and construction ethics ensures smooth coordination and reduced incidents of accidents. Start up considerations At the commencement of the center’s activities, numerous start-up considerations are critical for a good start. Some of these include the operation staff, which includes the management team and the ordinary staff, training of the employees, motivation and general maintenance of the center facilities. The considerations should be carried out with outmost honesty and professionalism, particularly when recruiting the staff to set a pace, which may form the company’s norm. Operations staff The owner of the DMD intends to carry out all the activities involving management recr uitment. These activities include advertisement for various job opportunities. Having been the district human resource manager at the department of Health and sanitation, he has apt experience in recruiting the required team, which will perform assigned duties in tandem with the dynamism in this industry. The center owner will have to select the appropriate