Business Model Part 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business Model Part 3 - Essay Example It makes use of decision centre, decision frame, horizon, period, and so on which is described below for an EBE of ResearchArchive. GRAI grid helps to achieve good control and management of activities. The GRAI grid is a two dimensional structure containing horizontal functional blocks with decision centers. â€Å"A decision centre is an organization unit which is the locus of a decision making process.† (Vernadat, F, 1996, p.296) A decision center represents an entity that gives decisions which can be persons or automated machines or computer programs as well. The flow of decision marks the dependencies between various activities. Diagrammatically it is represented by a double arrow. The information flow is the amount of data that is exchanged, referred or shared by different functional units amongst themselves for efficient functioning. For example, the recruitment process will need the information from various units; about costing plans, about vacancies, roles that need responsibility, etc. In that case the flow of information is marked accordingly to show linkages between units. This information flow is diagrammatically represented by single arrow. Different levels in the grid signify occurrence of activities at that level. Precisely, grid makes it simpler to understand the frequency of repetition of certain activities over other activities with respect to priorities and duration of execution. The nature of task is also of prime importance while locating the task in grid. The company functions by first making available and organizing the e-material that is to be traded. Hence it needs to locate sources for its own benefit. Next important step is to acquire and manage human as well as non human resources to carry out company tasks. Managing funds, cash inflow and out flow is crucial for company growth and its survival in competitive market. It

Classroom Management Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Classroom Management - Research Paper Example When an instructor loses control of his/her classroom, it is usually extremely difficult to get back that control. This instructor, consequently, has to adopt correct demeanour control measures if classroom administration techniques prove to be poor and inadequate. Inappropriate demeanour results in a reduced rate of academic involvement in the classroom. With regard to scholar’s viewpoints, efficient classroom administration encompasses patent communication of behavioural and educational expectations. This also includes creating a collaborative learning environment. Classroom supervision is intimately connected to matters of inspiration and discipline, as well as respect. All these techniques are issues of fervent debate among instructors. As a result, instructors’ approaches differ depending on the convictions an instructor holds with regard to educational psychology. An enormous part of conventional classroom administration encompasses behaviour alteration, though, v aried instructors see utilizing behavioural techniques alone as extremely simplistic. Varied teachers institute regulations and processes at the outset of the school year which delineate correct demeanour. These rules provide scholars with solid direction to make sure that their prospects become an actuality. These instructors, however, have to be dependable in fostering these regulations and processes. Many individuals assert that, constructive results are evident when rules are adhered to and unconstructive when rules are ignored. There are novel concepts with regard to classroom administration that try to be holistic. For instance, affirmation teaching, which tries to direct scholars toward success by assisting them see how effort is crucial in a classroom. This concept depends on developing an environment where scholars are successful as a consequence of their individual efforts. Creating this milieu is vital for scholars to perform well. This alters a classroom into a society o f well-behaved as well as self-motivated scholars (Angela, 1993). According to professionals in the field of learning, classroom administration aims at persuading and instituting scholar self-control throughout a procedure of enhancing positive scholar achievement and demeanour. Consequently, academic achievement, instructor efficiency, and instructor and scholar demeanour are directly connected with the conception of school and classroom administration. Classroom supervision emphasizes on three crucial elements. These elements are content administration, conduct administration as well as covenant administration. All these concepts are described and offered with facts in a list of evident elements in efficient teaching practices. Research indicates that a high occurrence of classroom disciplinary quandaries has a massive influence on the efficacy of teaching as well as learning. As a result, instructors who encounter such matters are usually unable to plan and develop suitable instr uctional duties. These instructors also tend to ignore diversity in lesson plans and seldom prompt scholars to confer and assess the materials that they learn. Additionally, scholar understanding or seat tasks are not scrutinized on a normal basis. However, strong and reliable supervision and organizational techniques have been described as resulting in limited classroom discipline quandaries. This implies that content administr

Conoco Report Essay Example for Free

Conoco Report Essay Last week I attended Forresters Content Collaboration Forum 2011. Forrester notes that in five years, almost half of US workers — about 63 million people — will work virtually. I am already one of them. This will change everything in workplace IT support from designing workplace information strategies for collaboration, to delivering content experiences tothe firm. For this international, integrated energy company with thousands of job sites (often quite remote) spread across 30 countries, the challenge of sharing knowledge was very real — and the potential payoff was large. Facing fierce competition on all fronts, ConocoPhillips knew that to continue on its success trajectory, it needed to rapidly and effectively harness the knowledge of its highly skilled but geographically distributed workforce. Instead of assuming that technology either was the solution or was irrelevant when creating online communities, senior managers understood that effective global communities required new processes, roles, cultures, and technologies. Moreover, they recognized that each had to be focused on solving difficult business challenges. Seven years later, the ConocoPhillips knowledge-sharing program is ranked as best-in-class across industries.† Dan mentioned that Conoco Phillips is fourth largest traded company in US with 30,000 employees around the world and many contractors who also participate in their knowledge sharing. They have been many changes in the last 12 years as a number of companies were acquired, along with the merger of Conoco and Phillips. This activity has triggered a big need for knowledge sharing. He likes the term knowledge sharing rather than knowledge management. I completely agree. Dan said it is about getting people to talk to each other. Trust is important for this. They are now going to reorganize and the solid state of their knowledge assets will help with this effort. Dan said that more than 70% of their good ideas have come from their employees. Good things happen when employees talk to each other. Dan said that his boss is the SVP of Planning and Strategy and he reports to the CEO so people listen to him as where you sit in the org chart matters within his firm. I think this is true for most firms. The most successful KM efforts I have seen all have a senior sponsor of rank and respect in the organization. Most KM groups are placed too far down the hierarchy to be effective. Their KM effort started when a senior executive felt they were re-inventing things too much. The focus was always connecting people more than collecting  documents. They grew by sharing success stories. Sharing these success stories was connected to their variable compensation plan and this really triggered response. They started the Archimedes Awards to knowledge sharing. Categories are: Give, Grab, Gather, and Guts. Dan gave some examples about safety improvements that also led to big financial returns. They have documented over 9 billion dollars in gains through the program. Dan said that they have functional excellence models that give specifics for improvements. They promote purposeful collaboration. Dan said serendipity can be useful at times but being purposeful works best in their firm. He said that knowledge accumulates in networks and their firm has a matrix organization. Leadership behavior is important for knowledge to flow and manager support for knowledge sharing is critical. They now have 150 networks of excellence. The first few were launched in 2005. They had 20 by the end of the year. These networks were built on trust and relationships, not technology. Prior efforts failed because they were technology focused. He showed an example covering upstream rotating equipment. A big problem is lost production opportunity. There is a group that addresses this issue to keep equipment running safely. Networks are open to all employees, not just group members. Related networks are connected because issues are related across networks. Their Ask and Discuss component has led to 100,000 exchanges. He does not believe in formal lessons learned. It takes too much time. Informal connections work better. I would agree and add the formal lessons learned become out of date very quickly and talking with people gives the most current ideas. People want to help each other but they also want answers quickly. Dan showed a diagram of all the cross-connections. They are massive. Knowledge silos do not seem to an issue for them. They have three main tools: Ask and Discuss, Knowledge Library, and One Wiki. The wiki is the first place to look for content. Ask and Discuss was covered above. All of their success stories have an economic impact. One had 87 million dollars of benefits. Sharing this is important. Giving credit to the employees is critical. Getting middle managers on board was done through conveying business value of knowledge sharing. It was fun for me to hear about a successful knowledge management effort as I used to be involved with many in the 90s and early 2000s.

U.S. automobile industry.

U.S. automobile industry. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Car is great invention of human development. After more than two centuries of development and innovation, automotive products remain irreplaceable in the transportation. Automobile industry is always one of the most important industries of each country and the world in general. The U.S. automobile industry was born in the beginning of 19th century, contributes a huge amount in GDP of American as well as one of the domination industries in American particularly and globe generally. This project provides an overall and comprehensive view about the U.S. automobile industry. Through application of appropriate strategic analysis tools, this topic focus on analyze four following parts: Firstly, the overall current macro-environment of this industry is provided, especially the key forces driving change in the U.S. automobile industry. Secondly, using the Michael Porter model to analyze the competitive environment or also called task or industry environment, the strengths and extent of competitive forces, which affect the attractiveness of the U.S. automobile industry. Next, map of the key strategic group in the U.S. automobile industry and analysis of the competitors in a main strategic group. Finally, based on the analysis of both environments, this report offers comments of the key opportunities and threats facing by the firm in the U.S. automobile industry and its attractiveness of the present incumbents and potential new entrants. I. INTRODUCTION The United States, with its total current resident is about 308 million, is the third most populous country in the world. It is the second largest country in Western Hemisphere, and the third or fourth largest in the world by total area. With an estimated 2008 gross domestic product (GDP) of US $14.4 trillion (a quarter of nominal global GDP and a fifth of global GDP at purchasing power parity), the U.S. economy continuingly occupies the most important position in global economy. Based on these advantages, the U.S. automobile market is one of the third largest markets, after China and Japan, both of manufacturing and consumption. The U.S. automobile industry has long historic development from the early decades of the 19th. There were over 1800 automobile manufacturers in the United States in the past. Although very few can survive and only a few new ones were started after that period, they are on the top automakers of the world. Moreover, it attracts most of the biggest foreign automakers to locate factories and invest, such as Toyota, Honda, BMW, Mitsubishi, etc. Recently, the automobile industry dramatically down caused the shortage resource and the current economic crisis. The U.S. automobile cannot avoid this trend. However, the general industry and Big Three U.S. automakers General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford recover gradually whereby the timely auto industry bailout and restructuring of the President Barack Obamas government. II. THE CURRENT MACRO-ENVIRONMENT OF THE AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY There are many external forces that can affect an industrys performance and hence to know well about the environment is the best way for improving the strength as well as reducing the weaknesses of companies in the field. This analysis of Socio-cultural, Technological, Economic, Ecological, Political and legal forces that affect the automobile manufacturing industry will be presented as follows. 1. Socio-cultural forces It cannot be deny that in todays society, people are judged on the type of cars they drive. Anyone who drives a nice and expensive vehicle is thought to be wealthy and success. People will find them-selves more valuable and feel better when they drive a nice and new car and therefore, car manufacturers target their markets by these thoughts. For example, with Mercedes-Benz, the producer launched three types of cars, which represent the brands value: luxury, safety, innovation. They are A-Class, F400-Carving and C-Class which being able to appeal the significant diversity of Mercedes-Benz in conquering the customers. Another thought provoking issue of the socio cultural is the environmental concerns for the need of fuel-efficient vehicles. Many environmentalists are worried about the impact that the gas cars have on the environment. The lower amount of gas emission emits into the air, the better the environment becomes. Therefore this problem also is taken into consideration by specialists of automobile companies. 2. Technological forces The U.S. is the worlds largest producer and consumer of motor vehicles with production of 16 million units every year. To increase its scale, the U.S automotive industry continues to experience technological change by investing on research and develop projects every year. These plan aim at finding out clean and renewable energy resources so that car can be used in the most efficient way. In addition to this, improving the quality of engine, making new more functions, changing technical innovation and styles for cars are also the objects that car-manufacturers want to bring to customers. Getting success as today, automobile industry should consider Internet as an important and useful instrument that make the business easier and more convenient. Thanks to its functions, the business of automobile industry becomes more efficiency and lower cost by e-booking, payment, connecting suppliers and customers online. For example, Ford, GM, and Daimler Chrysler created a global online exchange for suppliers and the original equipment manufacturers. 3. Economic forces In the past, the automobile manufacturing industry is regarded as one of the largest and vital industries within the U.S due to its great contributing to this economy in employment and productivity. Reports indicate that motor vehicle production represents over 5 % of the U.S. private sector GDP. However, because of the global crisis and the increase in oil price, 2008 and 2009 are the most difficult periods for automobile companies all over the world. In US, the number of cars sold is significantly reduced to be lower than 30% in 2008 and predicted 50% in 2009, making many automobile companies got into trouble, especially big ones like General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. 19.4 billion aid from the U.S. government with 9.5 billion from Canada government can not help General Motors avoid from breaking in 1/6/2009. The car consumption of Ford Corporation also decreased significantly, they had to close four plants in the U.S. and thousands of workers to leave work until now. The head of corporate manufacturing automotive components Continental (Germany) Karl-Thomas Neumann is predicted, the crisis in the automobile industry could take up to the next 5 years. This means that over 50 million people live based on the automobile industry will have to face unemployment in this period. 4. Ecological forces After the crisis, major technology trends that automobile production corporations want to aim at are comfortable, friendly environment with consumption of fuel savings cars. In present, Hybrid vehicles with fuel economy of fuel consumption at 35 km per liter gasoline are taken into consideration and eventually moving to the car model that does not use fuel as crude oil is development direction of the automobile industry in the near future. Besides, Pollution Prevention Project will be carried out regularly with the hope of finding innovative ways to keep our environment healthier and cleaner. 5. Political and legal forces Since the 1960s, the U.S. government has issued regulations that affect the production and consumption of cars in this country. Accordingly, almost all of the provisions are about environmental related problems and the safety of the drivers as well as passengers. The first National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act that forced manufacturers to improve the safety for the passengers, the driver visibility, and the braking of the car were approved in 1966. After that, there was also growing concern for the environment, many Acts were introduced in order to set standards for automobile pollution and decrease in automobile emission such as The Vehicle Air Pollution and Control Act, Clean Air Act. Then, after the oil crisis in the 1970s, The Energy Policy and Conservation Act stated that all automobiles must meet a certain mileage per gallon to ensure that the amount of energy could be saved as much as possible. III. THE COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT In todays fierce competitive environment, the firms need to achieve competitive advantages for competing, existing and growing. Accordingly, the firms must recognize the environment that powerfully influences the firms. In American automobile industry, the automobile manufacturers have realized the environments influence to automotive industry. At the same time, they must look at the main sources of competitive forces and how high or low competitive force is. As stated by Wheelen and Hunger (2008, p. 83) about the six sources of competition in Porters Five Forces model. This framework is used to identify the opportunities and threats for entering in to a particular industry. It is featured as follow: Rivalry amongst existing firms in the industry The American automobile industry includes three major manufacturers, General Motors, Fords, and Daimler Chrysler. On the other hand, it has also two Japanese biggest competitors, Honda and Toyota. Now we will discuss about how strong each competitive force is and which they affect on the attractiveness of the American automotive industry. 1. The threat of new entrants-Barriers to entry New entrants can threaten the market share of existing competitors. One reason new entrants pose such a threat is that they bring additional production capacity, reducing the attractiveness. (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskinsson, 2008). The threat of new entrants is low in the American automobile industry because of some main reasons. First, the American automobile industry now is mature and it has attained economies of scale. Although Honda and Toyota have invested heavily in America to produce cars, now the crisis in the auto industry and the slow sluggish state of the global economy lead to small demand; therefore, new entrants are not interested to enter this sector. Besides, this heavy industry requires a significant amount of capital for producing automobiles as well as research and development new designs. It also demands modern technologies, management and marketing skills. Besides, establishing the intermediaries for distributing the products is not the simply problem in America. The firms must look for the dealership to sell their automobiles. These entry barriers are substantial that make it difficult for new automakers. Accordingly, it is not easy for any new entrants to enter the American automobile industry. 2. Bargaining power of suppliers According to Hill and Jones (2008), the bargaining power of suppliers is the suppliers ability to raise input prices or the costs of the industry by providing poor quality inputs or poor services. In the automobile industry, the bargaining power of suppliers is low. The auto manufactures need several components from suppliers. Moreover, there are many suppliers in this sector. We can see that suppliers in the U.S automobile industry have little power. Therefore, the auto manufacturers have many options for bargaining prices and deliveries. If suppliers do not meet some main qualifications such as quality and delivery, the auto manufacturers can switch to other suppliers. Besides, the automakers can have many opportunities to force down input price as well as demand higher quality inputs. 3. Bargaining power of buyers Wheelen and Hunger (2008) mentioned that buyers could have an effect on an industry through their ability to force down price, bargain for high quality or more services. Thus, powerful buyers should be viewed as a threat of the industry. The bargaining power of the buyers in the American automobile industry is high. Nowadays, customers easily get information and have many options in choosing brands and models of cars between auto suppliers. Some of qualifications that they based on in choosing cars are quality, price, appearance, efficient, and so on. Because of the variety of lifestyle, customers purchase the cars in different ways. Besides, the switching costs are low in automobile industry. As a result, the buyers can play off the supplying company against each other to force down price. Whats more, a buyer has the potential to integrate backward by producing the product itself as a bargaining tool. Ford and General Motor have used the threat of manufacturing a component themselves instead of buying it from suppliers. 4. The threat of substitute products Hitt, Ireland and Hoskinsson (2008) pointed out that substitute products are goods or services from outside a given industry that perform similar or the same functions as a products that the industry produce. The threat of substitute products in U.S automobile industry is medium. Although people can travel by several public transportation means such as subways, trains, buses, the need of automobiles is inevitable in todays modern life. Traveling by automobiles bring conveniences and dependences for people whenever and wherever they want to go. Moreover, in using subways, trains, buses, the switching costs are high in considering of time, money and convenience. The cost of fuel consumption, the maintenance costs, the annual insurance fee, and so on in using automobiles may be higher than traveling by public transportation means. Thus, we can see that the threat of substitute products is depend on personal preference and it can be seen mild in automobile industry. 5. Rivalry among existing firms in the industry Rivalry refers to the competitive struggle between companies in an industry to gain market share from each other (Hill and Jones, 2008). Rivalry among competitors is extremely intense in the American automobile industry. There are few competitors in this sector and they are roughly equal in size. We can consider that American automobile industry is a consolidated industry because a small number of large automobile companies dominate this industry. They are General Motors, Fords, and Daimler Chrysler. In todays economic recession with slow market growth, each auto company watches each other carefully and fights to take market share from each other. They compete with each other by offering long-term warranties to customers. Besides, the rivalry among existing firms is high in this industry because of not much differentiation opportunities. General Motors, Fords, and Daimler Chrysler produce automobiles and sport utility vehicles. They evaluate about the price, quality, product design, and after-sales services and support of each other in competing to gain market share. Overall, the competition between American automakers can strengthen the attractiveness of automobile market as well as improve the product quality and after-sales services in automobile industry. 6. Relative power of other stakeholders The US government has low power over the automobile industry. General Motors, Fords have plants outside the United States, where U.S laws are not applicable. Forces driven by market demand are the only forces that significantly affect profit potential of auto industry. Accordingly, the relative power of other stakeholders ability to affect profit potential is low. After analyzing the Porters Five Forces model in the American automobile industry, we can see that the threat of new entrants is low through high entry barriers. The rivalry among existing firms is extremely intense because of few automakers in this sector. The overall impact from buyers bargaining power to the industrys attractiveness is high because customers have many options. Suppliers have limited bargaining power in this industry. The threat of substitute products is moderate and the relative power of other stakeholders is low. IV. MAPPING OF THE KEY STRATEGIC GROUPS AND ANALYSIS OF THE COMPETITORS According to Anthony Henry (2007) and Gregory, Lumpkin Marilyn (2002), the purpose of strategic group mapping is help organization identify their directly competitors, recognize mobility barriers, indicate the direction in which their strategies are moving to determine industry competition and analyze trends in the general and competitive environment. Automotive industry is one of the most complicated industries in which the giant corporations own many brands and focus on many different market sectors. The price of the product in the automotive industry is not only depended the cost but also related to the brand image of the firm. Those are the reason why this report chose the brand image and product ranger as the two variances for the two dimensions. Base on two dimensions as mentioned above, five strategic groups are formed. These groups are mainly formed base on the difference of brand image. However, the criterion of product ranger is very useful when mentioning about the luxury and extreme luxury group. The first group includes firms that have the brand image as low class / low price (Hyundai, Kia, Tata†¦). However, this group is the second highest wide range of product cluster. All most of those firms are defender. The short-term strategy of the companies mostly is cost orientation. The strategy of these organizations is try to clear the image of the low class, low quality brand and endeavor to enter to the second group which is middle class brands. The way that Hyundai try to do is build a new image of a quality brand when they offer an extensive warranty (7 years, 100,000 miles) (Gregory at all, 2002) The second group is the most powerful cluster. They have the most wide range of product which cover all most of segment of the automotive market exclude S-segment (Appendix I car classification). Majority of them are analyzers type. Toyota is a typical example. They have a wide range of current traditional engine product, which can give it a stable fundamental for them to innovate in the other sector. On the other sector, Toyota innovate the new generation hybrid engine (Toyota Prius), which is the solution in the world of traditional energy shortage nowadays. In the future, as the competitors in the same strategic group, Honda and Ford are going to introduce the new generation hybrid cars to compete with Toyota. To reach to the higher class of customers, these firms that stick with the image of middle class car try not to introduce a new high-class line but create a new higher-class brand or purchase an existence higher-class brand. With this purpose, Toyota creates Lexus, Nissan owns Infiniti, Volkswagen has Audi, Bentley and Bugatty etc. The third group is the high-class cluster. The price is higher than the middle-class mainly because the brand image and the performance of engine. In this group, the ranger of product is narrower than the middle class group because of the focus on the higher income group. To reach the higher class of customer, those firms also implicate the same strategy with the second group, which create new brands or purchase new ones. For example, BMW owns Rolls Royce. The fourth and fifth group is the luxury and extremely luxury car. Those two groups differ between each other not only on the price but also on the target customer although they are seemed in the same position when we mention in the ranger of product. The fourth group mainly focuses on the sport car, which has the high speed and hi-end technology. The target customers are young successful businessperson and celebrities. On the other section, the target customers of fifth group are people have the high state in the society, successful executives and of very rich. Because of the difference in the target customer and brand history image, the barrier of motivation is very high between those two groups. The group that this report focus on is the middle class which is the most profitable and innovative group in the automotive industry FORD Henry Ford in June 16, 1903 founded Ford Motors Company, which would go on to become one of the most profitable and largest companies in the world. As known one of the largest family-controlled companies, Ford family has been continuous controlling this company for over 100 years. The company locates the head-quarter in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. Ford is currently the fourth-largest automaker in the world and the third in US based on number of vehicle sold annually which records 1,602,011 in the U.S. market and 5,407,000 in the global market. In 2008, Ford employed about 213,000 employees at around 90 plants and facilities worldwide. STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES Well-known brand and history Product diversification Offering hybrid and environmental friendly cars Good marketing plan: Bold Moves Sponsoring and financing for big event. Product has a good review: quality, reliability, moderate price. Firestone tire recalls. CEO Jacques Nasser and Chairman Bill Ford Jr. cannot get along. Their overseas allocation and outsourcing creates fewer jobs in America. Their products are getting lower quality due to use cheap ways to make them. HONDA Soichiro Honda found the Honda Technical Research Institute in Hamamatsu in October 1946, to develop and produce small 2-cycle motorbike engines. Two years later, Honda Motor Company, Ltd. was born, and in 1959, Honda opened its first storefront in Los Angeles with six industrious employees. Today, Honda employs nearly 27,000 people in all 50 states. STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES Good brand in producing high quality products from cars to motorcycles to lawn mowers. One of the largest manufacturers of motorcycles in the world Awards for initial quality and customer satisfaction Pioneer in engineering low emissions internal combustion and hybrid technology. Higher price for non-luxury vehicles. Non-attractive in truck product. High technology cost cause over-price for consumer. MITSUBISHI MOTOR Basically, Mitsubishi Motors is one member of Mitsubishi group was found on April 22, 1970, and was based on the successful introduction of the first Galant. Until now, MMC has 33,202 employees and 12,761 non-consolidated employees, as of March 2008. The Mitsubishi brand was introduced to the American market for the first time in 1971. Until now, they employ about 18,500 employees across United States. Nearly two-thirds of the Mitsubishi vehicles are sold in the U.S; particularly this number is 58,963 in the end of 2008. STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES 4th largest automaker in Japan Restructuring Recovery plan. Strong brand awareness. Member of Mitsubishi Group. Poor model awareness. Loss of RD engineers. Weak uncertain leadership. Eclipse brand strongly associated with Female buyers. History of product recalls TOYOTA Toyota Motors Corporation was established on 28 August 1937 as independent company, headquarter is being located in Toyota city, Japan. The founder of Toyota was Kiichiro Toyoda. Nowadays, Toyota is basing 26 factories to produce vehicles, and marketing distribution in more than 170 countries in the world. In 2008, Toyota passed General Motors to become the No1 automaker in USA and the worlds largest automaker in global sales for the first time in history. STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES Well-trained employees. Strong leadership. Global organization, with a strong international position in 170 countries worldwide. High financial strength. Strong brand image based on quality, environmental friendly (greener), customized range. The largest automaker. Well culture-friendly, family†¦ encourages employees. Product diversification, developing the hybrid- motor product ranges. Japanese car manufacturer seen as a foreign importer. Quality issues due to rge-scale re-call made in 2005. Most products targeted to the US and Japan only shifting attention to the Chinese market. VOLKSWAGEN Founded by Ferdinand Porsche on May 28, 1937 as â€Å"Grsellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Deutschen Volkswagens mbH† and renamed as â€Å"Volkswagenwerk GmbH† in 1938, from a small car company, nowadays Volkswagen becomes the largest automobile maker in the world by vehicle production (Autocar, 2009) STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES Aggressive and talent leadership High financial strength. The largest automaker. High reputation German quality engine Cost-control with the purchasing list Non-stop requirement for the new project Special production testing process (manager attend the test drives) Lower position than Toyota and Honda in the market share Bad public image because of GM sue Not good relationship with their investors V. THE COMMENTATION VI. CONCLUSION Automobile industry is one of the most important industries contributed the U.S. worldwide dominated position. However, this industry now is facing the worst crisis of the car industry in the past decades. The most urgent task is recovering this crisis. Moreover, finding out the new developed trend is the main strategic for whole the industry.

Mechanisms of the Mind Essay -- Biology Essays Research Papers

Mechanisms of the Mind The human brain can be seen as one of nature's finest miracle. An object that weights merely three pounds is responsible for how we perceive reality, feel emotions, remember events and learn new things. For the past two decades, scientists and researchers have explored this hot field of neuroscience in hopes of finding some answers to how something so small is able to hold a lifetime of information. How exactly does the human brain retain experiences, thoughts, and memories? The answer to this has yet to be discovered. From the time I was young, I have always been fascinated about the processes of the brain and how the mind is able to remember and recollect memories. For almost two years now, I have been fortunate enough to be able to observe the actions and development of my little sister Michelle. From infant to toddler, I have observed the how the brain constantly refines her motor and hand-eye coordination skills. From her first words to her half Burmese/half Chinese complete sentences it is amazing to be able to watch her master difficult tasks such as learning a language, not to mention two languages, at the same time. How is it that she remembers to differentiate between the language she chooses to speak and the person to whom she is speaking? For example, when she talks with my grandmother, she seems to know to speak only Chinese or Burmese so she will understand. But when she speaks to my brother in Chinese and he doesn't respond, she will repeat it in Burmese or English. One instance of this I observed just recently. Ever since Michelle was little, she has been fascinated with computers and would ask us to show her the picture images saved onto the computer. But when my brother came ho... ...since. In which case, patients become prisoners of their past. Yet they can still learn new skills such as playing bridge and improve their playing skills each time they play, although they will think it is their first time playing the game. This suggests that the memory of skill development is controlled by a different part of the brain. The human brain is something to be marveled at. It is incredible to imagine that an object that consists of billions of neural connections and is made up of three pounds of brain cells is responsible for how we perceive reality, feel emotions, remember events and learn new things. Most of who we are lies inside this small organ which sits on top of our heads. Understanding how the mind retains a lifetime's worth of memories is still one of the toughest problems in biology. Internet Sources: http://www.chronicle.duke.edu/ Mechanisms of the Mind Essay -- Biology Essays Research Papers Mechanisms of the Mind The human brain can be seen as one of nature's finest miracle. An object that weights merely three pounds is responsible for how we perceive reality, feel emotions, remember events and learn new things. For the past two decades, scientists and researchers have explored this hot field of neuroscience in hopes of finding some answers to how something so small is able to hold a lifetime of information. How exactly does the human brain retain experiences, thoughts, and memories? The answer to this has yet to be discovered. From the time I was young, I have always been fascinated about the processes of the brain and how the mind is able to remember and recollect memories. For almost two years now, I have been fortunate enough to be able to observe the actions and development of my little sister Michelle. From infant to toddler, I have observed the how the brain constantly refines her motor and hand-eye coordination skills. From her first words to her half Burmese/half Chinese complete sentences it is amazing to be able to watch her master difficult tasks such as learning a language, not to mention two languages, at the same time. How is it that she remembers to differentiate between the language she chooses to speak and the person to whom she is speaking? For example, when she talks with my grandmother, she seems to know to speak only Chinese or Burmese so she will understand. But when she speaks to my brother in Chinese and he doesn't respond, she will repeat it in Burmese or English. One instance of this I observed just recently. Ever since Michelle was little, she has been fascinated with computers and would ask us to show her the picture images saved onto the computer. But when my brother came ho... ...since. In which case, patients become prisoners of their past. Yet they can still learn new skills such as playing bridge and improve their playing skills each time they play, although they will think it is their first time playing the game. This suggests that the memory of skill development is controlled by a different part of the brain. The human brain is something to be marveled at. It is incredible to imagine that an object that consists of billions of neural connections and is made up of three pounds of brain cells is responsible for how we perceive reality, feel emotions, remember events and learn new things. Most of who we are lies inside this small organ which sits on top of our heads. Understanding how the mind retains a lifetime's worth of memories is still one of the toughest problems in biology. Internet Sources: http://www.chronicle.duke.edu/

Essays --

System approach is a process of considering how different parts of the whole structure influence and integrate with each other and viewing problems in a system as affecting the system overall (Dreachslin, Gilbert, & Malone, 2013). According to Curtis, Dreachslin, and Sinioris (2007), the systems approach requires several steps, and these steps are to determine diversity and cultural competence goals in the context of strategy, measure current performance against needs, design training to address the gap, implement the training, assess training effectiveness, and strive for continuous improvement. Providing patient centered care has been the focus of recent organizational restructuring and quality improvement efforts in healthcare (Lutz & Bower, 2000). In healthcare literature, providing a patient centered care is to provide care and to meet patients’ needs. To provide a patient centered care, it is essential to understand the patient as a unique individual. It also important to be able to explore the patient’s experience of illness and finding common ground regarding treatment through shared decision making (Lutz & Bower, 2000). Given the first patient scenario, as a healthcare provider, it is essential for nurses to tailor our approaches to care for this patient. For this specific ethnicity, being overweight is seen as positive, and their traditional cuisine is rich of carbohydrates and sweets (Caballero & Tenzer, 2007). To provide best care for Mr. Garcia, it is best to provide a Spanish speaking nurse if possible, or an interpreter. It is important to educate Mr. Garcia regarding diet changes, for example, exchanging their simple flour tortilla to corn tortilla or pouring off excess grease after cooking. Increasing physical... ...n, gender, sexual orientation, and ability (Dayer-Berenson,2012). According to Goldsmith (2000), cultural competence does not require that patients be treated by using the same methods used in their country of origin. However, cultural competency does create a compelling case for understanding the different ways patients act in a clinical setting and for communicating with patients to ensure the best possible clinical outcome. Both patient-centered care and cultural competence aim to improve health care quality. As health-care workers we are held to the highest moral and ethical codes. Patients trust their lives in our hands. To live up to this trust we have to be respectful and compassionate, knowledgeable and understanding. Respect, dignity, knowledge, and patience are required to gain mutual trust in every relationship especially patient and doctor relationships.

Analysis of ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley Essay

Using close analysis of ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley and ‘Dracula’ by Bram Stoker, explain, using evidence, how both contain the characteristics of the gothic horror genre. I have been asked to write an essay comparing the two gothic horror novels, ‘Frankenstein’ and ‘Dracula’, explaining the characteristics of gothic horror. Frankenstein was written in 1818 by Mary Shelley. Shelley was born in August of 1797; during this time was a high interest of gothic horror genre. Shelley was inspired to write Frankenstein by the emotions she felt loosing her children. Shelley’s hopes of re-animating a corpse are transferred through the character or victor. The fact the novel is of the gothic horror genre was possibly the influence of the period it was written. The plot deals with the conflict within Frankenstein. Due to his love of the sciences he resurrects parts of dead corpses to form one monster like creature. Victor’s dreams to create a new life are demolished when Victor rejects the disgusting sight along with all people. The monster misunderstood and alone decides to take revenge by killing the people most close to Victor. Victor realises it is only him who can and must destroy what he created. But whilst he attempts this he is requested by the monster to create him another monster like companion. Caught between two moral responsibilities, his responsibility for his own creation and that towards the human race, Victor decides not to give life to a second creature. As a result the monster does what is most feared by Frankenstein and kills Frankenstein true love, Elizabeth. The monster, with no meaning of life, kills himself horrifically. Frankenstein’s main moral is don’t judge on appearance. Bram Stoker was born in 1847 and wrote Dracula in 1987. His vampire tale was supposedly the result of indigestion from a very spicy curry that resulted in a restless night of nightmares. ‘Dracula’ is the story of a vampire, Count Dracula, who lives in Transylvania. Jonathan Harker, a Lawyer travels to Dracula’s castle. It is there Jonathan discovers Dracula to be a vampire. He somehow manages to escape in an immense state of fear and shock. As a result to other vampiristic behaviour to Jonathan and others a group is formed consisting of Doctor Sword, Van Helsing, Jonathan and Mina who begin a pursuit for Dracula. They reach Transylvania and successfully destroy Dracula. The main moral to the story of Dracula is, no matter how powerful either side, in the battle of good versus evil good always triumphs over evil.