The importance of keeping customers for as long as possible, in what Essay - 1

The importance of keeping customers for as long as possible, in what is seen often as a short-term approach to sales - Essay Example Enterprises have early understood the difficulty in acquiring customers and also the value of maintaining good relationship with customer. Modern management techniques and use of IT though innovative means have defined added new dimensions to managing customer relationships. Now, for many enterprises empowering the customer has become a way of life, which in turn has led to shift in power with their customer relationships (Kotler et al., 2009). 2. Concept and definition Drotskie (2009) quoted Seybold (2002) and explained â€Å"customer relationship management (CRM) means determining who your customers are and building relationship with them†, and Drotskie adds further that it involves understanding each and every customer so as to develop profiles of their individual needs. Thus CRM enables the enterprise to understand the customer very closely so that its services can be tailor-made to meet each individual requirement (Zeithaml & Bitner, 2003; cited by Drotskie, 2009, p. 15). Kotler et al. (2009) also support these definitions and stated that customer relation management as the â€Å"process of carefully managing detailed information about individual customers and all customer ‘touch points’ to maximise customer loyalty. ... ocuses to increase revenue, profits, and shareholder value through targeted marketing activity such as developing, maintaining, and enhancing successful-customer relationships† (Bolton & Tarasi, 2006). 3. Principles of customer relationship marketing As Kotler et al. (2009) suggest, one of the important â€Å"goals of marketing is to develop deep, enduring relationships with people and organisations that could directly or indirectly affect the success of the firm’s marketing activities. Relationship marketing aims to build mutually satisfying long-term relationships with key constituents in order to earn and learn and retain their business† (Kotler et al., 2009, p.22). Relationship marketing has four dimensions (1) customers, (2) employees, (3) marketing partners (channels, suppliers, distributors, dealers, agencies), and (4) members of the financial community (shareholders, investors, analysis) and its outcome is the marketing network, a unique asset for the comp any. Figure 1: The four dimensions of relationship marketing Adapted from source: Kotler et al. (2209) Of these dimensions, the customer relationship marketing is most significant and more and more companies are now designing separate offers, services and messages to individual customers, that they gather based on information about past transactions, demographics, psychographics, and media distribution preferences (Kotler et al., 2009). Their objective is to build customer loyalty, by focus on the most profitable customers, products, and channels and achieve growth and capture larger share of customer’s pocket. This they undertake by estimating individual customer lifetime value and design their market offerings and prices, which would enable them not to make instant profit, but to make a profit over the

Poverty in the United States Essay Example for Free

Poverty in the United States Essay Poverty is a serious issue not only in third world countries but also here in the United States. Discussing the nature of poverty in the United States is important because through understanding we will find solutions. Gaining insights into the issue of poverty can be used to understand the complexity of the subject. Poverty has been defined as a state of deprivation of goods and services that essential to the maintenance of an adequate standard of living in a given society. Although the concept of poverty is considered relative, it cannot be denied that it magnifies the problem concerning inequality in a particular society (Levitan). The struggle of poverty impacts people’s day-to-day life. It is easy to hide some things in life but, poverty is not one of them. There are 633,782 homeless people in cities throughout the United States (St. Francis). Poor people have no place to live and are being exposed to nature’s elements, bacteria, and harmful illness can cause threat to the health of these individuals. The environment is being impacted as well, because there is nowhere to put waste or garbage other than on the ground. This is why it is important to gain insight and understand poverty so that we can help these people and the earth. When a person is living in poverty it is humiliating and weighs on an individual’s self-esteem as well as their families and is very difficult to overcome. Poverty is not always a choice, but it is a situation that can be prevented. If people everywhere take something from every book, article or essays that has been written and are willing to recognize and do something about it then it is a problem that can be fixed. There is not a perfect plan or a perfect solution to the poverty problem but, the aim is to decrease the number of individuals and families living in poverty drastically. There are many families living in poverty and there are an equal amount of thoughts and opinions on why people live in poverty such as drug and alcohol use, domestic violence and foreclosure just to name a few. Individuals have a difficult time taking care of themselves can you imagi ne having to try to provide for a family on next to nothing every day. Without a street address these families do not qualify to get welfare assistance such as food stamps, Medicaid, or housing assistance. Without housing assistance people are forced to stay in shelters and if they don’t make to a shelter by a certain  time they go without a warm place to sleep and without food that night. Some people wait in long lines all day for a spot at the shelter only to be turned away because there is just not enough space for everyone. A good way to alleviate or even eliminate this problem is to build more shelters or use some of the abandoned buildings in poverty stricken neighborhoods for the poor people to sleep in. Have stipulations in these shelters that individuals and their families are guaranteed more than one night as long as they abide by guidelines provided, kind of like a contract. So they are not just getting help they are in a sense helping their selves. Different situations have different solutions, there is a difference between a person living in poverty because you’re a war veteran and just having a hard time and living in poverty because you are and addict and everything you have is spent on drugs and alcohol. In these newly built or refurbished shelters with these stipulations, programs can be offered to help transition into a better way of living. Yes, then there is the issue of money and where will it come from. Nobody has money lying around just to give away so charity events, fundraisers, donations, volunteers and maybe even some help from government agencies would help. The children of these families living in poverty suffer most. Research shows that poverty in the first five years of a child’s life changes the life of a child compared to if they were to live in poverty later in life. This is because poverty is associated with poor nutrition; poor nutrition leads to lower intelligence, bad physical development, and poor immune systems. â€Å"Children deprived of proper nutrition during the most informative years score much lower on tests of vocabulary, reading comprehension, arithmetic, and general knowledge. The more severe the poverty a child faces, the lower his or her nutritional level is likely to be (BrownPollitt).† Many children that are labeled bad kids with behavioral problems are really just lacking nutritional value. A child that is hungry is more likely to act ou t and have greater difficulty focusing than a well fed child. There are government programs that offer assistance with nutrition such as W.I.C and Healthy Schools but the guidelines are very strict and fall short in making sure that every child living in poverty has adequate nutrition. So, this problem can be solved by changing the guidelines and making it easier for a family living in poverty to feed our future. People might say this is not my problem, I’m not living in poverty  so what does this have to do with me? Truth be told everyone is affected by poverty. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, â€Å"There is nothing more dangerous than to build a society, with a large segment of people in that society, who feel they have no stake in it; who feel they have nothing to lose. People, who have stake in their society, protect that society, but when they don’t have it, they unconsciously want to destroy it (Dr.MartinLutherKingJr.).† According to the history of our nation, the safety and equality of the people of our society relies on everyone individually and as a whole nation as one. If that’s the way the world is meant to be then why are people living in poverty treated so differently? Upper class doesn’t make you better than a person living in poverty, money doesn’t make you bad or good and the same goes for poverty. The founders of our nation fought hard for a country where everyone is treated as a person equally but, that is not the case when thousands of people still live in poverty every day. â€Å"Anybody that has ever spent a morning at the Department of Motor Vehicles or stood in the line at the Post Office should understand that simply because the government is handling the problem, doesn’t mean it’s being handled properly (St. Francis)†. The next time you see someone a little down and out stop to give them a minute and see if you can help them in any way, remember that poverty does not make them any less a human than you. I believe the proposed solutions will work because if its believable than its achievable and our system has proven in other situations to be reliable so let use it for the good of the people of our country that could use a hand up not a hand out. For people to be sick on the street, forced to sleep on cardboard or dirt, and have to beg other people to help them is not humane or the American way and should not be tolerated any longer. Works Cited BrownPollitt. Malnutrition, Poverty and Intellectual Development. Pollitt, L. Brown E. n.d. Dr.MartinLutherKingJr. Letter From Birmingham Jail. April 1963. Levitan, Sar A. Poverty In the Lexicon Universal Encyclopedia. 1990: pages 478-480 Vol. 15. St. Francis, Nancy. Homelessness in America 2013. 2013.

Business Strategy in a Global Environment

Business Strategy in a Global Environment Globalization is the eminent icon of the 1990s, and in the twenty first century. Globalization is absolutely soaring and gearing up dynamically competing lifes real scenes. Globalization refers to the growth and status of trade and investment, clustered by the growth in international business fields, and the integration of economies penetrating all corners of the world. Strategy Paradoxes and Debates The term strategy anchors its definition basically sprouting from military fields and origins and has been expanded into the business world and context where several authors and researchers have spread arguments and debates on strategy concerning both quantitative and qualitative manifestations and processes. Strategy in business is coined to survival; the battleground and arena during a match, or a game. Jarvis (2005) highlights the 5Ps concept of Mintzberg observing the term strategy which primarily means plan, ploy, pattern, position, and perspective. The Coca Cola Bottling Company has all these 5 Ps in particular and all companies in general. Strategy is a ploy which basically refers to any artifice, maneuver, trick, or game to outwit and defeat a competitor or rival raising an anticipation of what we are going to do to confuse, shake, deter, prompt or deceive competitor to perform a move or not to move at all. It articulates the necessary steps to be done like creating a pattern (as a post hoc application), reflecting on the done action with its pattern consistency whether or not its planned and intended. Seeing the pattern means its an intentional strategy showing the pattern stems from the plan. But theres no managing and supervising intentionality. So there are two types of strategy distinguishing such intention; namely, deliberate strategy and emergent strategy. Strategy as a position is pushed with the idea and analogy from the military view, Ill take care of the waves whilst, you take care of the ripples referring on the emphasis of tactics. Position strategy simply stares its focus on where you are standing or sitting for you to view your horizon and whole landscape in the world of business relating to the context or internal and external situation. Such position projects the relation and status within the competitive arena and the existing co-operative interrelations matching ones organization, team, or department against others and rivals and the lobbying environmental demands. Moreover, strategy-as-position situates different and several players not just one-to-one competition. A company that exposes itself to a market cubbyhole and tight competition is trying to position itself to secure, to brace sustainable competitive advantage. Strategy as perspective refers to the group of strategy creators or makers with their whims, views, retrospection, predilections, and preferences affecting the organization. Thus, strategy is a body of ideas, insights, anticipations and imperatives spoken and aired by a group of people articulated in different types of conversations and of distinct degrees of importance wherein ideas and propositions are scattered for a collective forum which is either imposed or consensus. Global Market Models and Concepts and Analysis Managers must be conscious that markets, supplies, investors, locations, partners, and competitors can be anywhere in the world. Successful businesses will take advantage of opportunities wherever they are and will be prepared for downfalls. Evidently, successful managers, in this environment, need to understand the similarities and differences across national boundaries, in order to utilize the opportunities and deal with the potential downfalls. In developing appropriate global strategies, managers need to take the benefits and drawbacks of globalization into account. A global strategy must be in the context of events around the globe, as well as those at home. International strategy is the continuous and comprehensive management technique designed to help companies operate and compete effectively across national boundaries. While companies top managers typically develop global strategies, they rely on all levels of management in order to implement these strategies successfully. Th e methods companies use to accomplish the goals of these strategies take a host of forms. For example, some companies form partnerships with companies in other countries, others acquire companies in other countries, others still develop products, services, and marketing campaigns designed to appeal to customers in other countries. Some rudimentary aspects of international strategies mirror domestic strategies in that companies must determine what products or services to sell, where and how to sell them, where and how they will produce or provide them, and how they will compete with other companies in the industry in accordance with company goals. The development of international strategies entails attention to other details that seldom, if ever, come into play in the domestic market. These other areas of concern stem from cultural, geographic, and political differences. Consequently, while a company only has to develop a strategy taking into account known governmental regulations, o ne language (generally), and one currency in a domestic market, it must consider and plan for different levels and kinds of governmental regulation, multiple currencies, and several languages in the global market (Heil 2010). Company Strategic Decisions for Sustainable Competitive Advantage Arie de Geus (1997) spelled out that a company with needs has the key characteristics he called a living company because it is helping itself. He stressed four key traits: (1) sensitivity to the business environment which reflects the ability and capability to learn and adjust; (2) cohesion and identity or the ability to create a community with vision, personality, and purpose; (3) tolerance and decentralization or the ability to build relationships; and, (4) conservative financing. Strategic Management is a constant object of curiosity among psychologists and thinkers. On several occasions, senior managers are asked how they come up with strategic decisions. They have one pattern of making these crucial and company-light decisions. One would suppose these to be mathematical, based on rigid rules of logic or statistical treatments. But heres the catch: The managers decisions were product of informal data gathering, intuition, innovation, and oral exchanges in 2-way communications. These managers have the feel of the whole situation besetting their companies and their impulse always has an accompanying relevance. Their minds transcend logical rules that are immutable and mechanical and perhaps by age and experience, they acquired an almost instantaneous and discrimination of what is effective and practical. They give a whole new meaning to the words feeling, judgment, common sense, proportion, balance, and appropriateness. They use these terms to effect viable ac tions that would sustain their companies in the tests of domestic or external competition, recession, changing market attitudes, inflation, to mention only the majors. These street-smart guys are not much into science when they make a decision. Instead, they stay at the helm of art which is a combination of wisdom, experience, common sense, and a lot of prudence and daring. Senior managers usually see problems of their companies as big opportunities in disguise. They remain flexible in finding ways but that does not mean foolish weighing the indefinite till the situation clears or worsens. They are flexible in making solutions to give provisions for modifications, adjustments, shifts, or even u-turn without compromising company principles. They are not namby-pambies who are easily swayed by fashion. They are as hard as nails on standards of excellence. Hence, they inspire, and prod those below them to follow suit and commit to live action. They are virtuosos in motivating people and so people tick to grow the limbs of their action plans and visions. It was noted in many studies conducted in most industrialized countries that executives are investing much of their time developing a circle of relationships. Thence, they gain insights and details to be applied in forming concrete strategic decisions. They have the inclination to use mental simulations and they display some gift of seeing with their minds. Intuition is the guiding light of the day and even after office hours, they would re-run what else can be done if strategy A should need a remedy. So before any pitfall or backsliding, there reserved a fallback program to reinforce the existing. Funny as it sounds but executives can sense first what they are going to do before they can explain why. No calculations but deep in their brain cells and feeling, this is the way to salvation and promised land. The way might not be a bay of plenty but they are sure when the dusts subside the rays of their strategy would save the organization. Information may change overnight and strategic planning is complex but they know how to combat challenges with concrete interventions. With the advent of technology, senior managers are more and more relieved of the so called strategic planning. Information Technology at last has created a great divide between senior managers and operational level managers. Through sophisticated programs on the computer, any manager can already function as an independent segment albeit following the general threads of the company culture. All that top brass management would do is to inspire, delegate, assess and appraise their subjects. They provide the vision, specify the substance, and direct the institutional goals. Their managers are expected to facilitate process, action plans, and fill out forms to make way for effective documentation, work accomplishment, accounting procedures, marketing, manpower accountability and networking. Executive leaders have followers, while managers have subordinates, according to an analyst. Managers are oftentimes blamed for the bankruptcy of businesses in America in the 1970s and 80s. Leaders make decisions while managers usually execute them. Leaders are careful to choose their managers because lack of leadership down the line can antagonize the growth of the whole organization. Normally, strategic decision-making takes place on two levels: aggregate and individual. Both of these are geared towards getting attention, storing information through encoding, retrieval thereof, strategic choosing, feedback and outcome. Aggregate and individual strategies are interdependent and they harmonize with each other in all stages of the organization. While it is true that aggregate is more supreme than the individual strategy, it is the individual that feeds to the strength of the aggregate. The aggregate can only sound strong on paper but without the individual strategy which is the action level that extends to clients, customers, consumers, financiers, lenders and debtors, it can just be a lameduck-a print of strong accent without teeth or bite because there is no execution by junior vice presidents, section managers, team leaders, and the rank and file. . Johnson, Scholes and Whittington in corporate strategy present a model in which strategic alternatives and options are evaluated against three key success criteria: suitability, feasibility, and acceptability. (1) Suitability. It gears to answer security questions such as Would it work?, Does it make sense to economy?, Would the organization obtain economies of scale, economies of scope, or experience economy? Would it be suitable in terms of environment and capabilities? Ranking strategic options and decision trees are the measuring tools to evaluate suitability. (2) Feasibility. Can it be made to work?. It is concern whether the resources required to carry the strategy are available and can be obtained and developed. Its resources include funding, people, time, and information. Consequently, cash flow analysis and forecasting, break-even analysis, and resource deployment analysis are the scaling tools for it. (3) Acceptability. Would this make sense among stakeholders? Would shareholders, company employees and customers respond with the targeted product or performance outcomes? What about returns? Will it yield the projected benefits by the stakeholders in terms of dollars or other essentials (financial and non-financial)? For instance, shareholders would anticipate the growth of their capital or wealth, employees would aim for the upliftment in their careers and customers would expect added value for money. When strategy fails, the probability of risks arisesfinancial or otherwise. These risks could be shareholders going against the issuing of new shares or employees and unions picketing against outsourcing for fear of losing their jobs. Most likely too, customers would have paranoia over a merger as regards quality and support. What-if analyses are tools employed to evaluate acceptability. Global Market Models and Concept Analysis In the midst of global market tight business competition models and concepts analysis is crucial and vital. Thus, any business manager must discern and decide whats the best move or course of action to be undertaken to outwit and win the market place and patrons. Several concept analysis are designed for managers to scrutinize business status to have an equilibrium and project sustainable competitive advantage among others in the field. One of these types is SWOT Analysis. A good look at the internal and external environment is an indispensable part of strategic planning. Environmental attributes internal to the firm usually can be classified as strengths (S) or weaknesses (W),while those external to the firm can be classified as opportunities (O) or threats (T). This analysis is referred to as SWOT analysis. This analysis provides insights that are keyl in matching the firms assets and capacities vis-Ã  -vis the competitive environment in which it exists. Therefore, it is crucial in strategy formulation and selection. What are strengths? The firms or companys strengths are its assets, resources and capabilities that can be utilized as the foundation for mapping out a competitive edge. Some of these are patents, reputed brand names, established repute among customers, cost advantages, exclusive access to precious natural resources and favorable access to marketing outlets. Weakness is of course the opposite of strengths like lack of patent protection, a so-so brand name, ill-repute among customers, high price structure, lack of access to the best raw materials or natural resources, and worst, lack of access to strong distribution channels. Take the case in which a firm has a large amount of manufacturing capacity. While this ability may be considered as a strength that competitors do not share, it also may be a considered as a weakness if the large investment in manufacturing capacity hinderss the firm from reacting quickly to shifts or fluctuations in the marketplace. Furthermore, opportunities may mean income and growth; like, a wanting in customer need, invention of new technologies, loosening of legal hindrances and lifting of international business hurdles. Moreover, threats are the present and intervening factors in the external environment; like changes in consumer tastes deviating from the firms product lines, introduction of rival products, new legalities and regulations, and further increase in trade barriers. Any company should not singly invest into very encouraging opportunities. Rather, it should have the caution and prescience to better understanding and analysis of a doable course of action to gain that competitive advantage by determining a blend between the companys strengths and upcoming opportunities. S-O strategies run after chances that are a good addition to the companys strengths. W-O strategies fiscalize weaknesses to run after opportunities. S-T strategies map out ways that the firm can use its strengths to minimize its exposure to external threats. W-T strategies create a defensive plan to protect the firms weak spots from making it highly exposed to outside threats. Another tool used to scan the environment in the business field is the PEST Analysis. This is a sophisticated external macro-environment probing that manifest how firm processing can be expressed in terms of the Political, Economic, Social, and Technological factors. Oftentimes, the acronym PEST (is made as STEP) is employed to describe a framework for the synthesis of macro-environmental factors. Political factors are government laws and legal issues and ascribe both formal and informal rules in which the firm must worklike tax policies, employment measures, environmental ordinances, trade barriers and taxes, and political instability. Economic factors include the purchasing power of prospective customers and the firms capitallike economic improvement, interest rates, exchange and inflation rates. Social factors involve the demographic and cultural facets of the outside macro-environment. These factors have direct effect on customer needs and the size of potential market bases like health consciousness, growth of population, age brackets, career paths, and consciousness on safety. Finally, technological factors can lower if not eliminate barriers to entry, cut the minimum efficient production stages, and highly affect outsourcing decisions; like, RD activity, automation schemes, technological incentives, and rate of technological change. In order to appraise, analyze and assess finished activities which will eventually create a companys competitive edge, a chain of value-creating activities must be in place. Michael Porter outlined a set of many generic activities common to a wide range of firms. Accordingly, the objective of such activities is to foster worth that exceeds the cost of providing the product or service. In consequence, this will generate profits as customers want worth congruent to costs. Everyone wants worth as tantamount to price so such value-creating activities is a very good psychology applied to business. If only all businesses employ this action plan, then what a better consumer base they create and a whole lot happier people they would account in their following. Another concern tackles inbound logistics which embraces the receipt, warehousing, and inventory of company input and output materials; operations are the value-creating tasks that transform the inputs into the finished product or outcome; outbound logistics are responsible for the finished product to reach the customer, including but not limited to warehousing, delivery and the like. Marketing sales are any effortstangible or not, direct or indirect, intentional or by chance-are those activities that have something to do with getting consumers to buy the product, channel selection, advertising, pricing, and much more. Service activities are those of maintenance and enhancing effect to the product value inclusive of customer support, repair services, etc. All of these vital activities are effective in developing companys competitive advantage. Logistics, as we all know, are crucial and vital for a contracting company to to distribute services, while service activities are the main focus for a company that offers on-site maintenance contracts for office supplies and machines. In addition, there are also at least four generic areas of support activities ensuring firm sustainability in the business shark-infested watersamong others, procurement, technology development, human resource management, and firm. Procurement entails the role of buying the raw materials and other essentials in the value-creating undertakings. Technology development includes studies and development, process machination, and other technology gadgets used to enhance the value-chain activities. Human Resource Management, are the tasks that include recruitement, enrichment, and just compensation of workers. Firm infrastructures are those activities of the finance, legal, quality, and management departments. Support activities are termed as overhead but some firms have sparingly used them to maintain a competitive advantage. For example, a company can do outreach works, medical missions, gift-giving to indigents, of renovation of a neglected public hospital. This can also take the forms of donating to a charity, to a depressed area because of typhoons, floods, or quake-shaken areas. These activities require definition, linkages, and coordination between and among partner companies, with the consent and knowledge of the customer base. Sufficient and effective media publishing through print, broadcast or satellite means can be employed to maximize efforts to establish such elusive state of companys competitive edge. It is a matter of concerted effort, a must-have if companies h ave to outlive and outdo competitors. A perfect grasp of interdependence and mutual benefit must be clear to make all strategies work for the betterment of the organization. If support is not totally ensured, then at least, majority of suppliers, advertisers, as well as the general public are involved. If response is not favorable, then executives have to do some side stepping, even taking back alleys so the companys goals will be served. If executives back out, then, what a pity to the organization. A company needs a sure-fire executive in the face of uncertainties. Hence, executives must see a rundown of these activities before implementation. That is why there is what we call value system. Great companies have very strong value systems that new hires would either subscribe to it or leave it. There is simply no half-way house in these great companies. In exchange, they offer palatable salaries, fringes, and other opportunities of growth-monetary, career or physical growth. In closing, strategies are useless unless acted upon, applied, or animated to make the company prosper side by side with competitive edge. With the fangs of globalization threatening to devour the weak and unprepared, executives of the 21st Century has many assignments to do. These begin from mapping out a vision, a mission, then the strategies needed to make these dreams come into fruition. Gone were the days when companies would only wait for customers to take their products because of limited choice or monopoly. Today, more than any era of the past, business is very precarious and risky. Hard earned capitals are washed away overnight once investment is not done with caution, sustainability and competitive edge. Only those who have the edge would survive. Application: The Coca Cola Bottling Company: Coca Cola soft drink was nothing but a local concoction in America. It was concocted by Dr. John S. Pemberta in Atlanta, Georgia. Frank Robinson, bookkeeper, suggested the name and crafted it in free hand script which stood the odds of changes till this very day. From a local drink, the founders of the company planned to market it on statewide scale. Their ploy is to give its package a handsome look so it would appeal to skeptical drinkers. The design of the brand name has been a consistent pattern to make sure the name will be associated with thirst quenching. Their marketers are very aggressive and effective that very soon after their debut in the drinking arena they salvaged the prime spot in the soft drink industry. They arrogate to themselves the saying, Get Ready for Tomorrow Today,-their corporate way of positioning. Their perspective to be global came into reality, riding in that slogan, Open Happiness! They convince people through ads that Coca Cola can refresh the world, can inspire to make people optimistic. In other words, they exist to make a difference. And then their advertisements are apt for specific seasons. During winter time, they show Santa Claus merrily dash through the skies as he drinks coca cola in his chariot on reindeers. During summertime, the theme, red hot summer is bannered on company sponsored parties. Before the competition could catch up, Coca Cola also introduces hundreds of other delights in its product line. But a wit may ask, how do they capitalize on their strengths, and address their weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, including antagonisms from politics, economy, society, and technology? They look ahead. They analyze trends that shape business in the future and adjust accordingly for whats to take place. Coca Cola was abreast with the Y2K scare along with giants in the business world. Hence, they won together with their bottling partners and financing allies. Concerning the current global crisis, the company is not at all hampered by leaps and bounds because it is consumer-based. The company applies core values on leadership (the resolve to create a better future), collaboration (collective ingenuity), integrity (being real), accountability (or responsibility), passion (heart-mind commitment), diversity (create more and more), and quality (doing well) as its anchor in its vision 2020. In addition, even their managers get out into the market and listen. They observe and learn. Coca Cola people possess a world view and they are curious to sift whats new. And lest we forget: They remain constructively discontent on their achievements, new markets and prospects. They are a cool bunch with a singular vision: To refresh the world. Sources: The Coca Cola Company 2009. Year in Review. Web. Retrieved 21 October 2010 from http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/ourcompany/mission_vision_values.html Questions and Answers from Yahoo.com 2008 Web. Retrieved 21 October 2010 from http://www.righthealth.com/topic/Who_Invented_Coca_Cola Bradford, Robert W., Duncan, Peter J., Tarcy, Brian, Simplified Strategic Planning: A No-Nonsense Guide for Busy People Who Want Results Fast! Available from: http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/swot/. [10 October, 2010]. Heil, Karl 2010. Strategy in the Global Environment. Available from: . [10 October, 2010]. Geus, Arie de 1997. The Living Company. Available from: http://www.ariedegeus.com/ and [10 October, 2010]. Jarvis, Chris 2005. Business Open Learning Archive. Available from: . [10 October, 2010]. Quickmba.com 2010. Strategic Management. Available from: http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/swot/. [10 October, 2010]. Quickmba.com 2010. Strategic Management. Available from: . [10 October, 2010]. Wikipedia.org computer software 2009. 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The North Korean Nuclear Crisis Essay examples -- Weapons Nuclear Kore

The Nuclear Crisis of 1993 The question of a nuclear North Korea has roots dating back to the 1980's. Initial concerns arose in the mid-1980's, with intelligence reports proposing the potential for North Korean nuclear ambitions. Reports cite the construction of a nuclear reactor capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium . The reactor in question, located in Yongbyon, was the focus of the first North Korean nuclear crisis in 1993. The Clinton administration proceeded with diplomatic efforts, forging an agreement by 1994 that effectually ended the crisis. Under the Agreed Framework, North Korea agreed to: (1) halt operation and construction of nuclear reactors, (2) freeze reprocessing of spent fuel (from which plutonium can be derived to make nuclear weapons), and (3) allow IAEA inspectors to monitor nuclear facilities. In return, the US agreed to: (1) lead an international consortium in the construction of two proliferation-resistant light-water reactors (LWR), and (2) supply fuel oil until the firs t reactor is deemed operational . The Current Crisis in Brief The current crisis officially began in October 2002, when a visiting US delegation, led by Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly, confronted North Korean officials with evidence of a nuclear weapons program (using enriched uranium, as opposed to the plutonium used in its first weapons program). Pyongyang admitted to the program?s existence, stating, ?We will meet the sword with the sword. ? The US, South Korea, and Japan subsequently halted all shipment of fuel oil to North Korea, in November, on the grounds that the once covert nuclear program was in violation of the Agreed Framework. In December, North Korea announced the reactivation of its nuc... ...?we will not attack you? if all nuclear ambitions are abandoned . The administration should also make good on its proposition to agree on a system in which ?corresponding measures? are taken on both sides to resolve the crisis. It will be imperative to develop a verifiable means of dismantling Pyongyang?s weapons program. Furthermore, the focus of future dialogues should be on the issue of nuclear dismantlement, straying from the topic as sparingly as possible. As President Bush and other administration officials have reminded the international community, and in particular North Korea, ultimately ?all options are on the table.? Given the current status of dialogues and continued willingness of countries in the region to proceed with diplomatic efforts, however, the option for military action is effectively taken off the table for the US for the time being.

Morality and Obligation Essay

1. Two preliminary steps taken, that may be necessary, before one can intuitively appreciate the rightness of an action are thinking fully about the consequences of an action. In other words, think before you act. Also give thought (consideration) to the persons involved in said action or your relation(ship) with the persons involved. 2. An action is considered morally good in addition to being right when it is the right thing to do, while also stemming from a good place. When the person or â€Å"agent† performs said act because it is right, from a feeling of obligation, a morally good act is also right. 3. According to Prichard, an action done from a sense of obligation, there is no purpose â€Å"consisting either in the action itself or in anything which it will produce†. A motive, being something that moves one to act, can be the sense of obligation, an action done from a sense of obligation can indeed have a motive. 4. Avirtuous act is done from a desire that is intrinsically good. A moral act may be done from obligation. There can’t be an obligation to act virtuously, because we can only â€Å"feel an obligation to act† or do something. We cannot, however, feel an obligation to act from a certain desire 5. It is a mistake to expect moral philosophy to prove through argumentation that we ought to fulfill our obligations, because moral rightness â€Å"cannot be demonstrated, only apprehended directly by an act of moral thinking†. The sense of obligation is a result of a moral thought or thoughts. Moral philosophy can provide reflection on the â€Å"immediacy of our knowledge of moral rightness† and the intuitive recognition of the goodness of the virtues.

How to Revise Bullet Lists for Grammatical Consistency

How to Revise Bullet Lists for Grammatical Consistency How to Revise Bullet Lists for Grammatical Consistency How to Revise Bullet Lists for Grammatical Consistency By Mark Nichol Bullet lists distinguished from numbered lists in that they do not imply a priority or chronology in the order in which the list items appear are useful for when a list becomes too unwieldy to be formatted in line (within a sentence), but just as in a sentence’s in-line list, the bullet list’s grammatical structure should be coherent. Here are three bullet lists I obtained from a job listing (a format that frequently exhibits grammatical infelicities and thus amuses job-seeking wordsmiths attuned to irony), each followed by a syntactically sound revision: 1. Original â€Å"This position is responsible for: Writing and/or editing in all media Assures quality for engaging audience Coordinates flow of information to achieve news cycle deadlines Creative Designer Contributes to high-performing teamwork Continuously seeks and applies learning to enhance skills and performances† 1. Revision â€Å"This position is responsible for writing and/or editing in all media assuring quality for engaging the audience coordinating flow of information to achieve news-cycle deadlines creatively designing presentation of content contributing to high-performing teamwork continuously seeking and applying learning to enhance skills and performances† Note that the colon in the introductory phrase has been omitted because the bullet-list items consecutively complete that phrase; it’s incorrect whether in line or in a bullet list to write, â€Å"This position is responsible for: writing and/or editing in all media . . . .† (It is acceptable to follow each bullet list item with a comma, with the conjunction and following the next-to-last comma, and include a period after the last item, which more accurately replicates an in-line list’s structure, but these additions are superfluous.) Most important, however, the verb(s) in each item now take an identical inflectional ending (-ing). The list could also, by revision of the introductory phrase, allow a simple verb form (-s), requiring alteration only of the verb form of the first item and an extension of â€Å"Creative Designer† into a complete thought: â€Å"The content manager writes and/or edits in all media† (etc.) 2. Original â€Å"Job Requirements: Applicants should have at least three years of daily newspaper copy editing and design experience. Exceptional Writing Proficiency Strong Proofreading and editing skills Experience in page design and layout on pagination systems like Quark or InDesign. Must understand that journalists are held to a higher standard and must follow strict ethical rules, such as not accepting gifts from sources; not putting political bumper stickers on their cars; etc. all outlined in The New York Times Co.s ethical policies. Knowledge of best practices in page design, typography, use of space and photography. 2. Revision â€Å"Applicants must have at least three years of daily newspaper copyediting and design experience, exceptional writing proficiency, strong proofreading and editing skills, experience in page design and layout on pagination systems like Quark or InDesign, and knowledge of best practices in page design, typography, use of space, and photography. Applicants must also understand that journalists are held to a higher standard and must follow strict ethical rules such as not accepting gifts from sources and not putting political bumper stickers on their cars all outlined in The New York Times Co.’s ethical policies.† The original introductory phrase is correctly punctuated because it is a fragment that sets up but is not syntactically continuous with each of the items that follow it. However, the items are inconsistent as to whether they are phrases or complete sentences and in terminal punctuation. In my revision, I created a new introductory phrase that can apply to all bullet list items (except the one about ethical rules, which I broke out as a separate paragraph because of its length and nonparallel structure and note the revision of its own in-line list), and I lowercased several words that were gratuitously capitalized. This scheme now matches that of the first bullet list with one exception: Here, for illustration, I have included optional internal punctuation in the bullet list, which I discussed but recommended against in my annotation of the previous example. 3. Original We are looking for candidates who have the following qualities: Quality Orientation Strong Work Standards Exceptional Communication Skills Ability to manage work Contributing to team success Proven decision making skills Building strategic working relationships Active Learning 3. Revision â€Å"We are looking for candidates who have the following qualities: quality orientation strong work standards exceptional communication skills ability to manage work desire to contribute to team success proven decision-making skills aptitude for building strategic working relationships active learning† This list was easier to fix: The introductory phrase, which comes to a halt, is correctly punctuated, and the items were mostly consistent in their phrase form. (Inconsistency in grammatical form between one list and another in a piece of content is acceptable, but lists should be internally consistent.) I simply removed unnecessary capitalization and rephrased two of the items to describe qualities rather than actions. For more tips about bullet lists, check out this post, and search the site for â€Å"lists† and â€Å"bullet lists† to find others. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! 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