Age invaders Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Age invaders - Article Example The old age at the same time, will reap off the workers. The number of retiring people will increase with an un-matching injection of the same to the economy. Hence, this will lead to a slowed growth in the economy. The most affected sectors are the ones that need the young non-educated people in the industry. Some of the works that need the educated people with more skills have not be affected much with the increased number of the old. This is so since most of the educated workers in the United States and Europe above the age of 60 years are working at the rate of 65 percent. At the same time, much money is paid to the aging. For instance, by the year 2010 12 percent of the wages were being paid to people more than the age of 60 (The Economist Print) To curb shortage of work to some extent, there is need to emphasize on education to ensure that people work for longer into their old age. This is because most of the work done by the un-educated people get harder day by day since it needs more energy. However, this will affect some other sectors of the economy that need manpower. Some countries like Japan have utilized the robots to carry out manual work in the

Initial Public Offerings Essay Example for Free

Initial Public Offerings Essay Primary private companies, who desires to go public or in other words decides to be listed in the different stock markets to raise capital, must first undergo a process called Initial Public Offering or IPO (Investopedia, 2008). This method has been widely popular and it goes to say it has its own shares of controversies as well. Especially from what was experienced during the 1990s on the dotcom crash, in which a lot of investors bought Initial stocks from companies even without a track record of operations and a feasible plan for profit (same as Investopedia, 2008). Now another Online firm plans to go public, it is the popular program Skype whose main features are online video and audio call conferencing. This could be a good idea, from a sales standpoint since Skype has been earning revenues for its parent company Ebay even before the latter has decided to treat it as a stand-alone company due to its limited synergies with Ebay’s core activities which basically are Online commerce auction site and Paypal Online payments system   (Stone, 2009).But if Skype will really go public, it could most probably used the same online method applied by former online firms: Google and Morning star which is the online auction approach. This essay will attempt to justify the consideration of Skype to go public. It will also analyze what particular type of Initial Public Offering (IPO) it may apply. We will also go in detail to assess what type of investors that Skype would most possibly attract. This study will also provide background on the lessons learned from previous online industries who went Public and used the auction approach as its method for IPO.As part of the types of methods for IPO offering, we will finally discuss potential costs and risks of each to have a better understand which method would be appropriate for a specific firm like Skpe. Skype going Public Ebay’s President and CEO could be right by the decision of treating Skype as a subsidiary company due to its function and future revenue potential if provided with the right amount of capital to work with. Skype historically, has been a consistent top performer in terms of revenue generation since its early inception. From 2007, Skype posted a significant increase of 44% to a tune of   $551 million, and segment market margins is at 21% which is also another big leap of 47% from 2007, and the projection of a total revenue for 2011 for $1 Billion dollars is not far fetch(ebay Inc., 2009), since the growth rate of Skype on its recent   quarterly performance have been anything but slow. Just last October 2009 data Skype again has increased by another 41% in total registered users, which is in the $521 Million mark and growing, Its posted growth of 29% in revenues amounting to another $181 million dollars also confirms its status as a force to be reckon with on the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoiP) industry (Schonfeld, 2009). Direct competitors of Skype are Vonage and Net2phone although stable does not have the growth potential and massive customer base that Skype enjoys. Skype has just also been sold recently by ebay to some private investors, and group led by Silver Lake partners, ebay sold 70% of its stake on Skype (Wauters, 2009).Which shows continued interest of the potential profit generation of this software. Skype is also considered as number ten on the Top ten potential IPO candidates by TechCrunch.com, given the rapid pace of Skype growth (Schonfeld, 2009). Traditional or Online Auction Method for Skype’s IPO? Skype may opt to apply the auction method, to have a lot of potential investors instead of limiting the opportunity to buy shares to a few large investing institutions, which possibly may not desire a new online firm. Google used the same method, which is called the Dutch auction method in serving its IPO to the public, with a lot of potential risks in this kind of method Google still managed to pull it off successfully (Edmonston, 2009). What type of Investors would go for Skype Small and young investors may go for this firm if it went public, this group usually knows the boundless potential of the internet, and has some basic knowledge on the types of revenues tech stocks can produce. The emerging trend of young internet whiz kids, who have made fortunes using the net, may as well be the same characteristics of investors for Skype. Conventional Investors, still requires a fundamentally sound metrics from a company that has a above average track records and has produced mostly tangible goods which some have been a staple of a society. Lessons Learned from Online Auction Approach Bothe Morningstar.com and Google used the same method for its Initial Public Offering, for the purpose of taking the controlling power away from the underwriters and to provide opportunities to invest for those who really believe and acknowledge a company’s potential.   Both have been relatively smooth and successful. For Morningstar on its IPO last 2005 even when price analysts predicted that price of stock may be on the amount of lowest range projected of $16 to $19, the demand was really strong as it ended up on the marked price of $18.50 for the mutual fund and stock analysts’ online firm (Munarriz, 2005). Google however probably was overwhelmed by pressures of controversies induced by market analysts, financial scholars, other online competition   and even the Securities and Exchange Commission, has decided for a last minute reduction of its target share price (Sorkin, 2009). Online companies often face criticisms such as being overvalued or overhyped. Especially after the dotcom event, doubt of investors on whether they could really pull through some revenues and maximize shareholders’ equity is prevalent. Both Morningstar and Google have experienced those biases but took it in stride and have been relatively stable in the marketplace, despite contradictions. Cost and Risks of each IPOs According to a famous article by the Wall Street Journal regarding methods of IPOs, â€Å"Wall Street bankers compare auction IPOs with selling fine art on eBay instead of at Sothebys. The big Wall Street firms have good reason to defend the traditional model. Known as book building, it entails gauging the interest of hedge funds and mutual funds in an offering† (2005, p.2). This conventional model with its current fees of 7% of capital allows Wall Street companies to sell its IPO stock at discounted prices to their best customers, which could benefit them by taking profits if the IPO increased even on its first day of trading (Wall Street Journal, 2005 p.2). Underwriters for this traditional approach receive a percentage of the IPO sale as commission, in addition to other fees or underwriting proceeds charged to underwrite the IPO. Such examples of those fees according to Kamlet Rini (1995)are: †¢ Managers Fee Goes to the managing underwriter for negotiating and managing the offering. Amount:10% 20% of the spread (meaning the spread between the Public offering price or POP and the underwriting proceeds). †¢ Underwriting Fee Goes to the managing underwriter and syndicate members for assuming the risk of buying the securities from the issuing corporation. Amount: 20% 30% of the spread †¢ Selling Concession Goes to the managing underwriter, the syndicate members, and to selling group members for placing the securities with investors. Amount: 50% 60% of the spread These fees, almost selected investors and a potential of losing more capital by an increase in value on share price, especially when first day trading price of IPO rise for the company, has been the somehow the risks a company going public undergoes when applying this method. As for the Auction Method, in which the firm sets a price of the share well above what any investor is expected to bid, and then reduces the price incrementally when an investor actually bids, has a relatively lower amount of fees. Risks involved according to some analysts is that IPOs   develop pricing patterns similar to those exhibited by IPOs during the dot.com era, and whether it would really provide more efficient pricing (Hensel, 2005). Risk of this mispricing can occur to lack of information on the part of the small investor, especially if the information issued could be implicit somehow to the small investor. Conclusion This study has discussed the strong possibility of Skype, joining the ranks of two famous Web companies such as Google and Morningstar, on going public. Skype have a rapid pace for growth based on its quarterly revenues and growing registered users. The best method for Skype to serve its Initial Public Offering is through an Online Auction, which again worked smoothly for both of the companies stated earlier. Each IPO type has its own costs and risks. For traditional IPOs, banking on their solid foundation of book building, it has its drawbacks of high fees and profits for companies who went public especially if the share prices do well on the first trading day. For Online auction, although has relatively low fees compared to the traditional method, has also the risk of running into similar pricing patterns which has links with the dotcom mania that occurred not too long ago. But for recommendation for Skype, the auction approach still works best, first to minimize cost on fees and a large possibility of fetching true market value stock price provided by potential strong demand due to Skype’s already significant business value.

Ancient Rome Essay -- essays research papers

In this report about ancient Rome I will be talking about a lot of different things. One thing is how ancient Rome was different from ancient Greece, their daily life activities and lifestyles, and also about their religion. The ancients Romans were very different from the ancient Greek. â€Å"The ancient Romans were down-to-earth realists, not idealists.†(Donn2) You can see this in their statues. The Greeks made statues of perfect people. The Romans created real life statues. A good example of this is a Roman emperor statue because his nose will be huge and the ancient Greek would have never done that. The Romans were fierce soldiers and wonderful builders. They built roads all over the empire and all led to Rome. The ancient Greeks had roads, but they were not built nearly as well and the Greek’s roads did not connect in any particular order. Each Greek city-state was its own unit, not like Rome because in ancient Rome, Rome was the heart of the empire. Two thousand years ago, Rome was a busy place. â€Å"It was a crowded, noisy, smoky, and dusty city, with beautiful temples and public building.†(Donn2) The rich had gracious homes, each with an entrance atrium, which was the center of the family life. For those who were not quite as rich, there were apartment buildings and for the poor there were shabby tenements. Some people walked around Rome, others were carried in covered litters, with curtained couches carried on poles by slaves. Soldiers strode through town in chain mail or leather armor. Workmen hurried in belted tunics of dark wool. Before daylight, boys hurried to school. Later in the day, Roman citizens strolled around town in white tunics. Even for the poor, life in the city was lively. There was always something going on, like the Great State festival including shows in the theatres, races, and fights in the arenas. Lower class Romans or plebeians lived in apartment houses or flats as they were called, above or behind their shops. (Davis132) Their own apartment might be quite roomy, sanitary and pleasant, occasionally with running water. In these apartment houses, an entire family might all be crowded into one room, without running water. They had to get their water from public facilities. A very real threat was fire because people were cooking meals in crowded places, and many of the apartment houses were made of wood. Upper class Romans or patri... ...ather instructed his sons in Roman law, history, customs, and physical training, to prepare him for war. â€Å"The most important lessons to be taught was reverence for gods, respect for law, obedience to authority, and truthfulness.†(Lee5) Their mother taught the girls. Girls learned to spin, weave, and sew. Early Romans worshipped nature spirits. â€Å"They came to think of these spirits as god and goddesses, while under Etruscan influence.† (McGraw-Hill 157) This god and goddesses were supposed to guide and control the Roman people. Jupiter, Mars, Apollo, Mercury and Neptune were the chief gods. Juno, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, Diana and Venus were the principal goddesses. The ancient Romans had gods for nearly everything. Every home had a household god, and honoring their gods was a part of ancient Romans everyday life. â€Å"A new religion grew steadily in strength by striking a fresh note, with its teaching of mercy, gentleness, loving-kindness and charity towards others, even towards enemies. Festival and rites with which the motley collection of roman gods and goddesses were worshipped and for all of whom its substituted a faith in one god, the Saviour of mankind.†(Cowell193)

Out of the Norm (Breaching Experiment)

Breaching experiments are most commonly associated with ethnomethodology, a Breaching Experiment is an experiment that seeks to examine people's reactions to violations of commonly Accepted social rules or norms. Norms are defined as the expectations, or rules of behavior, that Develop out of values. For this Project, I was required to violate a norm. Basically doing Something â€Å"out of the ordinary† it’s not common at all in society, in this project we’ll find out What is people reaction by recording myself doing something that calls their attention like what I Did in this project. Asking people around the mall for â€Å"HUGS & KISSES† or saying randomly â€Å"Hi†, to them pretending I know them for a while, at the time I start developing my experiment Was difficult for me to keep a straight Face while doing it.The reaction of individuals at the beginning of this experiment was negative and doubtful, Not all dared to give me a hug, out of the ob vious fear of the camera, many had not clear What was my purpose of giving hugs so they preferred to continue with their walking Ignoring me at all, but certainly that didn’t stop me to continue researching more looks and Reactions.As well as there were people who rejected me, there were many people affordable, who gave me a warm host smile and definitely my hug. It is impressive how within a few hours of doing this Project I carefully analyze and determine the acceptances and denials of society by doing Something out of the ordinary on a typical and current day.At home I created a colorful poster to call attention of the pedestrians, it was rare for me to say to People that â€Å"Hugs and Kisses† were given away as it’s obviously this kind of experimentations Is not common at all, but that is what this experiment was about, as you seen in the video not All people react to our proposals same way so, many run away, others ended up agreeing by Being intimidated by a camera, others for being seen well to the others,  many did not wanted to Do it, others felt happy and congratulated me as intensive because of my project, others were Frightened.In fact I received positive and negative critiques, Talking about genres it as an Advantage for us as girls by received the opposite gender immediately acceptance which is a Positive response, in relation to the women they were restricted somewhat by noticing our Presence, but it was certainly a charming and fun project. Worth to mention that learning and Enjoying, what you do, is what really matters.When you are a participant in this class of experiments, you experience reactions from people Directly. From all this we learn that the criteria for each person must be respected not necessarily Being all of us alike, our way of thinking varies, leading us to think and act according to what is Taught to us, what we see and experience every day in our different cultures. Now days, in many Countries they do not use physical contact as a way of greeting or cordiality meaning that it Wouldn’t be right to go against the rules that have already been implemented and established in Their cultures.Then, how about people whom beliefs are only based in what society thinks and implement with The past of the time, without letting them create their own criteria?Well these people live daily a routine guided by the rest, and their way of seeing things is totally According to what society thinks is right or not although often have radical changes are not Really common sense to many of the individuals.Whether you way you think or believe in things is based on society or the rest of the people.. You are the owner of your criteria, accept the new changes around, adapt yourself and also opt to Implement what you think and believe is right for the growth of cultural knowledge of society in Which we live.

Existing Direct Tax System and Proposed Direct Tax Code in India Essay

Tax is defined as a compulsory payment made to the government by the individuals firms and companies without any expectation of a direct return. In general there are two types of tax system prevailing in our country. One is direct tax and other is indirect tax. Here we will restrict our discussion to direct tax only. Direct taxes are those the burden of which cannot be shifted, that is incidence and impact is on the same person. In India the tax law is governed by the finance act. The amendments are brought through budget every year which is issued on the last date of February. There have been various arguments in regard to the complexity of the tax laws. The new tax system which is proposed basically focuses on the principle of equality and simplicity. Instead of having different explanations of tax laws under different umbrellas all the laws will be brought under one head. The new tax system will be highly focused on the matter that the richer should pay heavier tax and vice-versa. For this regard the exemption limit and tax slabs will be expanded higher. Moreover under new taxation laws various taxes like securities transaction tax will also be abolished thus making the code an efficient one. With the new tax code being implemented in India one can expect to have free trade across the length and breadth of the country and peace in the bags of investors. Thus, the new tax system is an attempt to create a system with minimum loopholes of the existing system, thus contributing to the national benefit.

The History Behind the Presidents Resolute Desk

The History Behind the Presidents Resolute Desk The Resolute desk is a massive oak desk closely associated with presidents of the United States due to its prominent placement in the Oval Office. The desk arrived at the White House in November 1880, as a gift from Britains Queen Victoria. It became one of the most recognizable pieces of American furniture during the administration of President John F. Kennedy, after his wife realized its historic significance and had it  placed in the Oval Office. Photographs of President Kennedy seated at the imposing desk, as his young son John played beneath it, peeking out from a door panel, captivated the nation. The story of the desk is steeped in naval lore, as it was crafted from oak timbers of a British research vessel, HMS Resolute. The Resolutes fate became wrapped up in the exploration of the Arctic, one of the great quests of the mid-1800s. The Resolute had to be abandoned by its crew in the Arctic in 1854 after becoming locked in ice. But, a year later, it was found drifting by an American whaling ship. After a meticulous refitting at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the Resolute was then sailed by an American naval crew to England. The ship, with great fanfare, was presented by the American government to Queen Victoria in December 1856. The return of the ship was celebrated in Britain, and the incident became a symbol of friendship between the two nations. The story of the Resolute faded into history. Yet at least one person, Queen Victoria, remembered. Decades later, when the Resolute was taken out of service, the British monarch had oak timbers from it saved and crafted into a desk for American presidents. The gift arrived, as a surprise, at the White House during the administration of President Rutherford B. Hayes. The Story  of H.M.S. Resolute The bark H.M.S. Resolute was built to withstand the brutal conditions of the Arctic, and the heavy oak timbers used in its construction made the ship uncommonly strong. In the spring of 1852 it was dispatched, as part of a small fleet, to the waters north of Canada, on a mission to search for any possible survivors of the lost  Franklin Expedition. The ships of the expedition became locked in ice and had to be abandoned in August 1854. The crews of the Resolute and four other ships set out on a dangerous journey over ice to meet up with other ships that could return them to England. Before abandoning the vessels, the sailors had secured hatches and left things in good order, though it was assumed the ships would be crushed by encroaching ice. The crew of the Resolute, and the other crews, made it safely back to England. And it was assumed the ship would never be  seen again. Yet, a year later, an American whaler, the George Henry, saw a vessel drifting on the open ocean. It was the Resolute. Thanks to its astoundingly sturdy construction, the bark had withstood the crushing ice. After breaking free during a summer thaw, it somehow drifted a thousand miles from where it had been abandoned. The crew of the whaling ship managed, with great difficulty, to sail the Resolute back to harbor in New London, Connecticut, arriving in December 1855. The New York Herald published an extensive front-page story describing the Resolutes arrival at New London  on December 27, 1855. The British government was informed of the find, and accepted that the ship was now, according to maritime law, the property of the whaling crew who had found her on the open ocean. Members of Congress became involved, and a bill was passed authorizing the federal government to purchase the Resolute from the private citizens who were its new owners. On August 28, 1856, the Congress authorized $40,000 to purchase the ship, refit it, and sail it back to England to present to Queen Victoria. The ship was quickly towed to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and crews began restoring it to seaworthy condition. While the ship was still quite sturdy, it needed new rigging and sails. The Resolute sailed from the Brooklyn Navy Yard on November 13, 1856, bound for England. The New York Times published an article the following day which described the extreme care the U.S. Navy had taken in repairing the ship: With such completeness and attention to detail has this work been performed, that not only has everything found on board been preserved, even to the books in the captains library, the pictures in his cabin, and a musical-box and organ belonging to other officers, but new British flags have been manufactured in the Navy Yard to take the place of those which had rotted during the long time she was without a living soul on board.From stem to stern she has been repainted; her sails and much of her rigging are entirely new, the muskets, swords, telescopes, nautical instruments, etc., which she contained have been cleaned and put in perfect order. Nothing has been overlooked or neglected that was necessary to her most complete and thorough renovation. Several thousand pounds of powder which were found on board will be taken back to England, somewhat deteriorated in quality, but still good enough for ordinary purposes, such as firing salutes. The Resolute had been built to withstand the Arctic, but was not very fast on the open ocean. It took nearly a month to reach England, and the American crew found itself in peril from an intense storm just as it neared Portsmouth harbor. But conditions suddenly changed and the Resolute arrived safely and was greeted with celebrations. The British extended a welcome to the officers and crew who had sailed the Resolute to England. And even Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, came to visit the ship.   Queen Victorias Gift In the 1870s the Resolute was taken out of service and was going to be broken up. Queen Victoria, who apparently harbored fond memories of the ship and its return to England, directed that oak timbers from the Resolute be salvaged and made into a gift for the American president. The enormous desk with elaborate carvings was crafted and shipped to the United States. It arrived in a huge crate at the White House on November 23, 1880. The New York Times described it on the front page the following day: A large box was received and unpacked at the White House today, and was found to contain a massive desk or writing table, a present from Queen Victoria to the President of the United States. It is made of live oak, weighs 1,300 pounds, is elaborately carved, and altogether is a magnificent specimen of workmanship. The Resolute Desk and the Presidency The massive oak desk remained in the White House through many administrations, though it was often used in upstairs rooms, out of  public view. After the White House was gutted and restored during the Truman administration, the desk was placed in a ground floor room known as the broadcast room. The enormous desk had fallen out of fashion, and was essentially forgotten until 1961. After moving into the White House, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy began exploring the mansion, becoming familiar with the furniture and other fittings. She discovered the Resolute desk in the broadcast room, obscured under a protective cloth covering. The desk had been used as a table to hold a motion picture projector. Mrs. Kennedy read the plaque on the desk, realized its significance in naval history, and directed that it be placed in the Oval Office. A few weeks after President Kennedys inauguration, the New York Times published a story about the desk on the front page, under the headline Mrs. Kennedy Finds a Historical Desk for President.   During the administration of Franklin Roosevelt, a front panel, with a carving of the Great Seal of the United States, was installed on the desk. The panel had been requested by President Roosevelt to hide his leg braces. The desks front panel opened on hinges, and photographers would snap the Kennedy children playing under the desk and looking out through its unusual door. Photographs of President Kennedy working at the desk as his young son playing under it became iconic images of the Kennedy era. After President Kennedys assassination the Resolute desk was removed from the Oval Office, as President Johnson preferred a simpler and more modern desk. The Resolute desk, for a time, was on display in the Smithsonians American Museum of American History, as part of an exhibit on the presidency. In January 1977, incoming President Jimmy Carter requested that the desk be brought back to the Oval Office. All the presidents since have used the gift from Queen Victoria crafted of oak from H.M.S. Resolute.

Stand essays

Stand essays "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anybody?" This quote from the movie Stand by Me, directed by Rob Reiner, was said by the character Gordie (Wil Wheaton), a boy who was just about to enter Junior High. When he typed up those words on his computer, years later, when he was looking back on those days, he was referring to his three friends Chris, Vern and Teddy. Chris (River Phoenix), was the leader of the little group, Gordie's best friend, and a very complex character. According to Freud, Chris would appear to be heavily influenced, but not controlled, by his 'superego'. Some evidence to support this theory would be the constant talk about some milk money that Chris had stolen, the belief that he was going nowhere, and how he supported his friends throughout the movie. As the movie progresses, it keeps informing us more and more about an incident when Chris had stolen milk money from some girl. "He stole the milk-money at school. He's a thief in my book." This accusation, coming out of the mouth of Gordie's father, was meant to be an insult about Gordie's choice in a best friend. Another way of looking at this quote would be to say that everyone knew that Chris stole the money. "Oh it is. No one even asked me if I took the milk money that time. I just got a three-day vacation." This quote, which expresses Chris' frustration, shows what he thought about the whole situation that he had been placed in. The truth was that everyone DID know that he had taken the money. While these two quotes don't say much, the next quote ties the whole story together. "Yeah. So let's just say that I stole the milk money but Old Lady Simons stole it back from me. Just suppose that I told the story. Me, Chris Chambers, kid brother of the Eyeball Chambers. You th ink that anybody would have believed it?" Chris had actually felt bad about stealing the money, but when he attempted to give it back,...

How To Make A Content Development Process To Save Time

How To Make A Content Development Process To Save Time Ive been a big fan of trying all sorts of beer ever since I took a trip to Germany for seven months back in 2008. To me, that stuff was going to be the best Id ever taste with the classic pilsners, bocks, and wheat beers. And when I got back to Minnesota, I tried some of the well domestics. Those macrobreweries definitely had their processes down to produce massive quantities of light-bodied stuff. But when I started exploring craft beer- the idea that smaller breweries could produce what I considered to be better quality than most commercial brands- it really got me thinking. Just because big companies are competing with you in your niche, it doesnt mean they are necessarily better at it than you are. Just because big companies compete with you, theyre not better than the quality you produce.And you can apply that idea to your content marketing. Here is how to improve your content development process to take control of your workflow to create content quickly, hit  every deadline, and improve every piece of content you publish to grow your audience. And you can do it all with a scrappy, iterative process that helps startups and small businesses like microbreweries achieve some pretty tasty results. (See what I did there?) How To Rock A Content Development Process That Will Save You Tons Of Time #marketing Get the Templates You Need to Save Time Developing Content Apply the advice in this post with this trio of templates: Content Development Process Guide to build your process, step by step. Blog Post Outline Template to write better blog posts more easily. Content Editing Checklist to self-edit your own work with fewer mistakes. Define The Roles You Need To Develop  Content In Kristi Hines' post on content marketing team structure, she mentions a variety of roles you could include in your content development: Content marketing strategists set the stage with the entire marketing strategy, helping your team understand your audience, the topics you'll cover, and the goals you're shooting for. Content strategists turn the strategy into a game plan complete with understanding what content and channels your team will  use to reach your audience. These people  fill up your editorial calendar with the content your team will develop. Idea contributors are exactly what you'd expect: These are the folks who are listening to your audience and help with unique angles. They have the stories you want to tell, and the ones your audience really cares about. These people could be anyone within your company or even your customers and subscribers. Content creators are the linchpins  responsible for executing your  content strategist's game plan. They are your designers, writers, videographers, and podcasters (among possible others). They are making your content. Content editors make sure your creators fulfill  your content strategist's expectations. They focus on editing for the story of your content, and also on the nitty-gritty grammar stuff. Editors are the ones using your editorial calendar every day, keeping your creators on task, and publishing content as you expect. Content promoters are the magical creatures who amplify what you created to inspire interest in your content. If your content is the party, these folks send the invitations to attend. They use social media, email, forums, and tons of other content promotion tactics to increase your traffic. Community managers monitor the ensuing conversation your content creates. They respond to social media mentions and comments, and help build a strong network of brand advocates. Content analysts check out the stats behind the scenes to know how your content contributes to your goals. They'll check out Google Analytics and Kissmetrics (or whatever analytics tools you use) to help your content strategist plan even better content. This is where that iterative approach- the secret ingredient to your content development process- really comes into play. Now, that may seem like a lot of people. But what you're really looking at here is roles, not titles. These roles make for a very solid content development process, so now you can choose which roles are necessary for your own process and who among your team will fill these roles. A solo marketer could do all of these, or you could divvy them up among your team. Jay Acunzo  recently published a super entertaining post about marketing team structure and how it kind of... well... sucks sometimes. Here's a memorable quote: ...team be huge, team be slow, team is gonna totally blow. As a former Googler, he mentions how Google's sales team is organized into pods to capture the talents of folks  with tons of different skill sets.  And I loved this thought to find the right people for your team  to kick off your content development process in the right direction. Jay says teams should be: Small to be nimble, quick, and focus on developing content  instead wasting time on  office bureaucracy. Complementary to have multiple skills for the different parts of the process. Singular to have one clear goal instead of tons.  Finally get some focus to understand why you're developing content  to collaborate and celebrate when you reach your goal! Shared to work together toward a common mission or purpose. In the end, Jay recommends narrowing the list of roles down to three players, as he calls them: A strategist to provide the vision, lead the team, look at analytics, and plan the content. A producer to be "the artist, because God knows, SOMEONE has to care about quality, craft, creativity, and emotional or intellectual resonance with the audience." I had to include that quote. :) A marketer to promote the content, generate interest, and convert traffic into subscribers and customers. I'm with Jay: We do a lot with a small team  leading our content marketing efforts at right now, and Jay's suggestions  are similar to the roles  we have on our  team.  It helps us move super fast to publish quickly, on time, and consistently. Takeaways: Download the worksheet and choose who among your team will fill each role. Cross off the roles you won't have in your content development process. Meet with your team and their supervisors to help everyone understand their roles and responsibilities, and how you will  improve your processes with this new approach. A Quick Note on Upper Management Getting All Up in Your Business The goal of figuring out â€Å"who does what† specifically curtails upper management from messing with your projects and deadlines. By agreeing as a group of doers and getting your  supervisors all on the same page, y’all agree to give the power to publish  to your strategists. Seth Godin writes about this concept a lot  in his awesome book, Linch Pin  (which you should seriously buy right now if you've never read it): Write down the due date. This is the date you will publish- whether the content's  done or not. Capture every idea about your project, inviting anyone who wants to contribute. Seth says, "This is their big chance." Record every idea in a way everyone can see, ask them to check it out, and let them know this is it- after you get approval, there's no going back. Organize everything into a comprehensive outline of the project now that it's completely approved. This is your project blueprint from start to finish. Take that blueprint to the big guns in your company and final approval from the people with sign-off control. Then ask them, "If I deliver what you approved, on budget and on time, will you ship it?" Don't move forward until they say yes. No maybes, no "I'll know when I see it", nothing other than your yes. Nice job, linchpin. Choose Task-Based Workflows Over Status-Based Workflows Now that you know who on your team will serve in specific roles to help you create your content- and how you'll publish quickly while avoiding office bureaucracy- it's time to develop your workflows. Essentially, you want to meet with your team you just defined to understand how you'll work together to create consistent content that will always hit your deadlines. This is the actual planning of your content development process- understanding exactly how you’ll do this with the resources available to you. Since we’re talking through the experience of an agile startup, keep it simple to error on the side of shipping rather than too many steps that slow down your publishing. Err on the side of publishing  rather than processes that slow you down. #contentmarketingStatus-based workflows make it nearly impossible to understand every task that you and your team need to check off your to-do list before you publish your content. Just think of the typical statuses you see in WordPress: How will you know who is responsible for each status, and what exactly they’re supposed to be working on? Who has the final say before you schedule your content to publish? Nah, there has to be a better way. And there is. Task-based workflows help you dissect all the work that goes into creating a piece of content- whatever it is (blog posts, e-books, webinars, you name it)- to help you choose a specific person accountable for each task, along with deadlines for every task. By dissecting your content into tasks, you can provide a ton of direction to your team to avoid any confusion about who’s doing what and when they need to have their work done. Here’s what a simple task-based workflow looks like any blog post we publish at : When you look at this, it’s helpful in a ton of  different ways: Begin every task with a verb that demands action. Make your tasks super clear by highlighting exactly what the task entails, while also being brief. Assign each task to a specific person who clearly knows they are responsible for helping you create some part of your content. Send  a notification that specifically communicates with each member of your team when you assign them a new task. Set clear deadlines for when you expect each task to be complete. Understand the difference between deadlines and your publish dates. Help your team understand the date on your marketing calendar is the publish date for when your content will be 100% complete, while assigning tasks with deadlines for days or even weeks before the content is set to publish. Remind your team before their tasks are due. Unless you’re that chick from Ex Machina, your team is full of humans. Subtle reminders of task due dates help  those busybodies know when their tasks are due so they don’t forget and accidentally cause your project to miss its deadline. Task-based workflows are especially helpful so you can have multiple team members working on different tasks at the same time, which is slightly lost with status-based workflows. Those steps above are exactly how we do it at , too, and it really works for us. Communicate Efficiently With An Agreed-Upon Tool The five  parts of  your task-based workflow may sound like a lot of manual work. But it really depends on the tools you use as a team to manage your content development process. When Raven Tools wanted to improve their process to eliminate endless emails, they focused on implementing one clear source for communication. Spoiler alert: That source- as a marketing project management tool- is . Task manager: Define as many workflows as you need for the different types of content you use in your marketing strategy. You can then easily assign those tasks out to your entire team with clear deadlines super fast. Comments: Raven Tools was able to send 75% fewer emails  because of . Comments keep your project record right in the tool you’re using for your content development process, which helps you work even more efficiently. Notifications and reminders: When you assign tasks or leave comments, your marketing calendar pushes an email notification to remind your team to check on the project. The day before any task is due, your calendar automatically sends an email to remind your team members to knock out their tasks. Dashboard: It’s rare that you’ll only work on one project at a time. So it’s nice to see a dashboard of all the comments and tasks that are due on specific days to keep a to-do list of your projects right in your marketing calendar. When you use one tool for communication, you avoid endless emails, maintain a calendar of record, and generally quit herding cats. While using as your marketing calendar  is a great way to manage your content development process, you can rock this advice with any project management tool: Agree as a team to communicate with tools that help everyone stay involved and see your progress. Avoid long email forwards to prevent missing copying someone and eliminate confusion overall. Because, seriously, those get crazy. Maintain one version of the truth for your marketing projects. Consolidate your project management tools and content calendars to better understand your deadlines, manage multiple projects at once, and easily see your progress toward completion. Manage Multiple Projects At Once While Nailing Every Deadline You experience  a learning curve every time you take on a new project. For example, if you’re adding blogging to your list of marketing tactics, you have an entirely new process to learn as you get started. So take your time. When you start any new project, quantity isn’t the goal. Consistency isn’t important if what you’re publishing is junk. Here's how we do it at : Do one thing well. Actually,  as we like  to joke, "Don't half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing." It's silly, but there's a lot of truth to that. Set your deadlines like Seth Godin suggested earlier, ship on time, then reflect on what worked, what you could do better next time, and what you should stop doing. Once you have your process  ironed out for that one thing, add in another project. And do it slowly, just like you perfected your first project. Plan time to reflect on your growing pains as you add more projects to your to-do list, reviewing again what's going well, what you could improve, and what you should quit doing. So start slow and build your publishing momentum as you learn something new, building toward publishing more content consistently. At first, you’re perfecting your content and workflow process to build the expertise you need to publish even more. Recommended Reading: How to Learn New Marketing Skills in 11 Simple Steps (Backed By Science) Organize Your Content Development And  Naming Conventions While everyone on your team could create content differently, it’s much more efficient to have one version of the truth for the tools you use in your content development process. You might be a bit surprised that a huge majority of the team at doesn’t even have Microsoft Word on our computers, so we opt for Evernote instead. Here are a few reasons why Evernote is awesome for blogging and marketing: You can use Evernote for anything. We use different notebooks for marketing strategy, managing larger projects like new feature releases, and actually creating our content. It’s so dynamic that we use one tool for so many use cases that we decided to integrate Evernote right into to help other marketers like us plan and create content better than ever. You can capture your content ideas and inspiration wherever you are. Use Web Clipper and Evernote Helper to save ideas from the content you’re perusing on the Web, rock Skitch to take screenshots and mark them up with text and arrows, email your thoughts directly into notes and notebooks with the syntax "Note Name @Notebook Name #Tag Name !YYYY/MM/DD", scan handwritten notes right into Evernote notes, send pictures from your phone into Evernote, and even highlight text in Kindle and see the quotes you highlighted right in Evernote. Whew! Evernote is perfect for distraction-free writing to help you write blog posts faster than ever. I’m writing this post in Evernote right now with instant messaging and emails turned off, social media shut down, and really no apps to distract me from getting these ideas out of my head. I love to open up the posts I’ll reference in tons of tabs before I start writing to have inspiration at my fingertips, and then I'll turn off the Internet to avoid  getting sidetracked with anything else other than writing. Evernote is helping me do just that. Oh yeah, and I’m on an airplane- so I can use Evernote  anywhere, online or off. Takeaways: Narrow your content development tools down to a few your entire team has access to. Choose the tools that match well with your team’s working styles (ex. if your team is always on the go, that means you need tools that don’t require immediate Internet access and are mobile-friendly). From here, Meghan Frazer has some great advice to help you in your file and folder naming conventions. The ultimate goal is simplicity and helping you and your team find the information you need when you need it. So Megan suggests avoiding special characters other than hyphens or underscores, using the ISO date standard for dating your file names (YYYY-MM-DD), and using descriptive keywords to be able to find your information quickly. This is an example of what Meghan says a great file name might look like: 2015-10-31-ContentDevelopmentProcessHalloweenDiagram.jpg I’d take this a step further with a couple common conventions SEOs use for naming their files:  Lowercase every word while separating every one with a hyphen and no underscores. If you don’t need the date, eliminate it, and focus purely on the keyword of the file itself. content-development-process-halloween-diagram.jpg Whatever you decide for your naming conventions the point is this: Collaborate on a team and understand where you save content and how you name your files, folders, and notebooks so everyone can easily find the information they need quickly. Tip: Use  tags in Evernote for similes of  the keyword you use in your note name. When you search, tags will help you find the information faster. Ex. "passwords" could also be "logins". Plan  To Develop  Better Content Than Anyone Else In Your Niche Well, that’s kind of a scary headline. But Brian Dean and Austin Kleon have some awesome advice that will help you do just that! Austin is an author who  has an awesome approach when it comes to creating content: Steal like an artist.

Film report Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Film report - Movie Review Example ies of recordings of the interviews given by the various American Indians connected to the crime and Peltier, the film ‘allows’ the audience to make up their mind regarding whether Peltier is the real culprit or not. The interviews are inter cut with video shots of the landscape of Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, where the crime takes place, as well as other video footages and the photos related to the issue. The film documents the killing of the FBI agents, Jack R. Coler and Ronald A. Williams in an Indian Reservation in South Dakota in 1975, by providing various perspectives. However, the perspective of FBI is not included as their representatives refused to give interview to the makers. The film starts of by depicting the tough and abysmal living conditions that existed, in the Pine Ridge Reservation. â€Å"Pine Ridge was probably one of the poorest reservations of the United States.† (â€Å"Incident at Oglala†). After those initial scenes, the film picks up stem by throwing more light on the background of the issue, as well as on the real stand-offs and the confrontations that took place between the AIM members (American Indian Movement) and the government authorities. Then, the film jumps directly into the crux of the matter. It uses witnesses and other experts to tell their version of events that took place on the day of the shootout. During these eyewitness accounts only, the doubts begun to surface in the minds of the viewers, whether Peltier truly committed the crime. Although, many American Indians were accused in the murder of the FBI agents, all of them were acquitted, with only Peltier being made the ‘scapegoat’. That is, as can be gleaned from the witness accounts, when the FBI agents entered the compound wall, many individuals started firing on them and killed them. Peltier admitted to being a part in that gunfire confrontation with the agents, but denied the charge of killing the agents with his bullets. As mentioned above,

Critically discuss the role of users in Legos approach to innovation Essay

Critically discuss the role of users in Legos approach to innovation and consider whether the strategy could be put to use in other organisations - Essay Example Later the product range shifted to a set of interlocking bricks which was launched in the market in 1953 but failed because of the consumer’s perception towards plastic toys was strong. By 1959 the company shifted completely to manufacturing plastic bricks and related products and stopped producing wooden toys. The company adopted a series of change with product innovations, segmenting and targeting markets, figures, adding wheels, switching to acrylonitrile butadiene styrene plastic rather than cellulose acetate, and addition of instruction manuals. Such changes helped Lego for further development and by 1988 there exist almost 50 elements in the toy system of Lego. It manufactured Duplo with large bricks for younger children and for the older ones it had Lego Technic Builders. The growth of Lego increased throughout the 20th century and it ranked in top ten toymakers in the world. Their product range diversified through models cars, train sets and robotics and even the diver sification was seen in the architecture to include programmability and control in order to support these toys (Chesbrough , 2003, pp.76-77). In 1999 the fortune magazine stated that Lego is the ‘toy of century’. The Lego’s operations faced competition due to evolution of computer games which attracted the younger generation and even its costly toys in the high cost economy created pressure in its operations. The low cost toys caused a problem for Lego to remain competitive in the market. As the potential configuration of a small number bricks were huge which involved the users more in the Lego concept. The Lego toys has been bought by the people to make house and cars who then reassemble the bricks in the own user created approach. From the year 2000 Lego has been keeping at the centre of its strategy the user linked approach. The company in order to improve the efficiency of production started developing digital models of the bricks and

Training Computer Users Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Training Computer Users - Essay Example According to Shinder (techrepublic.com), there are several ways of ensuring that the adopted training program meets the desired planning qualities. First, the author provides for identification of training goals prior to the actual training. An example of such goals is the reduction of output losses incurred by the customers as they shift from software to another. Improving end user speed, accuracy and security could also be possible objectives of the training. Alternatively, identification and assessing the needs of the end users form part of the greater planning strategy before the training. This is usually achieved by performing a rapid evaluation of capability and technical prowess that users have on average. A representative sample of end users is randomly taken and evaluated to reveal areas that assistance is needed. In addition to the above planning areas, it is important that various training techniques are explored and the best picked for higher efficiency. Several end users categories imply that different training techniques might be necessary, which makes a hybrid training technique the ideal choice. Some of the training techniques to be explored include; end user hands-on instruction, classroom style, seminar style demonstration, computer based training (CBT) as well as book or self paced training. Perhaps the most important preparatory aspect of the training is identification and sourcing of resources needed fro the end user training. Once the planning logistics are completed, the relevant resources for the training are identified and made available in time for the training. Training techniques for instance require different resources and tools in order for the objective to be achieved. Extra numbers of end users must be in anticipated and reservations made to avoid shortage of materials needed to reach all end users. The other

Primacy of EU Law over National Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Primacy of EU Law over National Law - Essay Example Regulations are laws with general application, such that member states are under no strict liability to adopt them into national law. In the case of directives, that obligation is unconditional on the part of member states, although they can choose the form and methods by which to implement an EC directive 2. These provisos in the new EU Constitution are highlighted by this paper in its discussion of how to bring law and order to European countries if the EU law relevant to a particular case contravenes the national law of a member state; if an EC regulation favors one national group over another; or if an EC law that could bolster a local case has no equivalent version in the member state that is hearing the case. In so doing, the paper presents two make-believe cases involving consumer welfare promotion and environmental protection, two areas of concern high on the agenda of the new Constitution as embodied in Article II-62 and Article II-97, respectively. Both areas need state legislation to give them real substance. In 2006, EC issued E... The directive imposes criminal liability on anyone who keeps toxic chemicals in his property without sufficient safeguards to prevent leakage. If the stored chemicals, which were specified in the EC directive, escape into the atmosphere and cause harm to people, the offense carries a maximum fine of 150,000 euros or its equivalent. In UK, authorities believed there was no need to enact a new law based on the EC directive because there is a similar environmental law already in place. In March 2007, or one year after UK member states were supposed to have introduced the EC directive into their own legal systems, a man named Simon fell ill after eating vegetable grown in his garden, which is adjacent to a warehouse of Otis Chemicals Ltd. that stored the chemicals identified in the EC directive.QUESTION 1: If you're a lawyer representing Otis Chemicals, do you think Simon can sue your company in UK under the EC environmental directive based on the direct effect principle Can UK authorities also prosecute Otis under the same EC directiveANSWER: Assuming that the chemical substance in question is among those identified in the EC environmental directive, Simon can invoke the same EU law in bringing a case against Otis Chemicals before UK courts. This he can do whether or not UK has adopted the provisions of the said EC law into a national law. Under the Community Method principle of the new EU Constitution, any law enacted by the Community automatically becomes an integral part of the law of a member state, whose courts are

Obama's Inauguration Ceremony Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Obama's Inauguration Ceremony - Essay Example That Lean And Hungry Look by Suzanne Britt’s is an essay written to compare the existing differences between individuals who are skinny to their fat counterparts. Britt is against skinny individuals in the society, and her essay deals them a tremendous blow making them look like losers in the society. She criticizes skinny individuals comparing their young age experience to failure in learning life’s expectations. In her essay, she applauds fat individuals in society. She notes that they are sincere compared to the skinny individuals. She deems that fat individuals are welcoming than skinny ones because they are capable of providing individuals with support when least expected. She applauds them for being realistic in life and always taking decisions that lead to their success (Warner & Hilliard, 2010). Britt’s essays talks her views regarding the skinny and fat individuals in the society. Though she might be harsh on her description of skinny individuals in the society, her works are used to explain the differences that exist amongst individuals in the society. Her works, when analyzed critically, give out a meaning to the different social classes brought about by different factors like race and politics (Warner & Hilliard, 2010). ... Contrary to Britt’s essay regarding skinny individuals, Obama emerges to be a triumphant candidate who is elected heartily by the citizens (Obama, 2006). Secondly, contrary to Britt’s essay regarding skinny individuals not being amenable, Obama was more than welcoming in his inauguration speech. He was warm in his speech when he promised to advocate for freedom of individuals within the country. Individuals who are not welcoming find that they make false promises to individuals, whereas in spite of Obama being skinny he makes promises and professes his love for the Americans on his way to the inauguration ceremony. He believes he has the powers to make America a new haven because the American citizens had bestowed him with the responsibility of being their leader. He is also depicted to be a neat person during his inauguration ceremony. This is contrary to Britt’s essay about tidiness of skinny individuals. He was neatly dressed in a fashionable way that left him to be the center of attraction to the searching eyes of the public and press. Obama’s schedule during and after the Philadelphia inauguration was loaded with schedules and appointments contrary to Britt’s essay that skinny individual do not have a loaded schedule (Obama, 2006). Contrary to Britt’s essay, the inauguration of Obama came as a surprise to individuals who did not take Obama as an eminent threat. Being a skinny person individuals expected Obama to fail for a number of reasons (Obama, 2006). His success is conflicting to Britt’s essay that does not depict him as a threat because of his skinny nature. The inauguration ceremony depicts that individuals who

Privatization of State Owned Enterprises Research Proposal

Privatization of State Owned Enterprises - Research Proposal Example Governments in developed countries (e.g. Britain and Japan) started privatizing SOEs in the early 1980s; by the late 1980s it had become apparent that a privatization revolution would sweep the world (Young, 1987). While the bulk of privatizations during the past decade occurred in developed countries, in recent years the emphasis has shifted to developing countries (The Economist, 1993). In these countries, capital markets can hardly absorb the large amounts of privatized equity, and governments are offering to sell SOEs to western multinationals as strategic owners (The Economist, 1993; Ramamurti, 1992). In addition, these countries look to western multinational enterprises for managerial and technical know-how. This trend creates possibilities for growth and entry into countries whose economies are currently expanding faster than most developed economies. While privatization in the 1980s created opportunities for portfolio investments, the 1990s also promise the control of privati zed firms through mergers and acquisitions (Freudenberg and Bird, 1991; Nankani, 1990; Ramamurti, 1992). For these reasons, privatization is considered here to be an international management concern. Empirical research and theory on direct investment into former SOEs, unfortunately, is scant. Economists generally agree that reducing government ownership of companies improves the macro-performance of an economy, and they also expect that a competitive environment and market discipline should increase the efficiency of the privatized firm (Donahue, 1989; Hutchinson, 1991; Ramamurti, 1992; Vickers and Yarrow, 1988). Empirical research on this latter point, however, has yielded conflicting results (Cook and Kirkpatrick, 1988; Hutchinson, 1991; Parker and Hartley, 1991). Strategic management research considering the performance of the SOE after it is acquired by a private firm is missing entirely. No mergers and acquisitions work has yet considered the purchase of SOEs, nor have researchers examined the conceptual relationship between traditional mergers and the acquisition of an enterprise from the government. On the one hand, the public/private shift inherent in privatization might imply that acquisition processes work differently for privately and publicly owned firms. The strategy, structure, and culture of the public organization can be expected to differ significantly from those of private firms because of the often special missions of SOEs and distinct environments in which they may be operating (Aharoni, 1986). Since post-acquisition integration processes are determined by the historic conditions of the merging firms (Nahavandi and Malekzadeh, 1988; Shrivastava, 1986), these differences may crucially influence the success of a merger between a private firm and a newly privatized SOE. The pre-acquisition conditions of the target also influence performance (Datta et al., 1992), and thus the distinctive contingencies of the SOE can be expected to affect post-acquisition performance as well. Furthermore, the objectives of a government selling an SOE are as much political -- that is, cat ering to specific stakeholder groups, for instance current employees of the SOE -- as economic, a fact that should significantly affect the negotiations and may also determine the post-privatization performance of the former SOE. Only recently has the strategic management literature begun to examine the implications of government policy for

Obama's Inauguration Ceremony Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Obama's Inauguration Ceremony - Essay Example That Lean And Hungry Look by Suzanne Britt’s is an essay written to compare the existing differences between individuals who are skinny to their fat counterparts. Britt is against skinny individuals in the society, and her essay deals them a tremendous blow making them look like losers in the society. She criticizes skinny individuals comparing their young age experience to failure in learning life’s expectations. In her essay, she applauds fat individuals in society. She notes that they are sincere compared to the skinny individuals. She deems that fat individuals are welcoming than skinny ones because they are capable of providing individuals with support when least expected. She applauds them for being realistic in life and always taking decisions that lead to their success (Warner & Hilliard, 2010). Britt’s essays talks her views regarding the skinny and fat individuals in the society. Though she might be harsh on her description of skinny individuals in the society, her works are used to explain the differences that exist amongst individuals in the society. Her works, when analyzed critically, give out a meaning to the different social classes brought about by different factors like race and politics (Warner & Hilliard, 2010). ... Contrary to Britt’s essay regarding skinny individuals, Obama emerges to be a triumphant candidate who is elected heartily by the citizens (Obama, 2006). Secondly, contrary to Britt’s essay regarding skinny individuals not being amenable, Obama was more than welcoming in his inauguration speech. He was warm in his speech when he promised to advocate for freedom of individuals within the country. Individuals who are not welcoming find that they make false promises to individuals, whereas in spite of Obama being skinny he makes promises and professes his love for the Americans on his way to the inauguration ceremony. He believes he has the powers to make America a new haven because the American citizens had bestowed him with the responsibility of being their leader. He is also depicted to be a neat person during his inauguration ceremony. This is contrary to Britt’s essay about tidiness of skinny individuals. He was neatly dressed in a fashionable way that left him to be the center of attraction to the searching eyes of the public and press. Obama’s schedule during and after the Philadelphia inauguration was loaded with schedules and appointments contrary to Britt’s essay that skinny individual do not have a loaded schedule (Obama, 2006). Contrary to Britt’s essay, the inauguration of Obama came as a surprise to individuals who did not take Obama as an eminent threat. Being a skinny person individuals expected Obama to fail for a number of reasons (Obama, 2006). His success is conflicting to Britt’s essay that does not depict him as a threat because of his skinny nature. The inauguration ceremony depicts that individuals who

PAPER ABOUT ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR TOPIC Term Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

ABOUT ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR TOPIC - Term Paper Example In this book, McLean and Elkind investigate deeper about the Enron scandal and the fascinating people behind it. In trying to understand the concept of Organization behavior, this book becomes vital and especially the understanding the factors that lead to the fall of Enron. First of all, let’s define and understand the concept of organization behavior (McLean & Elkind, 15). Organization behavior Organizational behavior is a field of study that focuses on the impact an individual, group and structures have on behavior within a firm. These behaviors are applied towards improving the effective development of an organization. Organization behavior is an interdisciplinary field that comprise of communication, psychology, sociology and management. In addition, it complements human resource and organizational theory. The increasing global competition has ensured a strong and effective organization behavior in organizations (Duncan, 78). Organization’s activities of the 21st C entury are basically performed in communication with top management. This is true especially when varieties of views are required during decision making process (Hellriegel and John, 90). Decision making is not subject to the individual perceptions of human resource manager or the general management team; rather it is an outcome of strategic consensus (Duncan, 190). The importance of organization behavior to any organization is inevitable and the main goals and objectives of organization behavior include; attracting new employees and contribution to employee development. In trying to understand the concept of organization behavior, this paper focuses the rise and the fall of Enron Company (Hellriegel and John, 70). The organization behavior model that is discussed in this paper and the book at large is ethical leadership. Therefore, let’s define ethical leadership and then discuss how the concept of ethical leadership-as an organizational model-was revealed in the case of Enr on. Ethical leadership In the recent times, there has been a lot of concern about ethical leadership within the corporate business, not forgetting the numerous scandals at Enron, Parmalat, WorldCom and big Irish banks such as Allied Irish Bank (AIB) and National Irish Bank (NIB (Trevino & Weaver, 77). The problems and devastation that resulted from accounting fraud at the investment company operated by Bernard Madoff will not fade from people’s memory, nor will the frauds from Enron be forgotten. This has threatened the position of senior management in the respective companies and has also put the financial survival of these companies in jeopardy (Hellriegel and John, 165). Before discussing what motivated the unethical behaviors as witnessed in Enron, let focus on the firm itself. ENRON’S BACKGROUND Enron was formed in the year 1986 following the merger of natural gas pipeline companies Intermorth and Houston Natural Gas (Fox, 12). Fifteen years later after the format ion, the company had diversified to produce products and services related to electricity, natural gas and communications (Fox, 15). By the time Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection was being implemented in 2nd December 2001, Enron operations included the transportation of natural gas through pipelines, transmission and distribution of electricity, development and operations of power plants that generates energy, and delivery and management of energy capabilities and commodities to

Earning Management Essay Example for Free

Earning Management Essay â€Å"Earning Management† refers to those accounting practices that may follow the letter of the rules of fundamental rules of accounting practices but unethically misrepresented to the users of accounting information. For the personal interest managers often try to show outstanding performance of the business and use the strategic way to falsify Income, Assets or Liabilities. Earning Management as generally understood refers to systematic misrepresentation of the true income and assets of corporations or other organizations. Creative accounting is at the root of a number of accounting scandals, and many proposals for accounting reform – usually centering on an updated analysis of capital and factors of production that would correctly reflect how value is added. Quality of accounting information is one of the Fundamental Concepts of Accounting Framework. Where it’s mentioned that, accounting information must be Relevant, Reliable, Comparable, and Consistent Comparable (Intermediate Accounting by Keiso, Weygandt, Warfield, 12th edition). Unless having these qualities a report cannot be treated as qualified. Managers that always promise to make the numbers will at some point be tempted to make up the numbers. – Warren Buffet Definition of Earning Management * Managing earnings is â€Å"the process of taking deliberate steps within the constraints of generally accepted accounting principles to bring about a desired level of reported earnings.† (Davidson, Stickney and Weil (1987), cited in Schipper (1989) p. 92) * Managing earnings is â€Å"a purposeful intervention in the external financial reporting process, with the intent of obtaining some private gain (as opposed to say, merely facilitating the neutral operation of the process).†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ â€Å"A minor extension of this definition would encompass â€Å"real† earnings management, accomplished by timing investment or financing decisions to alter reported earnings or some subset of it.† (Schipper (1989) p. 92). * â€Å"Earnings management occurs when managers use judgment in financial reporting and in structuring transactions to alter financial reports to either mislead some stakeholders about the underlying economic performanc e of the company or to influence contractual outcomes that depend on reported accounting numbers.† (Healy and Wahlen, 1999, p. 368) Motivators Earning Management * Meet financial analysts estimates of earnings that leads to performance-based compensation * Raise the stock price thereby enhancing the value of stock options * Smooth net income making it appear that the earnings are increasing at a steady rate * Make it look as though future earnings are higher than they really are by establishing cookie jar reserves (inflated expenses) in the current year that can be drawn on in future years. (Dr. Steven Mintz, Professor and Area Chair, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo) Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting From this figure we’ve indicated that in the level – 2, where bridge between 13 creates should be the concerning point of maintaining the qualities of Accounting Information. Qualities are not only help to detect falsification, but also helps users to take decisions. Primary Qualities: * Relevance – It helps users to predict the ultimate outcome of past, present, and future events. It also helps users to predict that, how much loss/profit company can made. * Timeline – Specific timeline of accounting period helps users to trace out the business performance over the years. * Reliability – To assure that the information is verifiable, faithful and reasonably free of error and bias. Secondary Qualities: * Comparability – The reported information should be measured such a way that it can be compared with other company’s reports. * Consistency – Treatment of similar events from period to period must be used by same accounting standards. Standards cannot be changed suddenly, unless it’s proved that new method is better than previous. Perspective of Earning Management There are two perspectives on earnings management. (1) the Opportunistic perspective, states that managers seek to mislead investors by showing attractive predetermined accounting information, (2) the Information perspective, first enunciated by Holthausen and Leftwich (1983), under which managerial carefulness is a means for managers to reveal to investors their private expectations about the firms future cash flows. (Earnings Management: A Perspective by Messod D. Beneish) Accrual vs. Earning Management Plenty of research report shows managers try to use Accrual in financial engineering. Accruals are the difference between net income and cash flows. For example, when companies sell items to others on credit during a growth period, the sale creates an accrual of revenue. When companies engage in earnings management, they can increase or decrease income by creating accruals; these are often referred to as non – discretionary (flexible) accruals. Reasons behind using accrual as the engineering tool are – * Accruals are the principle product of GAAP, so it’s easy to do falsification with camouflage. * Accruals resolve some problems related with the effects choosing various accounting methods. * It will be hard for investors to see effect of unobservable components of accrual. Types of earnings management Theoretically there are two types of earnings management. They are income increasing and income decreasing earnings management (Messod, 2001). a) Income Increasing earnings management: As the name suggests, income increasing earnings management is the process to boost up net income of the company intentionally (to hide the poor performance) so that investors get some wrong signal about the firm’s financial position and performance and make the decision of investing in to company (Messod, 2001). Management are motivated towards increasing earnings management because of getting more debt and equity Financing. b) Income decreasing earnings Management: This process of earnings management is done by decreasing the amount of net earnings. Management is more involved in income decreasing earnings management is to get future compensation like: reducing this month’s earnings by increasing expenses, they ensure the profit from the next month. Also tax avoidance, import tariff rel ief, union negotiations etc. are other reasons for manager’s motivation towards income decreasing earnings management (Messod, 2001). In corporate world these are the types of earning management mostly done by the management: a) Revenue and Expense Recognition Under standard accounting rules, a company must record revenue in its books when it earns that revenue not when it actually receives payment. Similarly, it must record expenses when it incurs them not when it actually pays money. These rules leave room for companies to manipulate their numbers for earnings management (www.budgeting.thenest.com). For example, say a company signs a deal on December 1 to buy $1 million worth advertising time on TV over the next two months. The company could recognize the entire expense in December, recognize the whole thing in January or split the difference. If it records it all in December, then that years profit will be lower by $1 million but the company will get a head start on the next years profit by not having any advertising expenses in January. Profits have been shifted from one year to the next with an accounting t rick. b) Cookie Jar Reserves Companies shift earnings around by creating overly large reserve accounts in good years, then drawing them down in bad years. For example, when a company sells a product with a warranty, it must recognize the estimated expense of honoring that warranty at the same time it books the revenue (www.budgeting.thenest.com). A company might conclude that it incurs warranty costs of $10,000 for every $1 million in sales. If its having a particularly profitable year, it might decide to take a $30,000 warranty expense per $1 million in sales. That builds up a big warranty reserve now so that the company doesnt have to record warranty expenses in the future, thus shifting profits from one period to the other. This tactic goes by the name cookie jar accounting, because it essentially stashes excess profits away to be used when needed. c) The Big Bath There will be times when a company simply cant avoid a bad year. No matter what it does, its going to post a loss because of a sour economy, unfavorable market conditions, and legal trouble, whatever. Some companies, though, deliberately make a bad year even worse by shifting all kinds of expenses, one-time charges and write-offs into that year and shifting revenue out of it. This allows it to inflate profits in future years (www.budgeting.thenest.com). The reasoning behind this strategy is that if the company is going to take a bath, it might as well take a big bath. The companys stock price was going to suffer anyway, the thinking goes, and the damage probably wont be that much worse if the company inflates the loss. Indicators of Earnings Management We have find out five factors which can be important indicators of earnings management: a) Political connection and earnings management: Firms with political connection (large number of stockholder, or CEO or board of directors of the company is a parliament member) are more involved in earnings management (Paul, Mara and David, 2010). Mainly the reasons are- political leaders help the particular firm involved in earnings management to avoid penalization by SEC and also political leaders use these companies’ financial performance and position to increase their public image. b) Internal Audit and earnings management: This one is another major indicator of earnings management. If the quality of internal quality is low there are some possibilities of earnings management. According to the research, if a company is having high quality internal audit, they might be less motivated towards earnings management (Douglas, Jason and David, 2008). Main reasons are: these internal auditors are more professional, responsible towards their job and they barely miss the expert’s expectations. c) Financial transparency and earnings management: Many studies have shown that financial transparency and earnings management are related. If a particular financial report is more transparent then the manager are less interested toward earnings management (James, Robert and Cheri, 2004) The main reason behind this situation is detail information about the accounts including: change in depreciation methods, details about each and every account will help investors to find out any manipulation done by the manager.

The X-Files :: essays research papers

The X-Files The X-Files is generally acclaimed as the television cult hit of the 1990’s. The pilot that aired in September of 1993 introduced FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. Together the two work to uncover the truth behind unsolved cases that defy normal investigation, the cases that the government has buried or ignored, labeling them the â€Å"x-files.† The two agents are wonderful examples of modernism and post-modernism world views. First in order to understand the reasons Scully and Mulder portray the two world views, we must understand what modernism and post-modernism mean. Modernism was the era that was dominated by Freud and Marx, a belief that humans are purely material machines, a belief that we live in a purely physical world and nothing exists beyond what our senses perceive. Modernists believe that people should be rationalistic optimists and depend only on the data of their sense of reason. Scully strongly displays the modernist world view throughout the show even after the two agents have been through many fantastic adventures. In the show as a whole there are modernist aspects because both Scully and Mulder are truth seekers. The shows motto is â€Å"the truth is out there† so this produces a strong concept of truth. However the show as a whole is very post-modern because it questions the modernist world view with its themes. It is interesting the show continually suggests that â€Å"th e truth is out there† but it is hidden under many different interpretations and perspectives. Post-modernism rejects the modernist ideals of rationality, virility, artistic genius and individualism, in favor of being anti-capitalist and scornful of traditional morality. Mulder strongly displays the post-modern world view. Scully is the modernist in the show, she is constantly doubting Mulder and always making a new plot or rationalization for what is happening. Scully often makes fun of or laughs at Mulder’s insistence of the existence of the supernatural or paranormal. Scully values science and rationality and even though the events seem to be unbelievable she never gives in and believes in Mulder’s theories. The main reason Scully was assigned to the x-files project was because she was a skeptic, they trusted her to write a clear scientific analysis of the cases. In the pilot Mulder asks Scully if she believes in extraterrestrials, she replies with "Logically I would have to say no. Given the distances need to travel from the of reaches of space the energy requirements would exceed a spacecraft's capabilities —".

society Essay -- essays research papers fc

Argument: Why You Should Not Smoke Cigarettes You should not smoke cigarettes because of three reasons: Smoking causes cancer, Smoking is an expensive habit and Smoking also can cause heart disease. Smoking is linked to cancer of the lung, mouth, larynx and esophagus. Smoking is an expensive habit with cigarette packs cost anywhere from three to four dollars a pack, it adds up to a great expense. Also smoking cigarettes can cause a higher risk to develop heart disease. The first reason why you should not smoke cigarettes is because it causes cancer. According to National Cancer Institute article entitled, Cigarette Smoking and Cancer: Questions and Answers, "Cigarette smoking causes 87 percent of lung cancer deaths. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women. Smoking is also responsible for most cancers of the larynx, oral cavity and pharynx, esophagus, and bladder. In addition it is a cause of kidney, pancreatic, cervical and stomach cancers as well as acute myeloid leukemia.† I think with the percent being so elevated at eighty seven percent, this should be a great reason to quit smoking. Each time a smoker picks up a cigarette they should look at this percentage and think is it really worth it. The second reason why you should not smoke cigarettes is because it‘s an expensive habit. According to the Middlesex Hospital website, Good Reasons to Stop Smoking Now, â€Å"Most people don’...

Social control, discipline and regulation

Many more serious crimes such as large scale tax evasion which costs the government a lot of money, are often overlooked and are seldom prosecuted. Over time some laws which are no longer relevant are disseminated and other acts become criminals. These change with new governments and societal and culture changes. In 1967 the Sexual Offences Act was introduced which made it illegal in Britain for men of any age to have consensual sex together. Over time society has come to accept gay relationships and so in turn the law surrounding gay couples has also relaxed.In 2005 civil partnerships were introduced to give gay couples similar rights to married couples and the current government Is looking at making gay marriages legal. If deviant behavior seems to becoming more common, such as people carrying weapons then new legislations are put in place or existing legislations are updated and more harsh penalties are put in place to deter criminals and reduce crimes and visitation. Travis Hirsh (1969) through his social bond theory tries to explain why some people don't commit crime. He argues the question Why do they do it? Is not a question the control theory is signed to answer.The important question he says is Why don't we do it? [1]. Hirsh identified four main characteristics or social bonds which explain conformity. The more a person features these characteristics the less likely they are to become deviant or criminal. Attachment to family and friends he seen as the most Important factor In his social bond theory, this influence supports our norms, values and conscience. If we did not care about how we were perceived by our family and friends then we would be free to act deviant. Commitment to achievement Is another actor, this refers to how much effort, time and money a person puts into a particular activity.A person such as a doctor who has spent a lot of time, effort and money on educating themselves is less likely to become deviant because a criminal record coul d result in them losing their job. Involvement in conventional activities leaves a person with less time to think about or get involved in deviant activities. Belief refers to the strength of our commitment to a particular belief. There are variations in our beliefs; the less a person believes he should follow the rules the more likely he is to elate them. A criticism of Hirer's work would be to ask why people commit crime.This assumes that law abiding behavior is normal and that the majority of people do not commit crimes. In some sub cultures deviant behavior is the norm, children born Into this kind of culture and grow up breaking the law because It Is normal to them. Walsh does not explain this kind of behavior. When crimes are committed the judicial system uses different forms of punishment or social control. This is used to law. Harsh forms of social control are imprisonment or even death in some countries. A softer form of social control is things like fines and community ser vice.In Michel Faculty's book, Discipline and Punishment, he looks at the birth of the prison and how the penal system has changed from. In the 17th century the forms of punishment were brutal public tortures, humiliations, hangings and executions which focused on hurting the physical body. This triggered many riots in sympathy and support for the convict; the public were against these cruel methods of punishment which were also inconsistent. Faculty's believes this form of punishment was to show the power of the state rather than to act as deterrence.Prisons were first introduced in the 18th century as a result of the public protests for punishment without torture. Prisons focused punishment on the souls and minds of prisoners as the mind was now seen as more valuable and the body was seen as Just a machine controlled by the mind. This new form of discipline and punishment was able to control and manage the prisoner at all times rather than short bursts of bodily torture which was previously used. The prison became more than a place where offenders were deprived and became a place where discipline could be instilled.Faculty saw this as abuse of power, its main purpose would have been, an attempt to reform the criminal in the hope that upon his release he would be less likely to refined and become a contributing member of society. Faculty believes that detention causes recidivism; and states, â€Å"those leaving prison have more chance of going back to it; a very high proportion, up to 38 per cent of inmates were convicted again† [2]. If prisons worked then they would be empty. Jeremy Beneath a utilitarian philosopher was interested in the design of prisons. He designed a circular prison which he called the Pontific.It had a central tower so prison officers had a 360 view and could see into all of the cells at all times. The inmates could not see into the central tower and so never knew if they were being watched. The exact blueprint was never built but it did have some impact on how future prisons were designed. Faculty said that constant supervision and forced discipline broke the will of the criminal and made him into a ‘docile body which is easily controlled by people in authority. This was then ideal for the new economics, politics and warfare of modern industrial society.It enslaves us to a life of government controlled discipline. Critiques of Faculty have focused mainly on his ideas of struggle for self-freedom from the disciplines of society, believing that people should be unique individuals and be their true self. He does not explain this in depth nor does he explain how it fits in with society. Edward W Said states: other critics of Faculty argue he did not go in depth when explaining the struggle between individuality and society. Faculty did not give a purpose for the struggle or a goal to be obtained. Why should complete individuality be the ultimate purpose in life? For Faculty there seems to be no focal mint , but rather an endless network of relations† (Ho, 1986: 55). If a person were to believe Faculty's idea then following any rule of society would be submitting to the discipline of society. The anti-institutional consensus of the sass's refers to a cultural movement that developed in the United States and England. The baby boom children from the sass's were growing up in the sass's. The growing consciousness of a younger generation may have led to a shift in perspectives on societal wrongdoings. Race relations, women's rights and differing interpretations of the American Dream.People questioned the legitimacy of the state and started to challenge authority, this resulted in boycotts, marches, protests, sit-ins and riots. Along with drug use and sexual liberation, criminality rocketed. The role of women as full time homemakers in industrial society was challenged in 1963, giving way to the women's movement and influencing a second wave in feminism. The availability of birth con trol was the foundation of the sexual liberation. The idea of ‘recreational sex' without the threat of unwanted pregnancies changed society as it allowed men a women greater freedom outside traditional marriage.With this change in attitude, the amount of children born outside wedlock in the I-J rose from 8% in 1971 to nearly 45 % in 2007 [3]. This counterculture of the sass's influenced Governments to rethink criminal acts. There were changes in human rights and laws were put in place to tackle discrimination between men and women. From 1967 abortion became legal, and women became able to divorce their husbands when the Divorce Reform Act came into force in 1969. John Breathiest, an Australian criminologist recognizes that the current criminal justice system labels and astigmatisms offenders, making crime problems worse.He looks at the relationship between crime and social reactions in his book Crime, Shame and Reintegration. He believes a restorative Justice system to be more effective than a punitive Justice system which enables offenders and victims to come together. He suggests the key to crime control is cultural shaming and making the offender feel remorse for what he has done. Breathiest identifies two types of shaming. Disintegrative shaming is where the offender is stigmatize and excluded from society, becoming labeled along with his behavior.Reintegrating shaming is where criminal behavior is condemned rather than the offender. He is kept within society and is shown forgiveness through words or gestures. Breathiest argues that crime rates are higher in places where disintegrative shaming is used. His hypothesis is that in societies where there is a strong commitment to place collective interests over individual interest there are stronger incentives for people to conform and lower crime rates. He uses the example of Japan which is highly urbanites and densely populated; we would assume that crime rates would be high.Arrest rates are high UT pro secution rates are low. Cultural factors play an important role, honor and pride within Japanese families is very important so bringing shame upon the family is a deterrent to committing crimes. These traditions date back to the Samurai Warriors who would fall upon their own swords (Hair Kari) to prevent bringing shame upon their families. Japanese parents often commit suicide when their children commit serious crimes as they cannot cope with the shame and feel partly responsible. It is hard to compare the I-J with societies such as Japan which is a more equal society and less diverse.In the I-J the Home Office gave legislative endorsement to these ideas in 1998 Crime and Disorder Act and the 1999 Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act reflecting the definition of restorative Justice as restoration, reintegration and responsibility [4]. All kinds of initiatives that attempt to bring the victim and the offender together now carries the label ‘restorative'. Rock (1990) describe d the restorative system as a ‘dead duck so it is interesting to reflect upon the process whereby it gained its current status. Daly (2002) discusses in detail the that the current punitive Justice system to be ineffective.Prisons in England are currently close to full capacity, if they were effective they would be empty. Inmates are reportedly more likely to become recidivists and commit new crimes that they have learnt from other inmates. This causes greater problems for the Government when it comes to tackling crime. I believe that Michel Faculty is right in the sense that imprisonment, along with constant supervision and discipline is an abuse of power. John Barbiturate's work on a restorative Justice system could be beneficial to some offenders, victims and more importantly society as a whole.

Marketing Plan for Snap Fitness Essay

Executive Summary With today’s society stressing a greater demand for flexibility, and ease of access to goods and services, a trend has emerged for extended trading hours for service organizations. One of the main profiteers of this trend is gym franchises. With over 1 billion people in the global population being overweight, and the still present economic uncertainty leading to longer working hours for most people, there is a demand for less rigid opening and closing hours of gyms. Consequently, the boom of the 24 hour gym came about. 3C’s Analysis The following section contains an analysis of the company, customer and competitors of Snap Fitness. Analysis of the Company The Snap Fitness franchise has become a global leader within the budget health club industry since starting in 2003. It has since established a large client base of over 1 million members in over 2000 clubs worldwide and 100 clubs throughout Australia (Sloan, 2014). Snap Fitness provides a 24/7 service with limited staffed contact hours ranging from 30 to 40 hours per week, and utilises a â€Å"no-contract† payment system. Additional services include high quality targeted fitness classes, nutritional consultation and access to accredited Personal Trainers. Snap Fitness was ranked by Entrepreneur Magazine as No.1 â€Å"Best in Category’ for fitness franchises in 2009. As well, Inc. Magazine at No. 16 on its annual â€Å"Inc 500† which is a list ranked by Inc Magazine of privately owned businesses. (Snap Fitness, 2014) Customer Analysis A gym can essentially recruit any type of person interested in fitness to sign up because of the variety of services offered, such as weights, cardio machines, group fitness sessions, dieticians etc.. This being said, 60-70% of Snap Fitness customers in Australia are already â€Å"experienced gym users who just want to get in and get started† upon joining (Australian Leisure, 2010). This leaves around 30-40% of members to be inexperienced gym users  that will require help getting started, whether this is by group fitness sessions or personal training sessions. Snaps Fitness offers low prices and the gyms are open 24/7 meaning potential Snap Fitness members are seeking convenience rather than quality. Snap Fitness doesn’t have facilities such as saunas and pools etc. that other gyms such as Fitness First regularly feature and the size of these gyms are smaller in comparison to other big gyms such as Goodlife, and Genesis. This means that Snap Fitness will generally attract people who work out recreationally a few times a week as opposed to a bodybuilder who is training for competitions and would benefit from these additional services. In Australia 13% of the total adult population participate in fitness activities. Within this segment the most significant demographic is the age group bracket is 15 to 34 years in both the female and male segments and females aged 34 to 54 years. Overall there is greater female (16% of the population) participation then male (9.4% of the population) across all age brackets (Australian Bureau, 2009). Analysis of the Competitor With the market for gym-goers being so extensive, there exists steep competition between gyms for patrons. One such competitor of Snap Fitness is Jetts gym. A membership with Jetts is slightly more expensive than Snap, costing $13.95 per week, with an additional joining fee of $89 and $59 for an access card. Jetts also offer an advance 12 month membership, costing $549, paid in one lump sum at the time of joining. Jetts offers its members 24/7 access to all of its 200+ clubs in Australia with the use of the swipe card, delivering a high level of convenience for its members (see figure 1.2). However with Jetts, as opposed to Snap Fitness, once the card is registered in the security system, no further registration is required to gain entry to multiple clubs – the card is usable immediately, creating convenience for its members. (Jetts, 2014) However, unlike Snap Fitness, Jetts has no member benefits to retail outlets or other service centres. Jetts has received a Canstar award t wo years running. For the years of 2012 and 2013, Jetts was voted as the No.1 gym chain in Australia for customer satisfaction. (Jetts, 2014) Another similarly competitive gym is Stepz. As well as operating 24/7, Stepz is entirely Australia owned, with clubs only within Australia. While this, to some people, would be a selling point, it  also poses a threat to Stepz whereby is creates less convenience for its patrons by having fewer clubs members can attend (see figure 1.2). (Stepz, 2014) A Stepz Memberships costs $13 a week, with a one-off joining fee of $89, payable upfront and an access card fee of $55, with which the member has access to any Stepz club Australia-wide. (Stepz, 2014) As too with Jetts, Stepz has no membership perks for gym members that exist outside the gym, i.e., retail discounts, etc. Stepz employs a tactic whereby the number of members allowed to enrol in each club is limited. This is done to provide the members with a more personalized service, and the staff can cater to the members needs more specifically. Also, by limiting the number of patrons, it ensures that there will rarely be a wait time to use gym equipment. (Stepz, 2014) In today’s market, there exist other types of rival services in the gym racket. Not gyms that offer round-the-clock service, rather gyms that cater specifically to the specialty needs of their patrons – gyms such as Curves. Curves is a specially designed gym catering explicitly to the needs of women. Founded in 1992 in Texas, today Curves has clubs in over 70 countries, with over 300 clubs in Australia alone. Curves is the largest company being analysed in this competitor analysis (see figure 1.2). Memberships at Curves cost $18.24 a week, with a $149 joining fee. By far – out of Snap, Jetts and Stepz – Curves is the most expensive gym (see figure 1.1). However, Curves, unlike the others, has tailor-made programs targeted directly at women, for women, by women. This creates a community among the club members and enables the staff and trainers of Curves to have a competitive edge in the service industry, offering a one-of-a-kind service catering only to the needs of women. (Curves, 2014) Gyms such as Curves and Contours (another gym aimed specifically at the needs of women) has created a whole new market segment, which poses a threat to existing generic gyms, and even those that are 24 hours. Gyms that are specially designed for women may take business away from other gyms such as Snap, as a result of such gyms not exhibiting greater dedication or focus to individual needs of groups in the market segment (ie. Female gym-goers). Analysis of the 4P’s: Product Membership entitles the user access to all the gym equipment (including  cardio and weights), group workout sessions and, one initial free PT introduction session with a qualified instructor including; a weight and measure, guidance while using machines and an initial workout plan. Optional membership add-ons include PT sessions, consults with a qualified dietician and 8 week challenges. Price Single membership, joint membership and family memberships are available. The price for single membership is $25 a fortnight; this currently includes group workout sessions and access to all types of training equipment. Joint and family memberships are generally charged at a discounted rate such as $17 each a fortnight for a family membership consisting of a husband and wife. A membership with Snap is not a lock-in contract, and in addition to the fortnightly fee there is a one-off joining fee of $99, paid upfront and a further $29 for the Snap access card. Place A typical location for a Snap Fitness outlet is a high profile business strip or mall, with cafes, small convenience stores and a post office. Locations normally have access to close parking and provide a well lit exterior to ensure the safety of clients using the premise during irregular hours. Currently the most successful Snap Fitness business is located in Milton and through location analysis it was found that Snap Fitness Strathpine also possesses many of these important location characteristics (Australian Leisure, 2010). Promotion Snap Fitness promotes itself as a convenient (open 24/7 and membership grants access to any Snap Fitness location) and budget gym with a focus on physical wellbeing of young adults. Snap Fitness often has one core promotion consisting of a limited, one time offer of free joining and 1 week free gym access. If this offer is not running potential members do still get a free one day trial. Snap Fitness also have offers for current gym members such as â€Å"refer a friend† and get a month free. A consistent message present throughout promotional material is that there are no membership contracts. This means that if a member wants to leave it is a simple process and will be no cancellation fee. With a gym membership to Snap Fitness Strathpine, the member receives perks from organizations affiliated with Snap Strathpine. These benefits include a buy one, get one free scheme at the Strathpine Hyperbowl bowling alley, a 10% discount at Mega Choice and Mega Party variety stores, lunch deals at Outback Jacks Bar & Grill, and more. (Snap Fitness, 2014) Analysis of Customer Service Strategies (People/Processes) Quality customer service is key to an organisations survival in today’s market. For gym owners, the revenue source is in direct proportion to the membership base; i.e., if gym owners aren’t able to get people through the door, their profits will plummet. In order to ensure a gym maintains a competitive edge in the fitness industry, it is essential to provide a consistent level of high quality customer service. This plays a crucial role in member acquisition and retention. It is imperative that the quality of customer service is always top priority, to ensure repeat customers and positive word-of-mouth. (Fagan, 2013) A recent study has shown that customer referrals is the main reason why new customers hear about a business, or come into the business – with 30% of people stating a current member referred them. (Lewis, 2014) Snap Fitness offers a variety of customer services, such as being open 24 hours; having friendly, qualified staff; efficient handling of complaints; strong community presence through social initiatives and business partnerships; no lock-in contracts; 24 hour security surveillance; member benefits (i.e., retail discounts); and having innovative facilities to ensure convenience and comfort for members, such as having access to treadmills, cross trainers, rowing machines, free weights, shower and change rooms, bathroom amenities, stretching areas and group fitness rooms. (Snap, 2014) Snap’s main customer service strategies are promotions with neighbouring establishments, corporate tie ups, and social media facets. In March of this year, Peter Taunton, CEO of Snap Fitness, launched an initiative to coincide with National Public Health Week in the US. With word driven by the force of social media outlets, Snap Fitness, starting April 7, was offering seven days of free workouts, with no further obligations to Snap. This complimentary week was offered in support of public health and to get people motivated, and get potential members through  the door. (Taunton, 2014) With a strong presence within the community through ongoing social initiatives and partnerships with neighbouring establishments and other corporations, Snap fitness consolidates its standing as a people-friendly gym with a community-orientated outlook, making itself as attractive as possible for potential members. Analysis of the Service Environment One of the most significant problems Snap Fitness faces is during peak training times when the facilities are prone to becoming overcrowded (more demand than supply of equipment). Gym users dislike this mainly because of waiting times for machines and weights, and as a result some will completely avoid these peak times favouring a more secluded training environment. This is a difficult issue to resolve as Snap Fitness always wants more members, but at the same time if too many members are at the gym at a certain time members can become unsatisfied. Another issue with Snap Fitness is their process of making the entry cards inactive. It was found through a sentiment analysis (appendices) identified card denial as a significant area of dissatisfaction amongst users as often they have to come back during manned hours to resolve the problem. This problem stems from direct debits not clearing and is made worse by the fact that clients aren’t notified when this occurs (appendices blu eprint). Members of Snap Fitness have had to travel to the gym and be denied access, before realizing their card has been made inactive. A minor issue Snap Fitness faces is that its front counter is not always manned even during staffed hours. There are windows of time when all personal trainers who are in the gym are on the floor with clients, this could be for many reasons including assisting with a workout or maintenance to the facility. During this time if someone calls the gym or comes in to enquire about joining there may be no one available to meet these requests. This can lead to missed opportunities in gaining new clients, and a reputation for bad customer service. Recommendations In relation to the issue of equipment use during a session, one of the most viable solutions is to implement peak and off peak membership options. The way this would work is for people who choose to go to the gym during peak times would pay the rates currently being offered and would be able to also  go to the gym in off peak times. The members who purchase off peak membership are allowed access to the gyms at off peak hours for a discounted membership price. These members have the choice to attend during peak times when they swipe their card to enter the gym, however a small fee will be charged to their fortnightly bill enabling the membership to be flexible. It is worth noting that Snap Fitness aims to be a cheap, convenient gym, so without the option of expanding and adding more equipment, this is one of the best ways to encourage members to train at different times and prevent an overcrowded gym. The issue of card access can easily be solved through a change in the communication process meaning gym members should be informed if their payment doesn’t clear prior to the card being deactivated. This could be done by an automated text message or a phone call from a staff member at the gym. When a payment is declined Snap Fitness members should be given time (48 hours would be appropriate) to resolve this issue and make the payment. If a member still fails to make the payment after this 48 hour window they should then be informed that their card will no longer permit access to the gym until a payment is made. This will ensure members are always informed of when their payments don’t clear and if a member is unable to make this payment they can then contact Snap Fitness and work out a different payment method. A way for the manned counter be solved is having very clearly defined hours designated to man the desk (clear signage of hours at the shop front and on all adver tisement material including pamphlets). During this time there would always be someone answer phone calls and talk to people who physically enter the gym to respond to questions about joining. This way it’s clear when it is appropriate to enter the gym to ask questions in person and when the best time to call up would be. Phone messages should be kept track of and returned during these staffed desk hours to ensure all customer enquiries are being answered in a timely manner. From the evaluation conducted the recommendation with the most benefit would be introducing a distinction between on and off peak membership. This strategy could attract a lot of new members because people who train at off peak times at other gyms would see how cheap this option is and consider transferring. People already signed up to Snap Fitness could also be  interested in cheaper memberships and could change their workout times from on peak to off peak, which would reduce some of the clutter in the gym. This would then help to reduce overcrowded gyms during peak times, which would then increase the enjoyment of on peak members because they would have less waiting time for equipment. Currently the gym is often close to empty at off peak times and having this extra influx of people there at these odd hours is extra money Snap Fitness could capitalize on with its 24/7 system. Appendices Appendices 1: Price positioning map High Price Curves Snap Fitness Jetts Stepz Low Price Appendices 2: Size positioning map Large in size Curves Snap Jetts Stepz Small in size Small in size Appendices 3: SWOT Analysis SWOT Analysis Strengths Weakness Large established client base Known brand name Customised workouts Well trained staff/ PT’s Open 24/7 Can go to any Snap Fitness centre No contracts – monthly payment plan Yoga & fitness classes Range of machine types 7 day trial period Accredited dietician Lockers to secure valuables 8 week challenge programs – club bonding Limited staff resources – not always manned Waiting times for equipment in peak times Smaller gym – less equipment, space and more demand on staff Opportunities Threats Potential partnerships/ sponsors – currently have some with local businesses (e.g. cafe discount) New membership types e.g. based on consumption times/types Paying for one group class without buying a membership Additional services e.g. Steam room, juice bar New health trends – types of classes offered e.g. Zumba Community orientation Expand existing complexes Discounts for locals Widespread competition such as home gyms and other similar companies such as Jetts Unmotivated staff Decreased interest in fitness Being a small, budget gym expansion opportunities could deter clients as they prefer a smaller business Original Service Blueprint Within this blueprint several key bottlenecks were identified, these include contacting the gym Booking into sessions Equipment usage Updated Service Blueprint Reference List About Us – Overview. (2014). Retrieved 4th May, 2014, from http://www.curves.com.au/about-curves/ About Us. (2014). Retrieved 1st May, 2014, from http://www.snapfitness.com.au/about-us/ About Us. (2014). Retrieved 4th May, 2014, from http://stepzfitness.com.au/about-us/ Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2009). Feature article 2: health and fitness centres and gymnasia (no. 4156.0.55.001). Canberra, Australia. Australian Leisure: Snap Fitness Plans for 200 Clubs. (2010). Retrieved from Current Levels of Customer Satisfaction at a CrossFit Gym. Digital Commons @ USU. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1241&context=gradreports Curves Community. (2014). Retrieved 4th May, 2014, from http://www.curves.com.au/community/ Fagan, L. (2013, October 4). What is gym customer service? Retrieved from http://blog.gyminsight.com/2013/10/what-is-gym-customer-service/ http://global.factiva.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/redir/default.aspx?P=sa&an=NLJ00000 20140217ea2h0000q&cat=a&ep=ASE http://www.ausleisure.com.au/news/snap-fitness-plans-for-200-clubs Lewis, S. (2013). An Online Customer Service Survey to Determine Memberships. (2014). Retrieved 4th May, 2014, from http://stepzfitness.com.au/memberships/ Prices. (2014). Retrieved 3rd May, 2014, from http://www.jetts.com.au/prices Public Health Week. Retrieved from