Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Analysis - Assignment Example Recession affected various industries. Beer, being a luxury product, saw a record breaking drop in sales as the marginal propensity to consume alcohol reduced. This was due to the reduced purchasing power. High cost and low income reduced the amount that people spent on beer consumption. However, after the recession, the customers had more income to spend on luxuries and beer, thus, demand pushed sales up (WSJ; October 2, 2012). Top beer producers gained value after the recession, but their brands could not hold on their share prices, they fell. The biggest players in the industry, Anheuser-Busch Inc. saw record sales of 39.9% in 2011 and 39.7 in 2012. The firm was closely followed by Molson Coors brewing n miller brewing. The chart (iii) in the appendix shows the top beer brands in the industry Despite the competitive conditions in the United States alcoholic beverages and tobacco industry, craft beer has gained value and their brands have higher demand. The craft brewing sub-industry improved and recorded a 15% growth in 2011 and 17% in 2012. In 20122, the craft beer sector had a market share of 10.2%. The craft beer sub-industry is expected to continue with the growth trend if all economic conditions remain constant or improve. Boston beer is the biggest producer of craft beer with over 15.7% market share in the brewing industry. The company competes in both high quality and premium beers and also on low priced beer. The company has a business unit that produces premium beer under the label Sam Adams to compete with established brewing giants. Boston Beer boasts being the largest craft beer brewer in the United States. It is also ranked sixth in the brewing industry in terms of sales. The share price of the SAM as of 11th April 2014 is $234.4 per share that represented small- cap growth. The earnings per share (EPS) stood at $6.80; this implies that every share issued by the company had a return of $6.80 as of April 2014(Yahoo! Finance). This is a

Sara Lee Case Study Essay Example for Free

Sara Lee Case Study Essay Sara Lee managements should continue focusing on the food -based industries and trying to link those industries as much as possible. One of their main strengths is brand recognition. People can expect to get premium quality products when they purchase anything from the Sara Lee product line. Sara Lee is struggling in the bakery industries, both North American and International with the exception of fresh breads, a narrowing of product lines may help make this brand more profitable. They are doing a great job in the International Beverage market, with the number one selling item being coffee. The global retail coffee market was expected to grow from $51 billion in 2009 to $62 billion in 2013. With this being said this market is a cash cow and Sara Lee management should focus on Coffee and tea in the International Beverage business and they can also create new products to expand the product line. Since they are already the number one seller in single-serving coffeemakers, a good idea would be for them to make single-serve pods that are compatible with any single-serve coffeemaker. With a current market share of 40 percent, this will only help increase their overall market share. Since Sara Lee is divesting many of their of their product lines and expect to contain growth in operating expenses through reducing inventory, focusing on promising markets and emphasis on efficiency, they will have more money to use in other places like advertisement. They should do more with putting their name out there. Creating a marketing campaign to bring back name recognition that has been overshadowed by competitors will help product sales. They can bring back their slogan â€Å"Nobody does it like Sara Lee.† Focusing on profitable products and expanding product line will help the Company have significant gains in shareholder value and improve the company’s performance.

Four Seasons Competitive Advantage

Four Seasons Competitive Advantage The firm creates value by performing a series of activities that Porter identified as the value chain. To achieve a competitive advantage, Four Seasons must perform more value creating activities in a way that creates more overall value than do competitors. Identify Four Seasons core competence Isadore Sharp was graduated architecture degree. This subject was including buildings, design modules and so on. It assisted Sharp in building and designing hotel more uniqueness, sharp and feature design etc. In technology development activities support the inbound logistics, Four Seasons was innovation constantly, such as Sharp build luxury hotel with then-modern amenities andprovide air conditioning service, Four Seasons also combination of a motel and a down town hotel result in success immediately. Four Seasons hotels design in such can meet with ergonomic to make more comfortable. These valuable activities enable Four Seasons to implement strategies that improve more efficiency. Four Seasons possess these unique capabilities in building and design the hotels. The talented person (Sharp) was not easy to imitated and no equivalent strategic capabilities. For that reason Four Seasons hotel has superior innovation capabilities for developing and exploiting innovation ideas. In its operations, Four Seasons hotel offered accommodation. Also, it satisfies different customers different demand such as offer workout options, spa etc. The support activities of firm infrastructure are support the Four Seasons sustainability develop and create valuable resources. Nevertheless these operations can be copied by other rivalry. Four Seasons in order to continue to refine exceptional quality. In its outbound logistics, the first one provided 24-hour room service. E.g. when the guest arrive the hotel and check in at night, receptionist will allocate the room to guest immediately as if serves to guest in a day. As this result, Four Seasons had been transferred their service to their customers. For human resource management, Four Seasons was strong focus on hiring superior employees their attitude in particular and trained them extensively in order to treat others to provide friendly services which enable the hotel on the island became number one. In its firm infrastructure, Four Seasons had a clear strategic direction, planning, market needs and understand the market position currently. E.g. focus on build small to medium sized hotels of exceptional quality. Four Seasons in order to offer excellent service, it hired employees of different working time group i.e. night shift employees, it make Four Seasons can support to open 24-hour room service. These support activities support the outbound logistics. By this means, it created a significant value contribution to success. Four Seasons offer exceptional service to provide 24-hour room service. The first hotel chain open 24-hour room service in North America enable outbound activities was very rarely. However it is not easy to sustain its competitive advantage. In its marketing and sales practice, Four Seasons sustained build luxury hotel until current possess operate 72 hotels in 31 countries and became a leading player in luxury hotel. The brand name spread over luxury hotel business worldwide, because Four Seasons acquired very much hotel quality recognition awards. As the result Four Seasons was a very well-known brand. In the eyes of the customers, Four Seasons just like luxury feelings. Moreover, Four Seasons specializing in hotel management. Four Seasons had laid down performance standard enable the staff provided comprehensive service to customer so that the hotel even more famous. In firm infrastructure support the Four Seasons to international expansion, F. S. George V gave an easy way to enter the Paris market help Four Season can signed a management agreement with HRH Prince, it enable Four Seasons own unique capabilities to international expansion. Four Seasons create a famous reputation throughout worldwide; it provided a real distinctiveness that rivals cannot match. Four Seasons hotel provided more convenience services to customers, such as overnight service, room service breakfast and so on. In its firm infrastructure and human resource management to support that can provide good customer service capabilities and better quality service relative to rivals. Four Seasons to enforce the corporate culture down to the front-line employees, encourage self-discipline and setting performance standard so as to provide excellent service. Four Seasons service able give the guests feel at home. These valuable and rare capabilities that are difficult to imitate or substitute can contribute to sustained competitive advantage. Weaknesses Four Seasons hotel had not focus on an independent procurement department; it may lead to cannot purchase the lowest price and highest quality for the activities of the company. Thereby, it may affect go down attractiveness and reputation. Also, Four Seasons suffer recession in the early 1990s, result in plummeting stock prices and big losses drove Sharp sold almost all the ownership. These reflect that Four Seasons weak finances, poor cash flow and only dependent on luxury hotel revenue. Clear Identification of Core Competencies Four Seasons has a superior innovation, famous reputation and unparalleled service of core capabilities. These core potencies can provide a particular benefit to customers. Core competencies cover an integration of skills, knowledge and technology. This combination can then leads to Four Seasons possess competitive advantage. 1b) Identification Of Generic Competitive Strategy Based On CCs Four Seasons sustain to pursuing differentiation strategy and increasing the value of a service offering in the eyes of customers. Four Seasons clearly differentiated by its core capabilities to charge a premium price. Four Seasons provides its guests with a wealth of amenities in prime downtown locations, richly designed rooms, elegant restaurants, room service and unparalleled service. Its guests pay a premium for this clearly differentiated product. Also, Four Seasons possess unique capabilities to expand international market and owned a very famous brand. These unique capabilities were superior to that available from most competitors. Four Seasons current marketing strategy is to target the luxury traveler and to target the growing affluent people in the markets and provide them of luxury travel and accommodation. Four Seasons initiating the transformation of the traditional hotel into a sort of dream home for guests. Although Four Seasons were possess core capabilities to charge a premium price. However, no competitive advantage is sustainable; everything can be duplicated, so Four Seasons pursuing differentiation persistently. A differentiation strategy will give the Four Seasons a competitive advantage so it can capture more consumer demand. 2 a) The challenges of entering French market The global marketplace provides many opportunities for a company to increase their profitability. However not all countries are attractive equally. In addition, one of the major concerns of companies competing in foreign markets is whether to customize their offerings in each different country market to match the tastes and preferences of local buyers. Pankaj Ghemawat introduces a CAGE framework which help the company to find out the issue of different dimensions of distance. Mason A. Carpenter (2009) states that Any international expansion strategy would still need to be backed up by the specific capabilities possessed by the Four Seasons hotel, regardless of how rosy the CAGE analysis paints the picture. Culture Distance Different countries have different local cultures and customs. Frenchs vogue taste sensitivity different culture from North American domestic market. For instance French expect world-class restaurant with floral arrangement, but North American Four Seasons restaurant normally understated and providing delicious food. In addition, Different languages also affect management communication problems. Gregory G. Dess (2007) states that different languages may have the same roots but different meanings or connotations.  [1]  These differences may influence the success of a strategic initiative. Administrative Distance Four Seasons against administrative distance of incompatible. i.e. Four Seasons lay down 800 rules, but some of the rules are incompatible in France, such as waiters leave the coffee pot so that they can refill their cups, this approach viewed as poor service. Besides, French laws are more demanding: more taxes, more protection for the employees and more legal constraints1. The provision of Four Seasons must retain former employees unless they wanted to leave in France, owing to the some former employees do not reach the Four Seasons hiring standard required that might impede the competitive position of Four Seasons. Besides, the French government is constantly making changes in polices affecting your business.  [2]   Four Seasons need hiring policies and service performance standards homogeneously between French and North American domestic market. Also, Four Seasons specialize in medium-sized hotels with French. Geographic Distance The challenges face to Four Seasons differs from Frenchs geographic distance. It includes the size of country, differences in climates, information networks, nature of transportation and time differences. Economic Distance Four Seasons need to face differs France economic conditions which affect luxury hotel significantly. France provides expand opportunities obviously, due to bulk demand luxury hotels, but enter into France market also need to aware of the stability of a country i.e. currency risks. Currency fluctuations can pose substantial risks. Four Seasons must constantly monitor the exchange rate between own and French currency, even a small change in the exchange rate can result in a significant different in the cost of hotel operation or net profit. Moreover, France economic condition also affect luxury hotel significantly. Fast-growth economies obviously provide opportunities, but also was aware of the stability of a country 2b) The culture gap of French and North American was totally different i.e. French against luxury restaurant taste. French expect that world-class restaurant should provide elegance amenities with floral arrangement, but North American Four Seasons restaurant normally understated and only providing delicious food. Also, French leave the coffee pot on the table for guests, so that they can refill their cups themselves, but this approach was viewed as poor service in France. As a result of different culture context, therefore Four Seasons must go to meet them in order to provide exceptional quality to reduce the cultural differences. Four Seasons also had to upgrade some of the more tangible amenities to meet the French standards of luxury. Understanding the basis of some culture differences may help people not to react personally to behavior they dont understand. This is shown that Four Seasons persistently pursuing exceptional quality of luxury hotel. It enabled Four Seasons still able t o keep its competitive advantages in French market. In addition, Different languages distance also affect management communication and service quality management. Four Seasons should adopt common language to avoid unnecessary mistake. Owing to Four Seasons expand to France where should adopt French language, it can avoid unnecessary wrong in language aspect. Also, the frontline staff must spoke fluency local language, it enable the guest feeling a tenderness service. Four Seasons should adapt the above of distance when it entered into the French market enable Four Seasons keep the competitive advantage of exceptional of service. Four Seasons against administrative distance of incompatible in France. A lot of law and regulation were protecting local. Besides, the French government is constantly making changes in polices affecting your business.  [3]  Also, France government provision protect its local employee, thus Four Seasons must retain of George former employees. However some foreign employers find French employees difficult to deal with and lacking in initiative. They tend not to relate well to others: the French are too individualistic. They dont always identify strongly with the company. One Austrian executive said, On occasion the French can be brutal and rude.  [4]  Result in Four Seasons need recruit mass employees provide train simultaneously to keep exceptional service and reputation. The challenges face to Four Seasons differs from Frenchs geographic distance, the Frances competition environment, market and the labor force problems, Four Seasons must clear understand 2c) Four Seasons was pursuing a multidomestic strategy. However, Finance and North American culture not the same, therefore culture differences may also require Four Seasons to adapt its local culture when it expands internationally such as service performance standard.. In North American, the guest valued time particularly and productivity. Thus phone calls will be answered before the fourth ring and no guest will wait longer than 60 seconds at the reception desk. Whereas French pursuing living standard such as required staff spent more time take care them. So Four Seasons need customize its services to meet the specific needs and preferences of local customers. Also, Four Seasons so as to meet local adapt French guest needs to enlarge rooms, from origin 300 to 245 rooms. It was able to detect potential opportunities for attractive niches in a given market, enhancing revenue. France governments regulated that required Four Seasons retaining a large number of former employees for new recruiting unless they wanted to leave result in Four Seasons need screen more than 10,000 applicants to recruit 400 position. Thus Four Seasons must localization to meet local specific needs. In order to make Four Seasons more localization, Four Seasons choose Didier Le Calvez as a Frances general manager. In doing so Four Seasons can decentralized strategic business units in France with considerable strategic autonomy and focuses on the specific competitive forces with France.

Personal Narrative About Me :: Autobiography Essay, Personal Narrative

Me I am sentimental, out-going, indecisive, understanding, curious, naive, lazy, and young. I want to be ... , well a lot of things, and growing is discovering what they are. I feel people cannot see the potential within, although there is no one to blame but myself. I look to others for approval instead of to myself. I aim to please; it leads to approval. I don’t like to discuss my faults; I pity myself. I am weak in some respects, but in others I am strong. My life is a balance of ups and downs. With my extremes however, my scales never fulfill the word "balance." The ups and downs equal a median on which I travel daily. I love those who understand me, who chose to come close to the fire, who stay long enough to love its warmth, and who know how to avoid being burned. I don’t trust people easily. I don’t throw around my heart. I’ve lost love from my lack of giving. I regret this. I grab hold of things, always seeking support, a rock on which to lean. I have tried God, boyfriends, and small successes in school and sports, feeling the title FAILURE rise upon my forehead when I slipped. Afterwards I tried even harder to bring myself back up, my recovery taken on the quickest, most unstable route. This explains how I fell so easily. The self-esteem I had needed to be constantly replenished and refilled. My source was not myself, but others, whose opinions mattered more than my own. I am passionate and at times fearless. I am everything, and I am nothing. I am ever-changing and unpredictable. I crave security but cry for independence. I am black or white, never gray. My actions may not reflect my feelings and vice-versa. I play the submissive female one minute and the aggressive female the next. Every year I learn more about myself. The person inside no longer takes peeks at the world outside, but screams "Look at me, see what I’ve become, watch because I am coming!" I’ve been through difficult times, but the odds are starting to lean my way; I feel ready for any challenge that may arise.

Economics of Education Essay

This project, critically reviews the sources of revenue at Kinondoni Municipal along with the budgetary allocation to secondary educational sector. It provides the major sources of revenue which include Central Government revenue, Basket fund (Donors) and Local government revenue which constitute revenue from city service levy, property tax, advertising and bill boarding fees, compensation revenue, and cost sharing. It identifies that education is the priorities to which the council does consider much in allocating their funds. The project reveals the background on the system of financing education as an essential and critical kind of investment in developing countries particularly Tanzania. It has shown its significances with respect to running the system (government) in general. The significances give the stand to which the Government should take into consideration on allocating funds in secondary educational department. More over the project has identified the objectives for analyzing the sources of revenue and educational budgetary allocation. These objectives have been stated in such a way that, it shows the directory as guidelines for reaching targeted goal(s) for sustainable development. Nevertheless, case study method and documentary review as well as interview techniques were employed. The data have been analyzed using tables and figures. 1.0. Introduction and Background. Kinondoni Municipal is located in Dar es Salaam City in Tanzania. It is bordered by Indian Ocean to North East, Ilala Municipal to the South, Bagamoyo District to the North, Kibaha District to the West and Kisarawe District to the South West. The Municipal has number of matters and services to be done/ provided to the community. Among others being education, health services, road construction and maintenances, water services, urban agriculture, power and energy supply and others of alike. All these services need money to run in effective way so that, the community members could appreciate the concern of the government for their well-being. The Municipal has vision and Mission which the study was interested with, to check out whether are just worded or are real in practical terms. The study eyed particularly to its Mission statement â€Å"Provision of quality services to the community through effective and efficient use of resources, capacity building, good governance and rule of law hence improve the living standard of people†. The project (study) was done at this Municipal to identify the sources of revenue for the Municipal to curter and serve the community effectively and efficiently. Another purpose was to check out, how the Municipal allocate its funds (Revenue) to secondary educational sector. A source of revenue is a critical problem in running several activities to an individual, family, community and national level respectively. Moreover, despite the scarcity of fund (resources) in servicing the community, there is a problem on proper plans and allocating the present resources in optimal manner. Thus, the wise decisions on how to use the present resources in its scarcity is very important particularly for developing countries like Tanzania. Another aspect towards this study (project) was to determine the way the sources of revenue are collected. On this activity, it is the point at which monitoring of revenue collection should be taken into consideration for effective performance. Furthermore, this exercise needs humanitarian aspiration than personal essence so that, the fruits will be for the community as large. There are two significances of doing this project. First was to determine the sources of revenue to the Municipal in order to understand the position of Municipal and the Government in general in its strengths and weaknesses so as to address recommendations to be taken for better performance in future. Second was to assess the allocation of the funds in secondary educational sector. From this, allocation of fund will realize the choices for most of the councils in Tanzania and the way investment aspects are taken into account especially educational investment, hence improvements to be made in a long run. The objectives of this project were as follows i) To determine the sources of revenue for Kinondoni Municipal. ii) To assess the budget allocation to Secondary educational sector in Kinondoni Municipal. The project presents various literature reviews in respective to the study (project). The literature review is mostly on sources of revenue, financing systems, administration, roles of the state and recommended suggestions. Galabawa (1985, p. 1) claimed that, â€Å"Tanzania’s plan for extending educational opportunities and improving the quality of education are often hampered by the limited resources to educational industry†. This realizes that, the problem resources in provision of education in Tanzania is a problem that exists and needs a solution on how to go about in order to reduce the burden from the government to ensure more educational opportunities and improve the quality of education. More emphasis on quality of education has been described by Michaelowa. The author tried to identify the areas which need to be checked to ensure that are taken into considerations for the consequences in anyhow. The author argued that, â€Å"The number of days teachers are absent from school (ABSENCE), and teachers’ self reported job satisfaction (MOTIVATION) have significant coefficients of the expected negative and positive sign respectively† (Michaelowa, 2001, p. 1707). If the education industry is running short of resources to improve access and quality of education, and if the responsible persons needs to be motivated for effective teaching, means this industry need to be financed. The financing can be determined by number of factors as quoted from the article that, â€Å"The policies of financing education in any country reflect the country’s ideology. Although Tanzania’s education policies emphasized quality of opportunity and access, they also vary from environment prevailing at specific time† (Galabawa, 1994, p. 37) This literature review has contributed much on this project since objectives stated can be revealed particularly on sources of revenue. According to Galabawa (2007, p. 3), There are various sources of education revenue. These sources can be divided into four broad categories: Fiscal sources; ser charges including various forms of cost recovery and cost sharing; student loan when constituted as a revolving fund which generates income out of which loans are offered to students and various forms of community contributions. The fiscal sources include general taxes; earmarked taxes; taxes on With regards to education as an investment, and sources of educational revenue, the government has to play its role for sustainable development Galabawa (2007, p. 2) portrayed that, â€Å"The price of education can, therefore be influenced by the government decision which impinge on issues of supply of education services; the allocation and distribution of resources between different levels or different courses; the choice between different methods of financing education and student support or even between different methods of schooling†. Therefore, this clarifies the position of the Government in provision of education in the country to assure access and proper allocation of funds in different sectors. Property; salaries and sales; and different types of levies. For all matters being discussed concerning sources of revenue, educational revenue, budgetary allocation and the role of the government on educational investments and other sector, to have sustainable implementation of plans and to build capacity on fund management, accountability, effective audit and formula funding to generate consistent and reliable disbursements† should be taken into consideration for sustainable development. Besides literature review, case study was employed during the project. The study was done in Kinondoni Municipal. Therefore purposeful sampling technique was used. The project had two variables namely, dependent variable which is budget allocation, and independent variable which is source of revenue. With these variables the hypotheses of this project were as follows; (i) There is a significant relationship between sources of revenue and budget allocation in secondary educational sector (Alternative hypothesis). (ii) There are no basic criteria guiding for sources of revenue and budget allocation in secondary educational sector (Null hypothesis). Field visit, discussion and interview. The list of tools used to collect information and guide the field interview and discussion were documentary review and Interview. The targeted personnel were Municipal economist and district secondary educational officer; these were obtained using purposeful sampling in order to get correct information. The documentary review involved reviewing various documents concerning sources of revenue and general allocation (budget) of the fund to secondary educational sector. Also an interview was conducted in brief way with the Municipal economist and district secondary educational officer. The interview was basically on the way they get fund for running the Municipal to curter and serve the community. Moreover, the questions on what are the major criteria for allocating the fund and challenges they face on all matters concerning sources of revenue and allocation of fund in general were asked.

An Emphatic Essay About Appositive Epithets

An Emphatic Essay About Appositive Epithets An Emphatic Essay About Appositive Epithets An Emphatic Essay About Appositive Epithets By Mark Nichol An interesting problem often presents itself when one employs an anarthrous nominal premodifier. A what who which? â€Å"Anarthrous nominal premodifier† is usage-ese for â€Å"false title,† one of a handful of other more user-friendly ways to describe a job title that is not a job title. A description of this concept that is, I think, better still is epithet (a versatile word meaning, in this case, â€Å"characterization†), and that’s the one I use here and elsewhere on this site. An epithet in which, for purposes of clarification or edification, a person’s name is preceded by a concise description of that person is often derided as a coarse conceit of journalistic writing, but it appears quite often in books and other forms of publication as well, and it serves a useful purpose, eliminating the need to follow a person’s name with a more distracting (and often more extensive) parenthetical description. Unfortunately, too many people form the epithet-name construction incorrectly, as in this sentence: â€Å"The essay was written by humanities professor, Paul A. Robinson.† This is one of the most egregious mechanical errors a writer can make; few other such infelicities distinguish the amateur from the professional, and it is one of life’s mysteries how such an obvious error has come to be so persistent as well as pervasive. (The correct form, of course, is â€Å"The essay was written by humanities professor Paul A. Robinson.†) The mistake probably stems from confusion with the nearly identical form in the more traditional sentences â€Å"The essay was written by a humanities professor, Paul A. Robinson† and â€Å"The essay was written by Paul A. Robinson, a humanities professor.† (These forms are preferable to those who find epithets antithetical to good writing.) The distinction here is that in the corrected sentence, the phrase â€Å"humanities professor† is a restrictive appositive. (An appositive is a noun phrase that defines or modifies another noun phrase, and a restrictive appositive is one that applies to only one other noun phrase.) In this sentence, the only humanities professor the phrase can refer to is Paul A. Robinson. The presence of the indefinite article in the other variations is the crucial indicator that they each include a nonrestrictive appositive, one that refers to any example of the appositive’s description; Paul A. Robinson is just one member of the class â€Å"humanities professor,† and the punctuation signals that fact. The restrictive/nonrestrictive distinction in appositives should be observed when referring to inanimate objects as well. A common error is to insert punctuation between the appositives in â€Å"Have you read the book, The Bestseller?† If a generic reference to the book has already been made, this sentence is correct; the title is an elaboration. However, when used on first reference, this construction presumes that the sole example of the concept â€Å"book† is The Bestseller. Because The Bestseller is, in fact, only one example among countless others, the comma is omitted to indicate that â€Å"the book† and â€Å"The Bestseller† are identical. The same principle applies to any form of composition (film, television program, and so on) or any other thing: â€Å"I went to the amusement park Funland.† (â€Å"I went to the amusement park, Funland,† in the absence of a previous reference, implies that only one amusement park exists. â€Å"I went to the world’s largest amusement park, Funland,† by contrast, is correct, because only one amusement park can be the world’s largest one.) If you oppose appositive epithets, this post isn’t for you. But for the many writers who accept the construction as proper usage, I recommend that you use the proper usage properly. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:20 Great Similes from Literature to Inspire YouOne Sheep, Two Sheep, One Fish, Two Fish . . .Quiet or Quite?