Apparel Industry Essays - American Brands, Sears Holdings, Retailing

Apparel Industry INDUSTRY: APPAREL RETAILERS INTRODUCTION Retailers in the apparel industry are primarily engaged in the distribution, merchandising, and sale of men's, women's, and/or children's clothing to consumers. Apparel retailers include department stores, mass merchandisers, specialty stores, national chains, discount and off-price stores, outlets, and mail-order companies. A relatively new development is the rise of electronic forms of retailing such as interactive TV and on-line shopping services. Some retailers who sell their own private labels go beyond their traditional role as distributors and become directly involved in the design and production of garments from manufacturers and contractors. SIC CODES RELATED TO THIS INDUSTRY SIC Code Industry Name 5136 Men's and boys' clothing 5137 Women's and children's clothing 5611 Men's & boys' clothing stores 5621 Women's clothing stores 5632 Women's accessory & specialty stores 5641 Children's and infants' wear stores 5651 Family clothing stores 5699 Misc. apparel & accessory stores INDUSTRY CHARACTERISTICS Apparel sales have shown positive gains over the years which reflect a vibrant U.S. economy and increasing incomes. All apparel retailing industry sectors are heavily dependent on consumer spending. Since, consumer spending represents two-thirds of the U.S. economy these retailers become extremely vulnerable to wide economic swings. These retailers must do a good job of managing their inventory levels, personnel needs, and style/fashion trends to ensure they will not lose their consumers business during up and down periods. That is why many major apparel retailers such as The Gap, and Wal-Mart can have 20 percent growth over 20-some years. They stay focused on their businesses and are always trying to do better. They constantly question everything, though even the best companies make merchandising mistakes. But the leaders in this industry know how to rectify their mistakes. Recently, the apparel industry hasn't been doing all that well. During the 2nd Quarter of 2000, apparel sales have tapered off for several reasons. Increasing interest rates have slowed the U.S. economy, consumers have built up their stock of most clothing items, and there has been a lack of exciting new fashions on the market INDUSTRY ENVIRONMENT Distribution Channels As discussed earlier, apparel retailers include department stores, mass merchandisers, specialty stores, national chains, discount and off-price stores, outlets, mail-order companies, and online sales. Department stores were once-and some still are- perceived as the apparel leaders, but these stores in reality only sell about nine percent of the garments consumers buy annually. Meanwhile specialty stores like Old Navy, The Gap, and Abercrombie & Fitch have about a 13 percent apparel unit share. Mid-tier retailers like Sears, JCPenny and Kohl's have a 14 percent unit share. According to NPD, a market research company, catalog companies represent almost 10% of apparel retail sales through direct mail. Consumers have less time to shop and thus, catalog purchasing offers a time-saving convenience for straight re-buy purchases. The internet represents approximately $6.5 million of e-commerce purchases, but only represents 0.6% of total apparel on-line sales. This segment is lower because of concerns regarding speed, ease-of-use, and security problems. When these problems are solved, this sector is likely to mirror the catalog sales channel and may substitute for catalog sales. Lastly, discount stores, such as Wal-Mart and Kmart have 45% of the apparel market. These statistics are shown in the pie chart below: CONSUMERS As shown in the chart above, the women's consumer segment dominated the U.S. apparel sales market in 1999. Throughout the years, women have been constant and dominant consumers in this industry. Womens apparel sales growth was 3.7% and men's apparel growth was 4.1%. Women buy at a constant rate, whereas men's apparel sales have been growing. Men have outpaced total market growth for the second year in a row. Girl's and boy's apparel rose 0.5% and 3.8%. Women's apparel accounted for 52% of all apparel sales. The men's segment accounted for 31% of total apparel sales. COMPETING AND COMPLIMENTARY PRODUCTS In a broad view, the retail apparel industry competes with all the other sectors in the retail industry. These different sectors include electronic retailers, wholesales, other discount stores, shoe stores, convenience stores, and so on. Many of these different sectors also have combined together. In this industry, a company often operates in various divisions because it is more profitable that way. The charts below show the state of

The eNotes Blog 6 Budget-Friendly Ideas to Keep Your Students Engaged thisYear

6 Budget-Friendly Ideas to Keep Your Students Engaged thisYear As a teacher, you know firsthand that students often respond to experiential and interactive learning methods, not to mention they often remember these lessons more vividly. Regurgitating information from a textbook might be today’s prevailing academic model, but you understand that students are more likely to absorb this information when they recognize the real-world applications. So, the question becomes: how can you supplement their core curriculum with age-appropriate and cost-effective activities that engage? The obvious answer is through technology, but this medium- despite its visual and hands-on appeal- can be expensive. Fortunately, there are other tools at your disposal to engage students’ attention and arouse their excitement. These budget-friendly ideas, for both inside the classroom and out, will help make each lesson memorable and, therefore, more effective. Make the following â€Å"6 Rules of Engagement† your educational compass this year. Bonus: they all begin with â€Å"E† to promote rapid recall- because teachers already have enough to remember! Encourage Them to Get Moving Physical movement sparks mental focus, so designate classroom time for students to leave their desks and experience a more kinesthetic learning approach. Combine specific actions with academic stimuli through games that correspond with the concept you’re teaching. For instance, to make arithmetic more interesting, supervise a â€Å"chalkboard relay† competition, where students take turns standing at the chalkboard, writing a math equation, then racing against their classmates to see who can get the correct answer the fastest. Emphasize the Value of Teamwork Although the term â€Å"group project† often evokes a negative connotation among both teachers and students, participating in collaborative efforts is a necessary life skill. Intersperse your lectures with project-based learning activities, that bring lessons into the real world and engage students outside of the traditional lecture, read and show-what-you-know style. Give some of these PBL ideas a try. Exit the Classroom Watching a textbook image materialize up close and personal captivates your students and provides the ideal teaching backdrop for you. Unfortunately, field trip funds seem to run lower and lower each year, making it more challenging to get out of the classroom without spending your own money. Luckily, many museums, aquariums and zoos offer free or discounted admission for teachers and students, making the financial burden a little easier. And don’t rule any opportunities out ­- even well-known places like the Philadelphia Zoo and SeaWorld offer these discounts. Check out this list of free and discounted opportunities for teachers from USA Test Prep and then plan a few engaging field trips for your curious students. Experiment with Teaching Styles There are three basic learning modalities- visual, auditory and tactile- but do you use all of them to reach students in the classroom? If not, consider periodically changing your classroom manner to accommodate all three approaches and connect with each type of student. For example, create a visual presentation with eye-catching PowerPoint slides and colorful imagery to inspire the visual learners. Then, assign everyone a different passage from their textbook to read aloud, stimulating the auditory learners. Finally, organize a group activity that incorporates simple choreographed movements, patterns or rhythms to energize the tactile learners. Exchange Post-Lecture Dialogue Lectures quickly become tedious and redundant for the youthful, hyperactive minds staring back at you, so counteract the typical â€Å"zoning out† behavior by reinforcing student participation instead. Prior to a lecture, communicate the topic using just one key phrase, for instance, The Civil War, and then instruct students to write five predictions about what you’ll cover based on their previous knowledge or assumptions. Suggest that they listen carefully to the lecture to see if any of their predictions were accurate. Afterward, have a discussion on how their preconceptions fared against the historical facts. Engineer Role Playing Activities Since test preparation is intimidating for most students, give them a chance to experience a review session from your perspective- by teaching the material they are reviewing. Allow students to rotate back and forth in five-minute intervals so that everyone receives an opportunity to teach the material that will appear on their upcoming test. Encourage a creative delivery of the content, making it digestible for their fellow students. For example, they could pass around fill-in-the-blank study guides and practice quizzes, coordinate an interactive review game or choose volunteers to dramatize a concept. This is a guest post from contributing writer, Jessica Thiefels.  Jessica Thiefels is the editor of  Whooo’s Reading and an education blogger who’s been featured in publications such as EdTech Digest and Daily Genius. Her favorite books growing up were My Side of the Mountain and The Giver, and she hopes to inspire a similar love of reading in students and educators.

Primary Hypertension Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Primary Hypertension - Research Paper Example er is an insight into the risk factors that could result in essential hypertension as well as an elaborate description of how interdisciplinary collaboration can reverse these modifiable risk factors thereby enhancing healthcare of patients. The paper also summarizes an education plan that can help patients reverse these modifiable essential hypertension risk factors. Several risk factors associated with hypertension exist. Do et. al. (2014) while basing their study on a sampled Vietnamese population espouse that the most prevalent risk factors to hypertension include overweight and obesity, lack of physical activity and increased consumption of alcoholic beverages. Similar findings have also been established by the American Heart Association (2015) with the above statistics also reflective of the American population risks of hypertension. An individual whose body mass index lies between 25 and 30 is considered overweight and one with a BMI above 30 is obese. Having excess weight imposes more strain on the heart, raises blood cholesterol and exposing one to increased blood pressure. Regular and excess consumption of alcohol can lead to a drastic increase in blood pressure beyond the normal levels, and can lead to heart failure, stroke or irregular heartbeats. An individual should therefore avoid alcohol completely or in the even that that is impossible, then such an individual should take small and regulated amounts of alcohol for healthy living. Do et. al. also established that chances of hypertension cases in adults are elevated by lack of physical activity. Living a sedentary life with no exercise whatsoever increases the chances of an individual becoming a victim of high blood pressure, heart and blood vessel diseases. Interdisciplinary collaboration in tackling hypertension risk factors is central to effective patient care. Wakabayashi and Groschner (2013) espouse that for better efficacy in utilizing this approach, it should entail collaborative efforts

International finance management Research Paper

International finance management - Research Paper Example The issuers of the obligations/securities might include companies, various special purpose related entities, local governments, states, nonprofit seeking organizations and/or sovereign nations. There are various credit rating agencies which provide credit ratings. The agency or company which has been selected in this project is Moody’s Investors Service. Moody’s Investor Services Moody’s Investors Services, also referred as Moody’s, is a bond credit rating business under the Moody’s Corporation (Moody’s Corporation, 2011; Bloomberg Businessweek, 2013). It provides financial research on the bonds which are issued by the government and commercial entities along with Fitch Group and Standard & Poor’s. It is considered as one among the Three Big Credit Rating Agencies. ... It produces research for the government entities, corporations, and finance securities. The main objective of the business is helping the investors in assessing the credit risk. Moody’s Investors Service has set a goal of offering the best sought-after ‘credit’ opinions to all the sectors involved in the fixed income market. Moody’s Investors Services is one of the leading providers of the credit ratings and research & risk analysis. The expertise and commitment of the business contributes towards transparency and formation of integrated financial markets by means of protection of the integrity of credit. The ratings and analysis department of this business tracks debt of more than 115 different countries 10000 corporate issuers. 82000 finance obligations (structured). 22000 public finance issuance companies. These credit rating services provided by the business helps the investors in analyzing the credit risks related to the fixed income securities. The in dependent and accurate credit ratings as well as risk analysis contributes in the increase of efficiency in the fixed income markets and other related obligations like the insurance policies, derivative transactions etc, by means of offering independent and credible credit risk assessment guiding the investors (Moody’s Corporation, 2013b). ‘Moody’s default studies’ helps in validating the predictive ratings. The published research and investors briefings help in bringing in thousands or even more attendees every year and keeps the investors up to date with the rationale underlying the credit opinions. Functions in capital markets Closest competitors of Moody’s Investors Service are Fitch Group and Standard & Poor. These three

What Is Your Field of Interest Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

What Is Your Field of Interest - Research Paper Example Being with students and communicating with them will help me understand the diverse opinions of students and even develop my level of knowledge (Mlynarczyk & Babbitt, 2002). The ability to deal with each student separately has correspondingly enhanced my credibility to meet with the individual needs of the student and develop my ability to impart knowledge in a better way to the students (Mullamaa, 2010). Dealing with adult students needs to be handled in an effective manner. Adult minds are quite complex and has a huge amount of diligence. The effective communication skills and my interest towards developing the linguistic abilities among masses are going to act as an added advantage for the development of individual skills of the students (Mullamaa, 2010). Furthermore, I have always been interested to develop my individual interest to meet with the diverse challenges of handling individual students. This credibility has further enhanced my abilities to handle diverse situations and manage the individual needs of the adult students. Although imparting linguistic knowledge has always been a tough job, it has provided with an effective method to communicate with the greater and diversified section of the society. Moreover, as imparting linguistic knowledge has been a credible source to identify needs of students, it has even acted as an area of interest for me to communicate with larg er community (Richards 2011; Byram, Gribkova, & Starkey, 2002). Motteram, G. (2013). Innovations in learning technologies for English language teaching. Retrieved from

Measuring The Impact Of Given Hrm Strategy Commerce Essay

Measuring The Impact Of Given Hrm Strategy Commerce Essay Human resource is seen as one of the most critical differentiators contributes to the organizations competitive advantages. All the other assets, such as products, markets, cash, buildings and equipment are passive require human application to generate value (Caliskan, 2010). It is the manpower that plays the key factor to sustaining the productivity for the organizations. How people being managed effectively and the behaviours of theirs can tell an organizations performance. In other words, the organizational performance can be explained by productivity, efficiency, effectiveness and competitiveness made by the employees. INTRODUCTION This essay will discuss why work ethic principles and values are part of the human resources strategy, how training and further education can enhance employees behaviours therefore to offer more to the organizations performance, and how human resources impacts on corporate performance. THE FACTORS INVOLVED IN MEASURING THE IMPACT OF GIVEN HRM STRATEGY Every organization is powered by its people. And the organizational effectiveness is viewed by the quality of services deliver to their customers who develop the organizations reputation. HR strategies play to role to help to organizations to delivery excellent services. Successful organizations see HR strategy formulation and execution as a continuous and dynamic process. In fact, effective HR strategies are essential to ensure productivity and maximum success for organizations. Effectiveness is one way of measuring the impact of HRM strategy implantation. The true success of the human resources management could not be just measured by the organizations financial targets. We should not treat strategies isolated, they need to be bundled. Therefore, to measure the effectiveness of strategic contribution of human resource management should focus on the overall contribution to the success of the organization, in terms of added value, competitive advantage and the impact on business performance (The Association of Business Executives , 2008). And typically, ways in which this contribution has been made will include: Develop a positive and healthy working environment Enhance positive motivations and commitment Increase employee skills and extended the skills base Provide employees with extended responsibilities so they can make full use of their skills and abilities Provide career opportunities and define competence requirements Provide career development and job security to employees Instituting processes of performance management and continuous development Use reward management system to convey messages about what the organization believes to be important. Share information and management transparent. Provide employees with invoice. Treat employees as partners instead of team players. (The Association of Business Executives , 2008) THE AVAILABLE TOOLS USED FOR MEASURING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF HRM STRATEGY Organizations need to have a complete system for the followings: Identify what process should achieve (i.e. its objectives), then measure what is actually being achieved, compare what is actually being achieved against what should have been achieved, then provide required corrective actions if necessary, last implement new actions. By doing all these can measure weather the HRM strategy being effective or not. The popular concept for measuring the effectiveness of human resources strategy these days are: Balance scorecard and Benchmarking. Balance scorecard is comprehensive management tools to measure and share the organizations progress towards its achievement of the strategic goals. More specifically, the balance scorecard is a strategic planning management system that consists of people, strategy, process and technology to align the organization to share a version of achieving its success and getting the people working on the right tracks. Added value, it is people who develop visions, define and set goals, develop strategic plans and implement them (The Association of Business Executives , 2008).This right organization structure is to develop employees being motivate and managed effectively, gain their commitment therefore to deploy them effectively, productively. For example, traditional measures of performance such as value of sales per salesperson, With this strategic management scorecard system, the organizations operational performance such as financial status, customer results, operational efficiency and capacity building can be measured and valued. The balance scorecard is also a communication system through the whole organization to provide better aligning strategic objectives with resources. It sets goals and drives all the employees to adopt and adjust their attitudes and behaviours/actions to achieve them. The balance scorecard helps people within the organization to come to a better understanding regards the interrelationships between different organizational functions. Therefore the top management can avoid the functional barriers and improve decision-making and problem solving. Ultimately enhance the organizations performance. Last but not least, the balanced scorecard helps the organization focus on the future not simply the past or present. Another popular tool of measuring organizations performance is Benchmarking. In fact benchmarking has long been recognized in industry as an effective means of improving business performance. Benchmarking is frequently cited as the second most popular global technique (after business planning) for performance improvement (Bencharmarking, 2006). The shortest definitions of benchmarking is Finding and implanting best practice (Camp, 1995). It means searching for industry best practice that lead to superior performance. Benchmarking is the process of comparing ones business process and/or best practices from other industries. Organizations benchmark themselves in quality, time and cost etc. against their real peers therefore to improve their performance. Benchmarking process diagram (Bencharmarking, 2006) There are two types of benchmarking: Informal and Formal benchmarking. Here I would only talk about formal benchmarking, which consists: Performance and best practice benchmarking. Performance benchmarking involves comparison of the organizations financial status (such as expenditure, cost of labour, adherence to budget, cash flow, revenue collected etc.) and non-financial measures (such as staff turnover, budget processing time, complaints etc.). Through benchmarking, the organization can recognize whether is being a leader or it is far behind in the market. For example, by comparing the income with the organization itself to the industry, the organization can know whether it is making too small profits or there is still more rooms to grab more profits. These processes involve identifying, capturing, analysing and comparing, the organization gains knowledge to know its status well enough which leads to better business strategies and responding human resources practices. The CONNECTION BETWEEN HRM STRATEGY AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE Human resource is considered the most important factors to gain and sustain competitive advantages for organizations. In order to achieve this, the human resource management practices need to be aligned within themselves (internal fit). The human resource management also need to be aligned with the organizations strategy (strategic fit) (Lamboij, Sanders, Koster and Zwiers, 2006). Human resources strategy should always match the business strategy. It should be flexible, compatible, adoptive, integrated, and effective to the organizational changes. The goals of HR strategy process are strictly concerned with the managing people effectively which can assist in the achievement of organizational objectives. The best fit human resource strategies that help the organizations to gain and sustain competitive advantages should be: Invest in people to increase capability and align skills to the organizational needs through on-the job and off-the job training and further educations. Providing training and development, job security and satisfaction are key human resource techniques essential for high performance. Acknowledge the organizations identifies and the knowledge/attitudes that require to meet the organizational goals and satisfy the customers. Define and promote the behaviours and positive attitudes required for organizational success and encouraged, valued and rewarded them. The better employees know what to expect from them, the more they behave cooperatively towards their co-workers and their supervisors. HRM provides professional conduct guides that apply to from hourly employees up to top management to determine business related acts or behaviours are right or wrong. Appoint right employees with the right skills/abilities to do the right jobs to let them feel fulfilled and challenged. Gain employees commitment and loyalty to the achieve organizations missions and goals. ETHICAL CODES OF CONDUCT/BEHAVIOUR IN HRM STRATEGY There are a number of reasons why developing a workplace code of ethics is crucial. Workplace ethics is the moral conducts of behaviours developed by a place of business to determine what is expected of employees in a particular settings. Managers play the key role to take responsibility for determining and enforcing the acceptable and expected standards within their organizations. Workplace ethics set the rules of conduct for everyone at a particular business environment. It helps everyone to know what is encouraged/expected or inappropriate at work. If everyone is clear on what kind of behaviours are expected and what is unacceptable, employees are able to be point out when there are some actions are out of the lines. Workplace ethics also ensures that employees are treated equally and they always have rights to speak for themselves. Workplace ethics helps to enhance reputation by gaining consumers to think that the organizations are somehow better than their competitors. More impo rtantly, the ethical standards/values are shared and known within the organizations by the entire staff, the environment will be conductive to values-driven behaviours, such as values that can guide decision making and discussion and information sharing; values can help to enhance a sense of commitment to the organizations and therefore, are an important part of high commitment management. Values can improve the all the relationships within and outside the organizations. For example, within the organization, between the organization and its workforce, values and ethics codes identify the attitudes towards equal opportunities and diversity; Between management and employees, value and code ethics guide the managers to maintain a professional relationships with employees, and to identify the importance of trust, respect and equality; Between employees, values and ethics codes identify what sort of behaviours are expected among employees. Outside the organization, values and ethics and make an organization stand out among other competitors to its customers and consumers (The Association of Business Executives , 2008). Indeed an organization that has good value and ethics code can impress its customers with their attitudes, the responsibilities they have towards the social responsibility and the views of the environment, etc. THE ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS OF STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Human resource managers are in a key position to ensure that ethics codes management is applied through the whole organization. Communications and training programmes are essential. And managers need to make decisions ethically to determine business-related acts or behaviours are right or wrong. Business ethics can provide businesses with moral guidelines in conducting their affairs. Managers often face ethical dilemmas in the workplace but they may not aware of it. On reason is the manager is not trained in ethics so it is difficult to know when an ethical issue exists (Mintz, 2011). The first step in making ethical decisions is to be sensitive to identify the unethical signposts in question. Determine whether your decision harms one or more parties while benefiting others. Managers need to be aware that ethical decision making causes the consequences of the actions on others the stakeholders in the specific situation. The next step is to identify alternative choices and actions to evaluate them in the ethical way. Be sure to follow the laws, regulations, practices and company policy including the code of conducts. From an ethical perspective certain guidelines apply such as dont violate anyones rights; be fair-mined in deciding how best to resolve the dilemma, always follow basic virtues including honesty, integrity, reliability and being responsible and accountable for ones actions (Mintz, 2011). After evaluating the alternatives from the ethical perspective, managers need to know for certain how the potential decision might affect the stakeholders. It should create trusting or even legal problems/reputation damage among employees and top management. The last step in ethical decision-making is the most difficult one. It takes a lot to carry out an ethical decision with ethical action. It could be the case that the ethical decision and ethical action would actually do harm to the company reputatio n or other employees image among the organization. For example, if sales A found out that sales B, one of the top sales in the company, misleading customers a bit regarding the product (not a serious mistake) in order to get more sales. In this case, should sales A reports to the top management straight away or just pretend nothing happen? If reports to the top management, they may likely not do anything. Or they would think sales A is just getting jealous with sales B, which will lead them to think that sales A is not the type of guy that they want to keep for long term. Or the top management invest in the detail and find out the truth and they have to fire sales B, which the consequence will be the company lost a top sale and some big customers therefore it effects the organizations reputation and selling targets. One of the the rational way to deal with this unethical issue will be whistle-blowing. Sales A could make an anonymous complain or letter to report this unethical behavi our explain the behaviour or issue in detail as well as how the issue should be resolved. Nowadays organizations have employees from different culture background. One thing managers need to ensure that they do not discriminate unfairly in their decisions or actions towards employees, either before or during the employment. Organization should provide equal opportunities to everyone within the organization. Managing cultural diversity is never easy. Recognising the behaviours of discrimination is the first step towards establishing equal treatment working environment. All in all, the responsibilities of good managers in making ethical decisions are: Be sensitive with the ethical issues in working environment Be clear with the responding consequence followed by the ethical decisions/actions Identify company policy, code of ethics conducts and carry out the ethical actions TRAINING METHOD IN WORK PLACE Training in an organization can be divided to two broad types. They are on-the-job trainings and off-the job trainings. With on-the-job trainings, employees receive trainings while they are at work. In this way, employees are conducting and learning when they are working. On-the-job training gives employees motivation to start the job. Some reports indicate that people learn more efficiently if they learn hands on rather than just listening to the instructors. Example: New engineers could work with experienced engineers. They could ask questions about the machines and the tools they are operating on, the problems they may come across the usual solutions to them etc. Instructors need to make the plan for what should be taught, and how much time spend on it, and after the trainings employees will informed about their progress. The main methods of on-the-job/off-the-job training included: Demonstration / Instruction Showing on site to the trainers specifically how to get the job done. Coaching a more detailed and intensive method of training that involves a close working relationship between the experienced trainers and the trainees. Coaching gives trainees the chance to ask questions and receive honest answers. Lectures Lectures usually take place in a classroom-format. Giving lectures supply huge amount of information to a lot of people in a short amount of time. But lectures could get boring and trainees lose interest in it. Group discussion Group discussion is most likely to take place in a classroom where a group of people discuss issues. Group discussion can allow employees to ask questions and provide ideas for the management. Comparing to lecture, it gets more involvement from the employees, and managers can heave the voice from the employees. Role playing Role playing allows employees to act out issues that could occur in the work place. Role playing can be effective in connecting theory and practice. There are many methods of trainings. The key is to find the best training method to suit the actual situation. Assess each training method implemented in the organization and get feedbacks from trainees. Then decide to adopt the most effective method to specify the training programme (Silva, 2011) FURTHER TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT These days for every business their goal is to stay competitive in the market. And highly skilled, motived and committed staff is the key factor to achieve that goal. Further-training widens employees skills and acknowledge, and therefore enable their personal advancement to contribute more to the organizations performance. Providing career development helps to motive employees and gain their commitment. In details, firstly, training and development helps in maximizing the human resource which further helps the organization to achieve organization goals as well as their personal goals. Secondly, training and development helps to provide opportunities to broaden employees knowledge, increase their skills, improve their personality even. Thirdly, training and development helps in increasing the productivity of the employees that helps the organization further to achieve its long-term success. Fourthly, training and development helps building the positive attitudes, good team spirits, and friendly working environment among the organization. It also helps improving the quality of work and work-life. Last but not least, training and development helps in the organization development. For example, the organization gets more effective decision making and problem solving with dedicated and skilled staff. Training and development helps in developing leadership skills, employee motivation, loya lty, positive attitudes, good perceptions between managers and employees. CONCLUSION Human resource is the most valuable resource to gain and maintain competitive advantage for organizations. From above we know that HRM impacts greatly on organizational performance. There are available tools such as balanced scorecards and benchmarking to measure the effectiveness of HRM. In workplace, unethical issues are inevitable and ethical codes of principles are necessary for every company. Mangers need to make ethical decisions and act on them ethically. Training and further education improves employees skills and abilities therefore enhance the organizations performance greatly.

Outsiders in Brave New World Essay

Outsiders are a very common theme in the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Many characters show traits of an outsider. John is one character who fits the bill. He is the ultimate outsider. Other outsiders in the book are Bernard and Linda. All of these characters have traits that make it difficult for them to â€Å"fit in† to the society of the New World. They don’t fit in a conforming society. These three characters are perfect examples of outsiders in Brave New World. Bernard is an outsider who doesn’t want to be an outsider. He wants more than anything to fit in, and when he does, he takes advantage of it. He is physically smaller than the other Alphas. Other Alphas think that a â€Å"gamma put alcohol in his blood surrogate† when he was a baby, which is why Bernard never fully developed physically (Huxley, 46). He also â€Å"spends most of his time by himself – alone† (Huxley, 45). The other Alphas don’t really want to be around him. Bernard has one friend, Helmholtz Watson, who is also an outsider. Everyone in the beginning of the book views Bernard as an outsider. When Lenina tells her friend Fanny about being interested in Bernard, she â€Å"look[s] startled† and strongly disapproves of the idea because of Bernard’s â€Å"reputation† (Huxley, 44). People don’t accept his differences because they are brainwashed to think that everyone who is different doesn’t belong in their â€Å"perfect† society. Bernard later starts to fit in to society because of his newfound popularity after bringing John back from the Reservation. He begins to conform because deep down all he wants to do is fit in. He throws a party and is all of the sudden the most popular kid around. He really enjoys his newfound popularity. His sudden change in attitude shows how shallow he is. He disapproves of the society in the New World because they didn’t accept him in the beginning. When they accept him, he likes the society which shows how hypocritical he is. John’s mother, Linda, is another classic example of an outcast in Brave New World. First of all, she had a child, which is unheard of in their society. People in the New World are shocked when they learn of the child. The word â€Å"mother† alone â€Å"made Lenina look uncomfortable† (Huxley, 118). The idea of a family disgusts the citizens of the New World and she is definitely viewed as an outsider for having one. Another reason Linda isn’t accepted is the fact that she aged. When Lenina first sees Linda, she is disgusted at â€Å"all the lines on her face† and she cringes at the sight of â€Å"the wrinkles† and her â€Å"sagging cheeks, with those purple blotches† (Huxley, 119). The citizens are not used to old people. Lenina does not know that this was the natural aging process. Linda is also viewed as an outsider on the Indian Reservation. She is used to the New World, and when she first arrives in the Indian Reservation, she is viewed as different. She is used to sleeping with many men, so when she â€Å"had people in the ordinary way, the others [thought she was] wicked† (Huxley, 121). The women who lived on the reservation hate her deeply. She becomes an outsider on the Reservation. Linda is a fitting example of an outsider in the book because she aged, she has a kid, and she lived on the Indian Reservation with the same morals as the people from the New World. Lastly, the ultimate example of an outsider is John. He is an outsider in both the Indian Reservation and the New World. He is a â€Å"stranger in the reservation,† because he was born of a woman from the New World and his skin was much more pale than the others (Huxley, 118). He is an outsider in the New World as well because he is a â€Å"Savage† from the Indian Reservation. He does not live by the same moral code as the other citizens of the New World. He wants to leave the New World. He goes to the controller at one point and asks if he â€Å"mightn’t go to the islands with† Helmholtz and Bernard (Huxley, 242). He does not fit into the New World and he does not agree with the morals they lived by. He is searching for truth, which is a foreign idea to the citizens of the New World. He ends up spending his time alone, because he does not like the people of the New World. His wish to be alone is the reason why he wants to go to the islands. He wants to be anywhere else, â€Å"So long as [he] can be alone† (Huxley, 243). He does not conform to the society because he had grown up naturally, without being brainwashed by the government. In conclusion, John is the textbook example of an outsider in the book because no matter where he is, he never fits in. These three characters are great examples of outsiders in Brave New World. Outsiders are a very common theme in the book, and John, Linda, and Bernard are all characters who display traits of people who are different. Because they do not conform to the societies they live in, they become outcasts. Without these traits, this novel would not have much of a story.

Cold War Case Essay

The Cold War was a contest between the USA and the Soviet Union. It led to the existence of thousands of nuclear weapons, two universal ideologies in conflict, and two different self-images, the United States championing a world made safe for democracy. Its opponent, the Soviet Union advocated world Communism. The United States prides itself on its heritage of freedom, a refuge for persecuted religious groups, a land of liberty that successfully rebelled against the imperial power of Britain in 1776. Its guiding principles were the protection of the individual’s life, liberty and pursuit of happiness and the establishment of a constitution that embodied the best political idea of modern times, a system of checks and balances so that the president, Congress or parliament and judiciary or Supreme Court shared power, checking each other’s work to guard against dictatorship. While the United States did not always live up to its ideals, nonetheless, on paper at least, it looked good compared to its Cold War rival, the Soviet Union. Led by a murderous dictator, Joseph Stalin (1928 to 1953), the Soviet government was brutal, outlawing all opposition, banned political parties opposed to the Communist Party, murdered millions and set up a vast prison camp system known as the Gulag. In the years 1937-38 alone, Stalin ordered the execution of one million citizens of the Soviet Union. In the fifty years of the Cold War, the United States only executed two of its own citizens, the husband and wife Rosenberg spy team. Even though the Rosenbergs should not have been executed because their crimes were tiny in the context of the Civil War, the difference between the United States and the Soviet Union in terms of political mass murder of its own citizens is obvious. Despite this fact, one third of the world went the Communist way and other countries were tempted by the promises of Communism. How could this be? In theory, Communism promised a more equal world and at its greatest extent in the 1970s, Communist governments ruled one third of the world’s people. These were mostly poor countries looking for a quick way to industrialise. These countries looked upon the United States as a champion of the rich and powerful, an exploitative superpower that exported its economic system of capitalism only because it suited its interests to do so. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the United States strides the world as the sole superpower. The United States maintains its grip on this unipolar world without having to make too much effort. The United States spends only about 5-6% of its economy (its gross national product) on defense. The Soviet Union spent somewhere between 20% and 33% of its economy to try to keep up with the United States during the Cold War. It couldn’t keep up the pace. The position of the United States has declined only slightly in the twentieth century. In 1928, its economy was four times the size of its nearest rival (France) and in 1950 its economy was three times the size of its nearest rival (the Soviet Union). It is not just a question of economic or military power. American films and popular music dominated the mass culture of the world from World War One to the present day. In 1994, the biggest-selling film in Austria, France, Germany, Argentina and Mexico was the The Lion King, an American cartoon. The Flinstones was the best-selling film in Poland and Turkey. Forrest Gump won Finland and Norway. It is important to remember that power is projected and wars can be won not just by military and economic means but also by winning what is now an international culture war. A reluctant empire? The United States expanded its frontier in North America throughout the eighteenth century and after victory over Spain in 1898 became a maritime power whose empire stretched as far west as the Philippines. Ever since the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, the United States has pledged itself to prevent the European powers from intervening in the western hemisphere, specifically Latin America. Following its victory over Spain in 1898, the Untied States arrived as a world power. For many Native Americans and African-American slaves, some of the rhetoric of freedom did not ring true. But America’s promise of freedom and opportunity attracted migrants from all over the world. They arrived in New York at the rate of a million a year in the early 1900s. As a result of Europe’s self-destruction in World War One (1914-18), the United States became the dominant economic and political power in the world. It would later describe itself as a reluctant empire, a democratic state whose aim was to spread its ideals over the world but not to control in the way that European empires had done in the past. But what would it do with this power? Britain and France, weakened by the loss of Russia through revolution, were able to overcome Germany only with America’s help. Wilson believed that the values of the United States were in fact universal values of peace and democracy. In 1918 Woodrow Wilson, the American president published his Fourteen Points which called for a democratic peace based on the rights of self determination of all nations and the setting up of an international body, the League of Nations, to solve conflicts. But the world was changing. In Russia in 1917 Lenin and his Communist Party had come to power. Even worse for Wilson, his ideas were rejected in his own country, the United States. Wilson was pleased that the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War One established a League of Nations, but then found that the United States would not join. The League of Nations was rejected by the Senate, the upper house of the US Congress. Instead the Untied States tried to secure its future through the Washington Conference of 1921-22 which agreed that the US Navy should be of equal strength to the largest navy in the world, the British. In the 1920s and 30s, American foreign policy was dominated by isolationism, a refusal to intervene in Europe even when fasicsts, nazis and communists were on the march against American-style democracy in Europe. Those who support American power in the world today still worry that if the rest of the world criticises the United States too much it will retreat into its shell again and leave Europe and Australia at the mercy of a new (presumably Asian) religious fascim. Despite or because of its spectacular economic growth, American capitalism hit a major snag in the Great Depression that began in 1929 and economic problems increased the mood of isolationism in the US public, that is a mood of cutting the United States off from the world’s troubles. The president to take the US out of the Depression was Franklin D. Roosevelt, who introduced his New Deal. It was Roosevelt who would take the USA into the Second World War but only after Japan attacked Pearl Harbour in 1941, putting an end to the argument for isolation. The USA suffered more than three hundred thousand deaths in World War Two, mostly soldiers. But as in World War One this was a relatively small price to pay for what was a huge victory. The Soviet Union now under Joseph Stalin lost 27-30 million people, the majority of which were civilians. At the end of world War Two, the United States had a new and powerful weapon, the atomic bomb that it had to used to force japan to surrender in 1945. Under president Truman from 1945-52, the United States staked out a new role as the world’s policeman whose task it was to protect the democratic and free ‘West’ from the tyranny of Stalin’s Communism in the Soviet Union. The United States would win the Cold War, in large part because of its continuing economic success. On the eve of its collapse in 1990, the GNP of the Soviet Union was approximately one third of that of the USA, even though the United States and the Soviet Union had almost identical population sizes. The secret to America’s success? Unlike the Soviet Union, which experimented with a new and untried economic model of a state-rune economy, the Untied States had a proven economic model of capitalism. It had its faults such as inequality and crises of unemployment but encouraged innovation and efficiency in a way that the Soviet system did not.

Napoleon I essays

Napoleon I essays Napoleon was born August 15, 1769 in Ajaccio, Corsica. This small, yet gallant figure was initially a fiercely independent Corsican, not a Frenchman as most would believe him to be. His areas of achievement were government, politics, and military. He was a strong leader during the French Revolution. He was very eager and determined to fight battles and win them. Sometimes, he was extremely stubborn. One of his most prestigious actions was when Napoleon crowned himself not the pope. Napoleon was the second of eight children of Charles Bonaparte and Letizia Ramolino Bonaparte, both of the Corsican-Italian gentry. Not one member of the family was a professional soldier. Napoleon was always a little boy and man. When he was young, he often had little play fights with the other Corsican boys and he would often lead his troops to victory. Napoleon was educated at Brienne and the Ecole Militaire, (French for military school) in Paris. Napoleon graduated in 1785, at the age of sixteen. Then he joined the artillery as a 2nd lieutenant. His initial goal was to help Corsica, not France. In 1796, Napoleon was made commander of the French army in Italy. He defeated four Austrian generals and forced Austria and its allies to make peace. During his tenure in northern Italy, he founded the Cisalpine Republic and strengthened his position in France by sending millions of francs worth of treasure to the government. It was a morale boost to a nation cast in anarchy. Napoleon led an expedition to Egypt, ruled by the Turks, to cripple at British trade with the East. Despite his success in the Middle East, British Admiral Horatio Nelson destroyed his fleet, which left he and his army stranded. Napoleon took the chance to enhance his political skills by reforming the Egyptian government, abolishing serfdom, and feudalism. He also guaranteed basic rights for the citizens. Culturally, Napoleon brought Fr...

Greek Civilization essays

Greek Civilization essays A. Decline of the Minoan Civilization In 2000 B.C.E, the Greeks settled the lands that were surrounded by the waters of the Aegean Sea and created a culture that shaped Western heritage forever. The Greeks made history when they settled in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Asia Minor, and Syria-Palestine. The first cultures in Greece arose in the later 3rd and 2nd millennia: the Minoans on Crete and the Mycenaeans on the mainland. These are the cultures that were the source of later Greek myths, and whose religious and social structures influenced so much of later Greece and Europe. The great palaces, fortifications and tombs are testimony to the achievements of these people. Most of what we know about both cultures has been gained through archaeology. Though both were literate, Minoan texts are still almost unreadable, and the Mycenaean tablets are mostly bureaucratic inventories. Thus material evidence is critical for understanding and reconstructing these fascinating cultures. About 725 B.C.E, Sparta embarked on a path that made it Greeces most respected military power. The state wanted all of its men to be superb soldiers, and it persuaded them to sacrifice privacy and comfort to physical conditioning, military training, and discipline. Athens evolved slower then Spartan society. Years of consistent cultivation diminished the Athenian fields, which lead them to slavery. Athenians were sold abroad. During the Bronze Age period, Greek civilization was evolving in the Aegean World. The Aegean World was divided into three developing parts: on the island of Crete, on the smaller islands of the Aegean Sea, and on the mainland of Greece. Aegeans first civilization was on Crete, which was a bridge between the older civilization of the East and settled land by the Greeks. Crete was inhabited from the sixth millennium B.C, but it was later, probably around the late fourth-early third millennium that immigra...

Company Resources and Capabilities of Abercrombie and Fitch Case Study

Company Resources and Capabilities of Abercrombie and Fitch - Case Study Example In the following intangible assets i.e. human assets and brand and image assets of company are described.Human assetsAbercrombie and Fitch as a big retailer of clothing recruit the young boys from colleges, as they look like the catalog models. American look is used to judge the personality of a new candidate. Shoppers prefer to buy the products from stores where staff looks as they act in the advertisements. In some respects hiring a good looking person is not illegal but discrimination is found in regards of sex, age and ethnicity. People having retail experience complain as they are not hired; instead of that young good looking people having no retail experience are recruited (Barlow and Stewart, 2006). Brands and imageCompany focuses on the customers’ demands and continues moving along the customers’ value chains. Company targets the youth people aged between 14 and 22 years old to sell the sports and other products. Some important brands of company include as Aberc rombie & Fitch, Ruhel No 924, Hollister Co., Gilly Hicks and Abercrombie. All of these brands are produced ensuring the focus and engagement of customers. Company operates at different segments and caters to potential and existing customers at different stages.This part is focused to see the distribution capabilities and strategic flexibility as capability resources of the company. Distribution capabilities of company to fulfill the orders of its customers as well as other companies are an enhanced feature.

Management - Henri Fayol's Management Theories Essay

Management - Henri Fayol's Management Theories - Essay Example The present discussion focuses on identifying and assessing the adoption of Fayol’s principles in contemporary management through distinct examples drawn from modern organizations and their practices. There is no doubt that the contemporary management concepts have evolved from classical theories such as Fayol’s; however, there exists much debate about the influence of classical theories and their application in present management concepts. For instance, Fayol’s principles of management form the core job of managers even today, although the focus is shifted to one or few of these principles at a time. In present-day service industries, the focus usually oscillates between initiative, teamworking, order or efficiency with some other activities such as discipline, equity, division of work etc providing direction to better business management. These focus areas also differ with the type of industry as well as organizational goals. Roethlisberger and Dickson (1939) h ave argued that the contemporary management concepts have profound impact from studies that emerged from behavioral sciences, especially the human relations movement that resulted from Hawthorne experiments (cited in Allen & Gilmore, 1993). Some management scholars refer to Fayol’s principles as the present-day management functions that correspond to planning, organizing, leading, and controlling (Schermerhorn, 2011). In short, Fayol’s 14 principles include division of work, authority, discipline, unity of command, unity of direction, subordination of individual interests to the general interests, remuneration, centralization, scalar chain, order, equity, stability of tenure of personnel, initiative, and esprit de corps (cited in Allen & Gilmore, 1993). From a manager’s perspective, Fayol’s principles seem to be the most apt and provide a comprehensive understanding to any management personnel, with or without experience. However, differing views of manag ement theories emerged, which consider classical concepts as contradictory. Unlike Taylor’s scientific management concepts that focus on the objective of driving maximum prosperity for the employer along with similar outcomes for the employees (Schermerhorn, 2011), Fayol’s principles can be regarded as completely management focused; this could be one of the reasons for argument/debate that subsequent theorists focused upon (Brunsson, 2008). Fayol’s conceptualization is based on the premise that all organizations are similar and hence the managerial duties are also similar. Brunsson (2008) asserts that this conceptualization compliments the fact that managerial talent can be acquired through training. If this premise were to be true, then all organizations would be performing at the same level and all managers within the organization would produce same outcomes. However, management and organizational outcomes are very different within and outside. Moreover, manag ement styles, patterns, policies, practices, etc. are different in different regions or countries, as proven by Hofstede (1980). Hofstede’