Nurse Initiated Thrombolysis

Coronary disease contributes to a high mortality and morbidity each year (Cowie, 2002). Thrombolytic therapy during elevated S-T segment elevation in acute myocardial infarction and new left bundle branch block (STEMI) has been found to have advantages in coronary disease management (Fibrinolytic Therapy Trialists Collaborative Group, 1994; Clare and Bullock, 2003) which include symptomatic delay and 30/1000 mortality reduction. Evidentiary studies suggest that six-hour delay in thrombolytic treatment implicates significant reduction in the mortality rate of thrombolytic therapy recipients (i.e. 30/100 before 6 hour treatment to 10/1000 upon 13-18 hour treatment) thus invoking systematic methods on the management of cardiology department to reduce time delays (Fibrinolytic Therapy Trialists Collaborative Group, 1994). The National Service Framework for coronary heart disease devised the 20 minute intervention (Department of Health, 2000) from the clinical onset of the disease, the so called ‘door-to-needle-time’, in response to heart malady. The door to needle time has been changed to 30 minutes as of April 2002 indicated for patients with myocardial infarction (Smallwood, 2004). To reduce the possible time delay and to reach the 75 % goal reception of thrombolytic myocardial infarction (MI) patients at 30 minutes, an alternative model, Phase III, were set by Coronary Heart Disease Framework (Department of Health, 2000) with an overall inclusion or additive roles of nurses that would cover initial assessment and administering thrombolytic therapy to uncomplicated myocardial infarction cases. Nurse-initiated thrombolytic (NIT) practice is relatively new, and the studies, qualitative or quantitative in approach, are few. Most of the topics for NIT study would include NIT feasibility, reliability, and perceptive dimensions. In the following paper, there is an attempt to create a review of the different studies concerning nurse-initiated thrombolysis. Elucidation of roles and nurse’s pivotal roles are deducted from the studies. II. Assessment Quin et al. (1998) conducted a study on the assessment of coronary nurses’ ability to determine patient suitability for the thrombolytic therapy using clinical and electrocardiographic standards and they found that majority of the nurses, 85 % of sample population, showed safe and appropriate management decisions.   The study population was limited to only ten Coronary Care Units (CCUs) in Yorkshire and Northern England and the methodology and data collection consists of vignettes and questionnaire forms for finding out suitability of nurses decisions. Andrews et al (2003) attempted to test track records of two acute chest pain nurse specialists (ACPNS) for 9 months within Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department of Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital and they found that the NIT diagnosis and administration by ACPNS achieved a median door-to-needle time of 23 minutes compared to 56 minute fast track system thus indicating time reduction and over-all efficacy in thrombolytic therapy in the Coronary Care Unit. Data obtained for tracking period from 91 patient records and 72 % (acute chest pain nurse specialists) ACPNS reception. A remarkable 51 % significant difference in patient proportion within 30 minute thrombolytic therapy was found between ACPNS and fast track system initiated by the on-call-medical-team. Qasim et al (2002) conducted comprehensive analyses and compared statistical variances of door to needle times for patients with acute myocardial infarction amongst three phases (I:1989-95; II: 2:1995-7; 1997-2001) at Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, England. Their study indicated 9 %significant difference by patients treated within 30 minutes from Phase 1 (range 5-300 minutes) and Phase 2 (range 5-180 minutes) treatment audits. Systematic clinical review showed 0% improper NIT administered by coronary care thrombolysis nurses from a population of 24 patients which indicate 100% NIT efficacy. CCU (Coronary Care Unit) thrombolysis nurses accomplished set requirements prior to NIT practice— F and G grades and electrocardiogram interpretation. Qasim reported that fast-track and NIT may provide for myocardial infarction and bundle branch block management. Other studies similarly agreed on the adoptive role of nurses in thrombolytic treatment and suggested improvement in the coronary department by focusing at A&E department to improved thrombolysis (Heatherington et al., 2002). Loveridge (2004) on her study on the diagnostic interpretation of district general hospital (DGH)-, teaching house-, Coronary Care Unit (CCU)- and Minor Injury Nurses (MIU) nurses, indicated otherwise when she concluded that NIT is not feasible because of their lack of diagnostic skill and ECG (electrocardiogram) interpretation. Loveridge reiterated Savage and Channer’s (2002) concerns regarding risk of rapid assessment which includes intracerebral hemorrhaging from inappropriate drug administration and misdiagnosis. She finally concluded that NIT is un-feasible and requires education and training, a developmental program to secure NIT practice. III. NIT experiential dimension and ethics Humphreys and Smallwood (2004) counseled on the ethical aspects of nurse-initiated thrombolysis which focuses on the awareness and responsibility of NIT practice addressing related issues on the morality of professional practice and medical malpractice. Patient autonomy should always be considered and consent from the patients must always be obtained. Nurse’s perception or amicability towards NIT are positive in terms of attitude-orientation as indicated by the qualitative study conducted by Smallwood and Humphrey (2007) on thrombolytic agent administrators. Twelve nurses from a MidWestland Hospital in England that were authorized to administer thrombolytic agent were asked to complete an open-ended questionnaire on the expansive role of nurses on NIT. The study suggested overall acceptability of NIT work and other major themes that emerged were perception of ‘pressure’ to deliver best practice and patient management under NIT conditions. Thrombolytic activity and the additive roles, as suggested by the results of the study were ‘desirous’ based on a personal motivation to do good for the patients and to reach professional growth. IV. Criticisms Nurse feasibility based from the limited collation of studies was generally ‘agreed upon’ strategy to reduce time delays in coronary management. The authors (Quin et al., Andrews et al., and Qasim et al.) concluded that nurse-initiated thrombolysis is a safe and effectual practice for MI infarction and STEMI but, it is noted that there were the statistical ‘weakness’ on the methods that they adapted. Most notable is that they all have an extremely limited sample population for the NIT nurses and the administered population (i.e. MI patients). Additionally, the studies were all focused on the speed of thrombolytic delivery and not on patient safety. There are no studies yet constructed on massive or consolidated studies for the NIT nurses in the A&E and CCU departments. Although Loveridge attempted to compare feasibility of different departmental nurses for NIT, she adopted Quin’s ‘vignette’ method and concluded that NIT is not feasible for the current clinical environment. In reality, although nurses may have positive outlooks for the NIT management and their expansive roles, more consideration should be made on actual NIT efficacy. Aside from Andrews et al., there were no clinical studies yet on NIT which may determine actual field efficacy. On the level of practical practice, nurse initiated thrombolysis requires improvement in the nursing professional community. Methodologically poor studies on nurse-initiated thrombolysis indicate the need for further study of its’ clinical outcomes and efficacy. Works Cited A. Andrews, S. Chida, S.I. Kitchen, M.I. Walters, RJI Bain, and S.M. Heath. â€Å"Nurse initiated thrombolysis in the accident and emergency department: safe, accurate, and faster than fast track.† Emergency Medicine Journal, 20 (2003):418-420. Cowie M. â€Å"Introduction Cardiovascular risk: a UK priority–it's time to act.† Heart; 89(2002): 1. Claire C.and Bullock I. â€Å"Door-to-needle times: bull's eye or just bull? The effect of reducing   door-to-needle times on the appropriate administration of thrombolysis: implications and recommendations. EurJ Cardiovasc Nurs, 2(2003): 39-45. Department of Health. National Service Framework for Coronary Heart Disease. Modern Standards and Service Models. London: HMSO,2000. Fibrinolytic Therapy Trialists Collaborative Group. â€Å"Indications for fibrinolytic therapy in suspected acute myocardial infarction: collaborative overview of early mortality and major morbidity results from all randomised trials of more than 1000 patients.† Lancet; 343(1994): 311–322. Heatherington, CJL,  P Doyle,  JA Kayani,  and  DF Gorman.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Focus on emergency departments to reduce delays in thrombolysis. (Letters).  Ã¢â‚¬ Ã‚  British Medical Journal, (901)  2002: 1. Loveridge, N. Nursing Diagnostics and Electrocardiogram Interpretation in Relation to Thrombolysis. Emergency Nurse, 12 (2004):28-34. Qasim A, Malpass K, O'Gorman DJ, Heber ME. Safety and efficacy of nurse initiated thrombolysis in patients with acute myocardial infarction. BMJ, 324 (2002);1328-31. Quinn T, McDermott A, Caunt J.. â€Å"Determining patients’ suitability for thrombolysis: coronary care nurses' agreement with an expert cardiological gold standard as assessed by clinical and electrocardiographic vignettes†. Intensive Critical Care Nursing, 14(1998): 219–224. Smallwood, A. and M. Humphreys. â€Å"Nurses’ perceptions and experiences of initiating thrombolysis: a qualitative study.† Nursing in Critical Care, 12(2007):132-140.      

Starbucks Case Study

Starbucks in 2004: Driving for Global Dominance Strategic Management STRA 703 Assignment Prepared by: Sherif Hendi (M1100758) Presented to: Dr. Gamal Shehata Questions Q. NO. 1 What are the key elements of Starbucks strategy as of 2004? (What is the store concept, the customer offerings and differentiators? The expansion strategy? The financial strategy? The personnel management and social responsibilities? Conduct a five forces analysis? ) Q. No. 02 What was the original strategic vision and objectives and how did they evolve? What is your opinion of Starbucks’ mission statement? What grade would you give Howard Schultz for his job as the CEO Starbucks and why? Q. No. 3 What is your assessment of Starbucks financial performance during years 1998-2003? (Growth rates, profitability, control of major cost categories, financing, ROE, and P/E ratio? ) Q. No. 04 What were the key issues faced by Starbucks in 2004? Q. No. 05 What recommendations would you make to Howard Schultz to sustain the company growth and support strong financial performance in the years ahead? Q. NO. 1 What are the key elements of Starbucks strategy as of 2004? ANS: Key Elements of Starbucks’ Strategy Starbucks adopted a lot of innovative strategies throughout its journey from 1971 to 2004. These strategies in brief are as follows:- * The restaurant/store concept * The offering of Innovative product line * Differentiation from competition * National and international expansion * Distribution channels (Pepsi partnership/online store/Dreyer partnership) * Efficient Financial management (Centralized Information Systems) * Capitalizing on enhancing the people element * Engaging in social responsibility programs (CARE). Competitive Advantages or Differentiators Their differentiating elements are as follows:- They were the pioneers to introduce espresso bar idea in USA * Mail order sales * Word of mouth marketing * Employee motivation strategies to attain improved employee commitment * Convenient distribution channels * Introducing chemical free cultivation process. Q. No. 02 What grade would you give Howard Schultz for the job he has done as CEO of Starbucks? Be prepared to support you r answer based on how well (or not so well) he has performed the five tasks of strategic management discussed in Chapter 2. ANS: Howard Shultz gets a grade of 95% in his Strategic Management approach. In my opinion Howard Shultz just didn’t do perfect in the area of marketing as he did not spend adequate budgets on advertising and product innovation. Last but not the least is that he did not attempt to study the environment properly while entering into new geographical areas e. g. he opened a store down street in Chicago which was not a good idea due to cold weather conditions. Other than that, he made a great task of performing all the five tasks of Strategic Management Q. No. 3 What was Howard Schultz’s original strategic vision for Starbucks? Is his present strategic vision for Starbucks different from the one he had in the 1980s? How many times has his strategic vision changed? Is his present strategic vision likely to undergo further evolution? ANS: Howard Shultz original Strategic Vision â€Å"To establish Starbucks as the most recognized and respected brand in the world. † Strategic Objectives * They wanted to have 15,000 stores by the year-end 2005. * They aimed to provide a great work environment and treat each other with respect and dignity. * They believed in taking on diversity as an essential component in the way they do business. * To apply the highest standards of excellence to the purchasing, roasting and fresh delivery of coffee. To develop loyal and satisfied customers all of the time. * To contribute positively to their communities and environment, and recognize that profitability is essential to future success of business. How did they evolve? At the earlier stages they promised themselves that they will not leave even a single stone unturned to make Starbucks the most recognized and re spected brand in the world. Therefore, they thought that this could only be possible if they will develop these strategic objectives because these are basis to earn the respect and fame for any business. Q. No. 3 What is your assessment of Starbucks financial performance during years 1998-2003? (Growth rates, profitability, control of major cost categories, financing, ROE, and P/E ratio? ) Growth Rate| Years| 1998| 1999| 2000| 2001| 2002| 2003| Growth rate| 0| 0. 2889| 0. 29095| 0. 2164| 0. 2415| 0. 2391| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Profitability| Years| 1998| 1999| 2000| 2001| 2002| 2003| Operating profit margin | 8. 34| 9. 29| 9. 4| 10. 57| 9. 6183| 10. 42| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ROE| Years| 1998| 1999| 2000| 2001| 2002| 2003| Return on equity| 8. 6| 1. 58| 8. 23| 13. 1| 18. 35| 12| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Price Per Earning Share| Years| 1998| 1999| 2000| 2001| 2002| 2003| Price Per Earning Share| 0. 19| 0. 27| 0. 24| 0. 46| 0. 54| 0. 67| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Control of Major Cost Categories In this portion we have analyzed that how Starbucks controlled its fixed cost. If we talk about the locations, it was very expensive to purchase land and then develop it as a store, so to overcome this problem Starbucks started leasing the land for long term periods. In our opinion, it was a quit impressive move to cut down its fixed cost. Secondly they observed that to get the license was too costly for them, so they made contracts with the partners who had license with them. Financing For the financing, Starbucks instead of taking loans preferred raising the equity. It was a better idea to generate capital because they did not have to pay any short term and long term interests against the borrowings. Q. No. 04 What were the key issues faced by Starbucks in 2004? Every company faces major challenges, even companies that are as successful as Starbucks. Although they have an outstanding reputation, have won many awards like top sustainable retail store award and most ethical company award etc, and even give back to their community, they are still facing challenges like any other company. Following are the most obvious challenges that Starbucks is dealing with:- * Schultz was overflowing with the ideas for the company, early on he noticed that first-time customers sometimes felt uneasy in the stores because of their lack of knowledge about fine coffees and because store employees sometimes came across as a little arrogant or superior to coffee beginner. Howard Schultz when came back from Italy shared his ideas for modifying the format of Starbucks’ store with Baldwin and Gordon Bowker. But instead of winning approval for trying out some of his ideas, Schultz encountered strong resistance but after a year Schultz succeeded in winning the approval from Baldwin and Bowker. * After sometime Baldwin and Bowker again went against th e ideas of Schultz so he became so frustrated and left Starbucks in late 1985 to open his own separate Espresso Bars in high-traffic down town locations. Schultz acquired Starbucks in 1987 and after the 20 months of acquiring, some employees felt unappreciated that there was a feeling of prior management had abandoned them. So, Schultz decided to make building a new relationship of mutual respect between employees and management. * Starbucks lost its money when it expanded market to Chicago because in Chicago that was the first downtown store opened on to the street rather than into the lobby of the building where it was located; in the winter months, customers were hesitant to go out in the wind and cold to acquire a cup of coffee. It was expensive to supply fresh coffee to the Chicago stores from Seattle warehouse. * The challenge to Starbucks, in Schultz view, was how to attract, motivate, and reward store employees in a manner that would make Starbucks a company that people would want to work for and that would generate enthusiastic commitment and higher level of customer service. * A values and principles â€Å"crisis† arose at Starbucks in 1989 when customers starting requesting nonfat milk in making Cappuccinos and lattes (an espresso coffee with frothy steamed milk) So, Starbucks started selling both fat milk and nonfat milk Cappuccinos and lattes. They were facing the issue of Wi-Fi (wireless internet service) in 2002, the number of accesses was in the millions by T-Mobile; internal research showed that the average connection last approximately 45 minutes So, in October 2003, Starbucks announced that they will expand Wi-Fi capability to additional locations and would have 2700 stores equipped wit h wireless Internet access by year end. * They were also facing challenges from their competitors. In 2003 there were an estimated 14000 specialty coffee outlets in the United States but they were not competent enough to exert pressure at Starbucks. Q. No. 05 What recommendations would you make to Howard Schultz to sustain the company growth and support strong financial performance in the years ahead? Recommendations After analyzing the whole case study, we became able to give few suggestions to Howard Schultz which can be handy to sustain the growth and support strong financial performance in the forthcoming years:- * He should spend more budgets on advertisement of products. He should bring innovations in his products because we saw in this case study that he was inspired by espresso bars so he imitated the whole theme of Italian espresso bars and the idea of dark roasted bean was an older one as well. * Before entering to any new geographical region he should study the market environment of that particular region as we saw that at Chicago there was an issue of cold weather and his store was at down-town-street. Furthermore, the labor rates and rents of building were higher as well. * At the stores Starbucks’ technique to teach customers about how to make coffee was not a good idea ecause it does not support their business model. Therefore, it should be avoided in future. Above elaborated things were having details about the strategies of Starbucks which drove it for the Global dominance till 2004. Starbucks is in fact the recognized and respected brand in the world and if it can overcome the shortcomings which we identified then nobody can create bother for it to be successful and there will be no point left as a mistake on its part. Reference www. starbucks. com Case Study â€Å"Starbucks in 2004: Driving for Global Dominance† written by Arthur A. Thompson, Amit J. Shah and Thomas F. Hawk. Starbucks Case Study Conner A Intro to Business 3/26/2013 Case Study Consumer Behavior in the Coffee Industry Did you know one franchise alone dominated an entire payment-processing market in just one year? You might have heard of this giant company by the name Starbucks. Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, had a significant role in the company’s growth. Starbucks has steadily dominated the coffee market and has even extended to being a 3rd home for many of its consumers. Based in Seattle, Starbucks had significant competition when it opened its first store in the Pike Place market in Seattle, yet still managed to become superior.Starbucks used new advertising tactics and presented a unique experience for its customers, all of which was a game changer in the business world. Starbucks was created when three friends opened a small store to sell coffee beans and roast in 1971[1]. Jerry Baldwin, Gordon Bowler and Zev Siegl opened their store in the heart of the unique open air market in downtown Seattle . Located just off the harbor, Pike place market was the optimal location and attracted many residents and tourists.After ten years of incredible growth, Jerry Baldwin hired Howard Schultz as head of management. When Schultz first started, he slowly learned the coffee industry and helped made subtle but significant changes. For example, Schultz noticed that â€Å"first-time customers sometimes felt uneasy in the stores†[2] so he developed â€Å"customer-friendly sales skills and produced brochures that made it easy for customers to learn about fine coffees†2 Schultz had the vision of making Starbucks a coffee lounge versus a bar after being inspired by eastern traditions.Even though he did not agree with the new direction, Baldwin allowed Schultz to open one espresso bar and in 2 years, Schultz was able to buy out Baldwin and equity owners with the help of investors in 19921. Howard Schultz initially saw the power of consumer behavior early on when he realized Starbuck s began to be a social gathering mecca for people instead of just an espresso stand. When Schultz first noticed the ‘seismic change in consumer behavior,’ he adopted a free-Wi-Fi service and mobile payment service and noticed that Starbucks began to attract people as if it was a third home for coffee enthusiasts.Although he jokes about not getting rent from consumers, it allowed Starbucks to create an online-experience in their ‘3rd home’ which was unique to the coffee scene in the United States. With scheduled deliveries and privatized ad networking, Starbucks was maximizing its profits and allowing an experience for coffee enthusiasts that did not make them feel locked-into paying. This shift in consumer behavior was in response to the cultural need for a place between home and work. As social beings, humans thrive for an excuse to hang out and socialize or participate in a community environment.This amazing experience that Starbucks supplied needed to be fine-tuned like any business plan. Like any business, Starbucks had challenges, such as their management of spending. In an interview entitled Business Brilliant, Schultz said that too much was focused on the customer instead of the infrastructure. To improve this, Schultz developed a unique experience in the store with the paired pastry-drinks and released free Wi-Fi for customers. In addition to free-Wi-Fi, mobile payments allowed consumers to avoid lines and continue their private work in the confines of the lounge.Soon Starbucks was thriving and announced that â€Å"the opening of 150 new stores in five years significantly exceeded the 1987 business plan’s objective of 125†[3]. Like every company, Starbucks faced unique issues in their business which slowed down growth initially which in effect slowed down growth in the long run. Schultz attributed the biggest hold-back in the long run to not investing in the supply chain, technology or manufacturing. Although Sta rbucks was marketing their franchise extremely well, they did not invest ahead of the growth curve and the infrastructures became under-par.In the Business Brilliant, Schultz candidly admitted that Starbucks â€Å"solely accelerated growth of the company. † Moreover, Schultz said the issue was that Starbucks â€Å"needed competency well beyond the size of the company and needed the kind of capability they didn’t have. † Since their infrastructure’s efficiency in the short run was hindered by technological limitations coupled with access to capital, the entire store chains needed to be shut down. Schultz defined the event as a need to redesign their image and retrain their employees.Starbucks was losing grip on the customers and their loyalty because the experience of Starbucks was losing its unique features. All of these internal and external issues that Starbucks was facing were all connected with values and company image according to Schultz. Schultz wa s so specific with the Starbucks experience that when he smelt burning cheese in a store he decided to ask the workers and they told him â€Å"So what, profits are up! † Soon after this, Schultz decided to close down and retrain all stores and employees. He sent out a press release admitting that Starbucks was misrepresenting itself.Although no one had accused or criticized Starbuck’s prior to his declaration, it was a bold move which negatively impacted the financial strength of the Company. However, the action proved loyal to the consumer and enhanced brand loyalty for Starbuck-addicts. This root issue of misrepresentation in the Starbuck’s experience and the company vision was so significant to Schultz that he needed rework his company from the ground up. This road block of ‘conserving the core businesses’ and ‘pushing for relevant innovation’ made Schultz tweak and adjust the Starbucks experience constantly but effectively.While Sch ultz attributes the root issue for Starbucks to be company image and adapting core values, could it be possible that the vision and image were not correctly portrayed because of unwise funding? Schultz does admit the funding issues contributed to the core issue of misrepresentation of company image and values, but he does not see the two issues in separate environments. Schultz assigns the core issue to misrepresentation and the surface symptoms to be funding. However, more funding or a different funding plan with more focus in infrastructure would have changed the outcome.The core issue was funding and the symptoms of the core issues were misrepresentation because of resource allocation. While their short term fixed costs of infrastructure and labor were solved, their reserved and recurring allocation towards the upgrades of their infrastructure lacked significantly. If properly funded before and seen ahead of the curve, their growth could have been anticipated. This is evident thr ough the need to shut down and retrain employees. It’s clear that the total fixed and variable costs exceeded their revenue initially.Like all companies, there was a start-up curve but when the curve was dealt with, resource allocation was not the focus. The best plan of action ideally would start with addressing resource allocation. Starbucks was able to stay in business and have great growth so it’s clear the management was able to properly allocate their average variable costs and fixed costs for the most part. Nevertheless, it would have been best if the costs were optimized and revenue was set aside for changes in infrastructure. Funding should have been directed at things which would have produced stability in the long run.This would have lowered their total costs and properly funded their infrastructures for the long run and short run. Schultz should have looked at the management immediately after buying out the company and properly hired people with skills that would be able to guide Starbucks through significant growth. Investment in infrastructure to avoid long-term costs would have saved Starbucks from funding issues at later times. In addition to optimizing their infrastructure for the long run, Starbucks needed to invest more in manufacturing and supply chain for the success in the long run.For example, Starbucks should have initially allocated more funding towards small upgrades in their infrastructure such as ovens versus microwaves to avoid unpleasant scents in the customer’s experience. This also connects to Schultz’s emphasis on hiring employees and affiliates based on similar values. If the decision to hire those employees would have initially been more focused on similar values in addition to management skills, the variable costs to upgrade the infrastructure in the long run would have been lower because the management would have been more motivated to deal with the issue before the CEO had to see the symptoms.Fi nally, the management of Starbucks needed to choose their employee’s more wisely from the start. If Schultz would have chosen his employee’s based on the similarity of their values and the company vision, little issues such as smell in the customer’s experience would have been dealt with more efficiently. This connects to optimizing their infrastructure but focuses on the employees instead of the technology. It’s important to treat both with separate solutions because Schultz reminded us that the employees can only work with the assets they are provided with.This small change in the focus of the start-up of the company could benefit the image of Starbucks very efficiently and in a cost-productive way. Schultz jokes about not getting rent from Starbucks admirers yet he also notes that the potential to plug into the social media of the internet and create the environment was more beneficial than the issue of customers hanging out inside the store. The evolv ing Starbucks experience caused consumers to have incredible brand loyalty over alternatives such as Pete’s Coffee and Tea and Tullies.Yet the quick and agile response of technology was exactly what Starbucks needed to put it ahead of the ‘growth curve’ in social media while its competitors struggled behind. Schultz’s solutions were effective in the short run but he still realized his long run potential was limited by resource allocation. The problem with Starbucks and consumers was not the shift in demand for coffee consumers but it was resource allocation and initial planning. Howard Schultz’s plan of action was headed in the right direction apart from the minor mix-up between the surface symptoms and the core issue.In addition to new work practices, Schultz integrated new management and had to let go many of the people he knew were limited to the knowledge of the short-term. This new resource allocation towards what Schultz called ‘the back side’ of the company, allowed the company to finally resolve its funding and allocation issues. The new plan of action consisted of hiring new employees and investing in infrastructure to anticipate growth and new forms of technology; the poor management habits of the past from would not hinder Starbucks in the future.Similar to my suggested plan of action, Schultz’s initiative consisted of new employee’s, new technology and investing in the short term. If Schultz’s would have put more funding towards infrastructure to bring stability in the long run, he would have been able to manage the shift in consumer behavior and maintain profit without the need to close down the stores for retraining. The issue for Starbucks is not losing customers but how to accurately represent the company’s values. Moreover, if the employees were chosen correctly and the infrastructure was properly optimized, Schultz plan would have worked perfectly.All in all, every comp any in any industry is going to face challenges and have limited resources to meet them in an efficient manner. Howard Schultz used the resources he had to best manage Starbucks and handled the big issues he had efficiently and creatively. The future of Starbucks all depends on its management and commitment to adhering to the company vision and values. After experiencing the 2000-2008 period, one can see that the values will inevitably shift with changes in management. 4] The future of Starbucks is highly dependent on how long Howard Schultz continues to be an active part of the company and in shaping its vision. If affiliates and employees are chosen intelligently and have values matched properly with the company’s mission, Starbucks’s vision should be passed down effectively through each generation of new management. Nevertheless, the rise and fall of competitors in a market is inevitable and time will tell if Starbucks will eventually be surpassed by a competitor. S tarbucks will be a primary educational focus for many business programs.It is one of the best managed franchises in history and will remain one of the most successful for a long period of time. Like any business, Schultz received criticism for extreme responses yet these responses excelled the growth of the company. Much like my suggestions, Schultz acted quickly and made extreme changes which were crucial to repairing the infrastructure. Unlike most companies, Starbucks’s major focus is promoting the company image and values instead of putting profits first. Works Cited I. Schiff, Lewis. â€Å"Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz Coming to NYC. Inc. com. INC, 18 Mar. 2011. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. II. â€Å"Starbucks Corporation History. † History of Starbucks Corporation – FundingUniverse. Funding Universe, n. d. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. III. McGraw Hill. â€Å"Starbucks Corporation. † Starbucks Case Study. MHHE. com, n. d. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. ———†”———– [1] Funding Universe, Starbucks Corporate History [2] McGraw Hill, Starbucks Case Study, Starbucks Corporate History [3] McGraw Hill, Starbucks Case Study, Starbucks Corporate History [4] Funding Universe, Starbucks Corporation History Starbucks Case Study Starbucks in 2004: Driving for Global Dominance Strategic Management STRA 703 Assignment Prepared by: Sherif Hendi (M1100758) Presented to: Dr. Gamal Shehata Questions Q. NO. 1 What are the key elements of Starbucks strategy as of 2004? (What is the store concept, the customer offerings and differentiators? The expansion strategy? The financial strategy? The personnel management and social responsibilities? Conduct a five forces analysis? ) Q. No. 02 What was the original strategic vision and objectives and how did they evolve? What is your opinion of Starbucks’ mission statement? What grade would you give Howard Schultz for his job as the CEO Starbucks and why? Q. No. 3 What is your assessment of Starbucks financial performance during years 1998-2003? (Growth rates, profitability, control of major cost categories, financing, ROE, and P/E ratio? ) Q. No. 04 What were the key issues faced by Starbucks in 2004? Q. No. 05 What recommendations would you make to Howard Schultz to sustain the company growth and support strong financial performance in the years ahead? Q. NO. 1 What are the key elements of Starbucks strategy as of 2004? ANS: Key Elements of Starbucks’ Strategy Starbucks adopted a lot of innovative strategies throughout its journey from 1971 to 2004. These strategies in brief are as follows:- * The restaurant/store concept * The offering of Innovative product line * Differentiation from competition * National and international expansion * Distribution channels (Pepsi partnership/online store/Dreyer partnership) * Efficient Financial management (Centralized Information Systems) * Capitalizing on enhancing the people element * Engaging in social responsibility programs (CARE). Competitive Advantages or Differentiators Their differentiating elements are as follows:- They were the pioneers to introduce espresso bar idea in USA * Mail order sales * Word of mouth marketing * Employee motivation strategies to attain improved employee commitment * Convenient distribution channels * Introducing chemical free cultivation process. Q. No. 02 What grade would you give Howard Schultz for the job he has done as CEO of Starbucks? Be prepared to support you r answer based on how well (or not so well) he has performed the five tasks of strategic management discussed in Chapter 2. ANS: Howard Shultz gets a grade of 95% in his Strategic Management approach. In my opinion Howard Shultz just didn’t do perfect in the area of marketing as he did not spend adequate budgets on advertising and product innovation. Last but not the least is that he did not attempt to study the environment properly while entering into new geographical areas e. g. he opened a store down street in Chicago which was not a good idea due to cold weather conditions. Other than that, he made a great task of performing all the five tasks of Strategic Management Q. No. 3 What was Howard Schultz’s original strategic vision for Starbucks? Is his present strategic vision for Starbucks different from the one he had in the 1980s? How many times has his strategic vision changed? Is his present strategic vision likely to undergo further evolution? ANS: Howard Shultz original Strategic Vision â€Å"To establish Starbucks as the most recognized and respected brand in the world. † Strategic Objectives * They wanted to have 15,000 stores by the year-end 2005. * They aimed to provide a great work environment and treat each other with respect and dignity. * They believed in taking on diversity as an essential component in the way they do business. * To apply the highest standards of excellence to the purchasing, roasting and fresh delivery of coffee. To develop loyal and satisfied customers all of the time. * To contribute positively to their communities and environment, and recognize that profitability is essential to future success of business. How did they evolve? At the earlier stages they promised themselves that they will not leave even a single stone unturned to make Starbucks the most recognized and re spected brand in the world. Therefore, they thought that this could only be possible if they will develop these strategic objectives because these are basis to earn the respect and fame for any business. Q. No. 3 What is your assessment of Starbucks financial performance during years 1998-2003? (Growth rates, profitability, control of major cost categories, financing, ROE, and P/E ratio? ) Growth Rate| Years| 1998| 1999| 2000| 2001| 2002| 2003| Growth rate| 0| 0. 2889| 0. 29095| 0. 2164| 0. 2415| 0. 2391| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Profitability| Years| 1998| 1999| 2000| 2001| 2002| 2003| Operating profit margin | 8. 34| 9. 29| 9. 4| 10. 57| 9. 6183| 10. 42| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ROE| Years| 1998| 1999| 2000| 2001| 2002| 2003| Return on equity| 8. 6| 1. 58| 8. 23| 13. 1| 18. 35| 12| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Price Per Earning Share| Years| 1998| 1999| 2000| 2001| 2002| 2003| Price Per Earning Share| 0. 19| 0. 27| 0. 24| 0. 46| 0. 54| 0. 67| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Control of Major Cost Categories In this portion we have analyzed that how Starbucks controlled its fixed cost. If we talk about the locations, it was very expensive to purchase land and then develop it as a store, so to overcome this problem Starbucks started leasing the land for long term periods. In our opinion, it was a quit impressive move to cut down its fixed cost. Secondly they observed that to get the license was too costly for them, so they made contracts with the partners who had license with them. Financing For the financing, Starbucks instead of taking loans preferred raising the equity. It was a better idea to generate capital because they did not have to pay any short term and long term interests against the borrowings. Q. No. 04 What were the key issues faced by Starbucks in 2004? Every company faces major challenges, even companies that are as successful as Starbucks. Although they have an outstanding reputation, have won many awards like top sustainable retail store award and most ethical company award etc, and even give back to their community, they are still facing challenges like any other company. Following are the most obvious challenges that Starbucks is dealing with:- * Schultz was overflowing with the ideas for the company, early on he noticed that first-time customers sometimes felt uneasy in the stores because of their lack of knowledge about fine coffees and because store employees sometimes came across as a little arrogant or superior to coffee beginner. Howard Schultz when came back from Italy shared his ideas for modifying the format of Starbucks’ store with Baldwin and Gordon Bowker. But instead of winning approval for trying out some of his ideas, Schultz encountered strong resistance but after a year Schultz succeeded in winning the approval from Baldwin and Bowker. * After sometime Baldwin and Bowker again went against th e ideas of Schultz so he became so frustrated and left Starbucks in late 1985 to open his own separate Espresso Bars in high-traffic down town locations. Schultz acquired Starbucks in 1987 and after the 20 months of acquiring, some employees felt unappreciated that there was a feeling of prior management had abandoned them. So, Schultz decided to make building a new relationship of mutual respect between employees and management. * Starbucks lost its money when it expanded market to Chicago because in Chicago that was the first downtown store opened on to the street rather than into the lobby of the building where it was located; in the winter months, customers were hesitant to go out in the wind and cold to acquire a cup of coffee. It was expensive to supply fresh coffee to the Chicago stores from Seattle warehouse. * The challenge to Starbucks, in Schultz view, was how to attract, motivate, and reward store employees in a manner that would make Starbucks a company that people would want to work for and that would generate enthusiastic commitment and higher level of customer service. * A values and principles â€Å"crisis† arose at Starbucks in 1989 when customers starting requesting nonfat milk in making Cappuccinos and lattes (an espresso coffee with frothy steamed milk) So, Starbucks started selling both fat milk and nonfat milk Cappuccinos and lattes. They were facing the issue of Wi-Fi (wireless internet service) in 2002, the number of accesses was in the millions by T-Mobile; internal research showed that the average connection last approximately 45 minutes So, in October 2003, Starbucks announced that they will expand Wi-Fi capability to additional locations and would have 2700 stores equipped wit h wireless Internet access by year end. * They were also facing challenges from their competitors. In 2003 there were an estimated 14000 specialty coffee outlets in the United States but they were not competent enough to exert pressure at Starbucks. Q. No. 05 What recommendations would you make to Howard Schultz to sustain the company growth and support strong financial performance in the years ahead? Recommendations After analyzing the whole case study, we became able to give few suggestions to Howard Schultz which can be handy to sustain the growth and support strong financial performance in the forthcoming years:- * He should spend more budgets on advertisement of products. He should bring innovations in his products because we saw in this case study that he was inspired by espresso bars so he imitated the whole theme of Italian espresso bars and the idea of dark roasted bean was an older one as well. * Before entering to any new geographical region he should study the market environment of that particular region as we saw that at Chicago there was an issue of cold weather and his store was at down-town-street. Furthermore, the labor rates and rents of building were higher as well. * At the stores Starbucks’ technique to teach customers about how to make coffee was not a good idea ecause it does not support their business model. Therefore, it should be avoided in future. Above elaborated things were having details about the strategies of Starbucks which drove it for the Global dominance till 2004. Starbucks is in fact the recognized and respected brand in the world and if it can overcome the shortcomings which we identified then nobody can create bother for it to be successful and there will be no point left as a mistake on its part. Reference www. starbucks. com Case Study â€Å"Starbucks in 2004: Driving for Global Dominance† written by Arthur A. Thompson, Amit J. Shah and Thomas F. Hawk. Starbucks Case Study Conner A Intro to Business 3/26/2013 Case Study Consumer Behavior in the Coffee Industry Did you know one franchise alone dominated an entire payment-processing market in just one year? You might have heard of this giant company by the name Starbucks. Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, had a significant role in the company’s growth. Starbucks has steadily dominated the coffee market and has even extended to being a 3rd home for many of its consumers. Based in Seattle, Starbucks had significant competition when it opened its first store in the Pike Place market in Seattle, yet still managed to become superior.Starbucks used new advertising tactics and presented a unique experience for its customers, all of which was a game changer in the business world. Starbucks was created when three friends opened a small store to sell coffee beans and roast in 1971[1]. Jerry Baldwin, Gordon Bowler and Zev Siegl opened their store in the heart of the unique open air market in downtown Seattle . Located just off the harbor, Pike place market was the optimal location and attracted many residents and tourists.After ten years of incredible growth, Jerry Baldwin hired Howard Schultz as head of management. When Schultz first started, he slowly learned the coffee industry and helped made subtle but significant changes. For example, Schultz noticed that â€Å"first-time customers sometimes felt uneasy in the stores†[2] so he developed â€Å"customer-friendly sales skills and produced brochures that made it easy for customers to learn about fine coffees†2 Schultz had the vision of making Starbucks a coffee lounge versus a bar after being inspired by eastern traditions.Even though he did not agree with the new direction, Baldwin allowed Schultz to open one espresso bar and in 2 years, Schultz was able to buy out Baldwin and equity owners with the help of investors in 19921. Howard Schultz initially saw the power of consumer behavior early on when he realized Starbuck s began to be a social gathering mecca for people instead of just an espresso stand. When Schultz first noticed the ‘seismic change in consumer behavior,’ he adopted a free-Wi-Fi service and mobile payment service and noticed that Starbucks began to attract people as if it was a third home for coffee enthusiasts.Although he jokes about not getting rent from consumers, it allowed Starbucks to create an online-experience in their ‘3rd home’ which was unique to the coffee scene in the United States. With scheduled deliveries and privatized ad networking, Starbucks was maximizing its profits and allowing an experience for coffee enthusiasts that did not make them feel locked-into paying. This shift in consumer behavior was in response to the cultural need for a place between home and work. As social beings, humans thrive for an excuse to hang out and socialize or participate in a community environment.This amazing experience that Starbucks supplied needed to be fine-tuned like any business plan. Like any business, Starbucks had challenges, such as their management of spending. In an interview entitled Business Brilliant, Schultz said that too much was focused on the customer instead of the infrastructure. To improve this, Schultz developed a unique experience in the store with the paired pastry-drinks and released free Wi-Fi for customers. In addition to free-Wi-Fi, mobile payments allowed consumers to avoid lines and continue their private work in the confines of the lounge.Soon Starbucks was thriving and announced that â€Å"the opening of 150 new stores in five years significantly exceeded the 1987 business plan’s objective of 125†[3]. Like every company, Starbucks faced unique issues in their business which slowed down growth initially which in effect slowed down growth in the long run. Schultz attributed the biggest hold-back in the long run to not investing in the supply chain, technology or manufacturing. Although Sta rbucks was marketing their franchise extremely well, they did not invest ahead of the growth curve and the infrastructures became under-par.In the Business Brilliant, Schultz candidly admitted that Starbucks â€Å"solely accelerated growth of the company. † Moreover, Schultz said the issue was that Starbucks â€Å"needed competency well beyond the size of the company and needed the kind of capability they didn’t have. † Since their infrastructure’s efficiency in the short run was hindered by technological limitations coupled with access to capital, the entire store chains needed to be shut down. Schultz defined the event as a need to redesign their image and retrain their employees.Starbucks was losing grip on the customers and their loyalty because the experience of Starbucks was losing its unique features. All of these internal and external issues that Starbucks was facing were all connected with values and company image according to Schultz. Schultz wa s so specific with the Starbucks experience that when he smelt burning cheese in a store he decided to ask the workers and they told him â€Å"So what, profits are up! † Soon after this, Schultz decided to close down and retrain all stores and employees. He sent out a press release admitting that Starbucks was misrepresenting itself.Although no one had accused or criticized Starbuck’s prior to his declaration, it was a bold move which negatively impacted the financial strength of the Company. However, the action proved loyal to the consumer and enhanced brand loyalty for Starbuck-addicts. This root issue of misrepresentation in the Starbuck’s experience and the company vision was so significant to Schultz that he needed rework his company from the ground up. This road block of ‘conserving the core businesses’ and ‘pushing for relevant innovation’ made Schultz tweak and adjust the Starbucks experience constantly but effectively.While Sch ultz attributes the root issue for Starbucks to be company image and adapting core values, could it be possible that the vision and image were not correctly portrayed because of unwise funding? Schultz does admit the funding issues contributed to the core issue of misrepresentation of company image and values, but he does not see the two issues in separate environments. Schultz assigns the core issue to misrepresentation and the surface symptoms to be funding. However, more funding or a different funding plan with more focus in infrastructure would have changed the outcome.The core issue was funding and the symptoms of the core issues were misrepresentation because of resource allocation. While their short term fixed costs of infrastructure and labor were solved, their reserved and recurring allocation towards the upgrades of their infrastructure lacked significantly. If properly funded before and seen ahead of the curve, their growth could have been anticipated. This is evident thr ough the need to shut down and retrain employees. It’s clear that the total fixed and variable costs exceeded their revenue initially.Like all companies, there was a start-up curve but when the curve was dealt with, resource allocation was not the focus. The best plan of action ideally would start with addressing resource allocation. Starbucks was able to stay in business and have great growth so it’s clear the management was able to properly allocate their average variable costs and fixed costs for the most part. Nevertheless, it would have been best if the costs were optimized and revenue was set aside for changes in infrastructure. Funding should have been directed at things which would have produced stability in the long run.This would have lowered their total costs and properly funded their infrastructures for the long run and short run. Schultz should have looked at the management immediately after buying out the company and properly hired people with skills that would be able to guide Starbucks through significant growth. Investment in infrastructure to avoid long-term costs would have saved Starbucks from funding issues at later times. In addition to optimizing their infrastructure for the long run, Starbucks needed to invest more in manufacturing and supply chain for the success in the long run.For example, Starbucks should have initially allocated more funding towards small upgrades in their infrastructure such as ovens versus microwaves to avoid unpleasant scents in the customer’s experience. This also connects to Schultz’s emphasis on hiring employees and affiliates based on similar values. If the decision to hire those employees would have initially been more focused on similar values in addition to management skills, the variable costs to upgrade the infrastructure in the long run would have been lower because the management would have been more motivated to deal with the issue before the CEO had to see the symptoms.Fi nally, the management of Starbucks needed to choose their employee’s more wisely from the start. If Schultz would have chosen his employee’s based on the similarity of their values and the company vision, little issues such as smell in the customer’s experience would have been dealt with more efficiently. This connects to optimizing their infrastructure but focuses on the employees instead of the technology. It’s important to treat both with separate solutions because Schultz reminded us that the employees can only work with the assets they are provided with.This small change in the focus of the start-up of the company could benefit the image of Starbucks very efficiently and in a cost-productive way. Schultz jokes about not getting rent from Starbucks admirers yet he also notes that the potential to plug into the social media of the internet and create the environment was more beneficial than the issue of customers hanging out inside the store. The evolv ing Starbucks experience caused consumers to have incredible brand loyalty over alternatives such as Pete’s Coffee and Tea and Tullies.Yet the quick and agile response of technology was exactly what Starbucks needed to put it ahead of the ‘growth curve’ in social media while its competitors struggled behind. Schultz’s solutions were effective in the short run but he still realized his long run potential was limited by resource allocation. The problem with Starbucks and consumers was not the shift in demand for coffee consumers but it was resource allocation and initial planning. Howard Schultz’s plan of action was headed in the right direction apart from the minor mix-up between the surface symptoms and the core issue.In addition to new work practices, Schultz integrated new management and had to let go many of the people he knew were limited to the knowledge of the short-term. This new resource allocation towards what Schultz called ‘the back side’ of the company, allowed the company to finally resolve its funding and allocation issues. The new plan of action consisted of hiring new employees and investing in infrastructure to anticipate growth and new forms of technology; the poor management habits of the past from would not hinder Starbucks in the future.Similar to my suggested plan of action, Schultz’s initiative consisted of new employee’s, new technology and investing in the short term. If Schultz’s would have put more funding towards infrastructure to bring stability in the long run, he would have been able to manage the shift in consumer behavior and maintain profit without the need to close down the stores for retraining. The issue for Starbucks is not losing customers but how to accurately represent the company’s values. Moreover, if the employees were chosen correctly and the infrastructure was properly optimized, Schultz plan would have worked perfectly.All in all, every comp any in any industry is going to face challenges and have limited resources to meet them in an efficient manner. Howard Schultz used the resources he had to best manage Starbucks and handled the big issues he had efficiently and creatively. The future of Starbucks all depends on its management and commitment to adhering to the company vision and values. After experiencing the 2000-2008 period, one can see that the values will inevitably shift with changes in management. 4] The future of Starbucks is highly dependent on how long Howard Schultz continues to be an active part of the company and in shaping its vision. If affiliates and employees are chosen intelligently and have values matched properly with the company’s mission, Starbucks’s vision should be passed down effectively through each generation of new management. Nevertheless, the rise and fall of competitors in a market is inevitable and time will tell if Starbucks will eventually be surpassed by a competitor. S tarbucks will be a primary educational focus for many business programs.It is one of the best managed franchises in history and will remain one of the most successful for a long period of time. Like any business, Schultz received criticism for extreme responses yet these responses excelled the growth of the company. Much like my suggestions, Schultz acted quickly and made extreme changes which were crucial to repairing the infrastructure. Unlike most companies, Starbucks’s major focus is promoting the company image and values instead of putting profits first. Works Cited I. Schiff, Lewis. â€Å"Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz Coming to NYC. Inc. com. INC, 18 Mar. 2011. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. II. â€Å"Starbucks Corporation History. † History of Starbucks Corporation – FundingUniverse. Funding Universe, n. d. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. III. McGraw Hill. â€Å"Starbucks Corporation. † Starbucks Case Study. MHHE. com, n. d. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. ———†”———– [1] Funding Universe, Starbucks Corporate History [2] McGraw Hill, Starbucks Case Study, Starbucks Corporate History [3] McGraw Hill, Starbucks Case Study, Starbucks Corporate History [4] Funding Universe, Starbucks Corporation History

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Comparing the Vietnam War and the Watergate Scandal to the Film Forrest Gump - Essay Example Usually, the involvement is categorized into three phases. First and foremost, there was the covert operations phase that covered the first decade of the entire operation. The second phase is commonly described as the advising phase that covered the subsequent eleven years thereafter. The third phase covered the last years of the war, and this was the time when a direct involvement of the American forces in Vietnam was witnessed. The country escalated the war in this region. However, after the â€Å"1968 Tet Offensive,† the country began the process of disengagement and, five years later the country completely withdrew its troops from the region i.e. after the Paris Peaces Accord. This marked the end of the country’s three-year decade involvement in the war. The Watergate scandal on the other hand took place during Nixon’s presidency. In mid 1972, a group of men armed with certain highly developed eavesdropping devices broke into the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters situated in the Watergate Hotel Complex in the nation’s capital. The following two years were trying moments for the president and his close allies, as the country would be shocked to realize that the Watergate incident that was initially thought to be a â€Å"third rate burglary,† actually had the approval of the state. This was the first time in the history of America that a sitting president was forced to resign due to public pressure. The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast these two historical events to the movie, ‘Forrest Gump’. Discussion The movie Forrest Gump narrates the story of an implausibly kind and affectionate individual who is also the kind that some people may refer to as â€Å"mildly retard ed.† The fact that this individual may not be very smart is quite true. However, the fact that he is fortunate is not in doubt. Some would say this is so because he is blessed with a mother and friend who loved him greatly. Forrest is a native of rural Alabama and is raised by his mother who rents out rooms in the family house to tourists visiting the area in exchange of cash (Ciao 17). Even though this character is viewed to be less refined and was raised not any close to the major cities, he manages to become part of some of the most significant events that took place in the American History i.e. from the late 1950s to the early 1980s (Dlugos 88). Among these events are the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Anti-Vietnam protest movements. He even gets the privilege of personally meeting three American presidents during this time. Other prominent personalities that Forrest is privileged to get acquainted with include Elvis Presley and John Lennon. This film focuses on a period of American history from the perspective of a calm soul who is devoid of skepticism. Generally, the film exposes to its viewers some of the relationships that the character develops through his life. For instance, there is his mother who is committed to ensuring her son’s well-being, his two best friends from the days in the military, Bubba and Dan, and most importantly Jenny who is his true childhood sweetheart. Even though Jenny experiences the changes in the country’s culture from a very different perspective to that of Forrest, she still manages to remain loyal and true to her childhood ally, whose genuineness, compassion, and steadfastness she would find in no other (Dlugos 88). Agreeably or disagreeably to different people, at the end of the day, the disgrace of the Watergate scandal is what the Richard Nixon presidency will largely be remembered for. Over three decades down the line, its effect and how it influenced the

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Mr. Smith Goes To Washington - Essay Example ared to the political climate within the current era; noting key similarities and differences as well as specifying issues, obstacles, and difficulties that Mr. Smith might face if in fact the movie was cast and produced within the current era and focused upon the current political climate within Washington DC. Through such a level of analysis, the intention of this student is to provide a running commentary; both on the way in which corruption is similar to the way in which it was fully 75 years ago as compared to the way it exists today. Additionally, commentary will be provided in terms of the unique differences and the growth of systemic rot and corruption within government power as they exist today in terms of how they might be related to the film. One of the first differentials that should necessarily be understood in terms of the way that the film was represented and the general sentiment of the population today is in terms of the overall level of trust that citizens have in their government. Whereas it is ultimately true that there have always been a large number of individuals that inherently distrust power and believe it to be corrupt, the overall number of people 75 years ago, and those represented within the film, or ultimately of the belief that individuals in Washington were at least attempting to do the right thing and to look out for their best interests. Whereas it is inherently true that the corruption of the governor and the prior senator were clearly noted within the film, the common people were of the opinion that a reformer and an honest man could make some difference and could ultimately change the situation as it currently existed (Corliss 4). Yet, within the modern era, people have become increasingly skept ical of the potential for anyone to change the way in which Washington operates. After electing one of the most charismatic political leaders of the past 50 years, Barack Obama, only to realize that the platform on which he campaigned

Computer aided design in mechanical engineering Essay

Computer aided design in mechanical engineering - Essay Example This lowered the cost of production per unit and enabled the production of goods that were cheap and could be bought by the general population. Ever since, the manufacturing process has undergone tremendous improvements, which has led to improved efficiency and lowered the cost of production further. The improvements in the electronics and computer design have led to the development of computer-controlled control systems. These systems are advantageous over previously used systems as they can be easily manipulated to change the output. Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) refers to the use of Numerical Control (NC) software applications to create G-code, which are the instructions fed to numerical control machines to produce the required output. The use of CAM has led to the production of high quality products. CAM can also be defined as the process of producing a manufacturing plan for the design of tools and models, and coordinating the machines, and simulation. The plan is then carried out on the production line. For machines to operate, they require a form of control. There are various types of control mechanism available including manual control, automatic control and computer control. Machines used for mass production are often expected to produce to repeat similar operations precisely and fast. They should repeat these processes repeatedly. This requires automation to improve the speed of these processes. Common techniques that are used in the control systems of machines include electrical systems, pneumatic systems, and mechanical systems. For such systems, if a change is required, the procedures necessary to effect the change are long, tedious, and expensive. Advances in computer and electronic technologies have been employed to design systems that are more flexible. The use of these technologies leads to an increase in the efficiency of machinery produced. The products produced are of better quality and are cheaper (Elanchezhan, Sunder &

Race and Minorities in the Jury Box Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Race and Minorities in the Jury Box - Assignment Example The selection is most difficult when it is a high-profile case and everyone has heard of the defendant. Introduction In 2006, it was estimated through the United States Bureau of Justice statistics, that over 1.1 million adults were convicted of felonies and, of this amount, 38% were Black. Most of these cases were handled in state courts and, those who had been arrested and remained in jail, had their cases handled more quickly than others did. Mainly this was due to the fact that most could not hire a lawyer or post bail (Gabbidon & Greene, 2013). There are several processes in how cases move forward to a trial, but once it does, and the case requires a jury, then there will be a session where members of the public are requested to appear for potential selection to act as a juror in the case. This paper concerns the process of jury selection and how it can be biased by race and minority composition, or lack of it (Gabbidon & Greene, 2013). When it comes to jury selection, there has been considerable discourse about the makeup of jurors and whether jurors should be the same race as the defendant, or not the same race as the defendant, or a mixture (AP, 2008). 1.When determining suitable jurors for a trial, it is never made publicly clear why lawyers might choose one juror over another. However, some policymakers and legal scholars have now proposed reforms to ensure that there is sufficient variety of racial minorities on any given jury. While the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was created to eliminate racial discrimination in jury selection, yet it still does exist, and it happens more often in Southern states (EJI, 2010). Some counties have excluded almost 80% of qualified Blacks in selecting juries in counties that have a majority population of Blacks, citing obscure reasons such as being single, married, too old, too young, for having attended black colleges, or not having attended college, having an out-of-wedlock child, and even for how they walk (EJI, 2010). It can also be a case of religious views or tendencies to not want to send someone to jail (AP, 2008). How this detailed information was obtained is unclear unless it was through interviews or surveys with lawyers. In justifying reforms for the composition of a jury, the primary factor that should hold sway is that any prospective juror must demonstrate an understanding of the legal process, and a willingness to not be biased. 2. The jury composition should be made of all races, not just all White or all Black, or all Hispanic (EJI, 2010). Lawyers should make a reasonable attempt at including all races and minorities, when possible.

The Dust Bowl Essay Example for Free

The Dust Bowl Essay The dust bowl was a period of severe dust storms that causes damage to prairie lands from 1930 to 1936, some areas until 1940. Whoever thought before this that dust could kill Americans and affect their life’s forever. This historical event will be a moment in time that will be in our memories forever because it is an event to learn from and never forget. The main states that were affected by the dust bowl were Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas , and New Mexico. Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, and some parts of Canada were also affected. These states were affected because there was a lot of farming and in this area and because of the warm climate they acquire very bad droughts. These dust storms were caused by severe drought and poor farming techniques such as no crop rotation. They dug to deep into the ground, which destroyed all of the roots and grass in the ground that holds the soil down. Having too much agriculture, planting, overgrazing, and harsh winters were too much for the land to handle. Farmers also did not use the correct methods for the environment, which caused erosion. For example cotton farmers cleared fields and left them for the winter months. Winds are the highest during this time, so the grasses that should have held the soil in place were not there. This created huge dust clouds because of the dry topsoil being carried in the wind In 1932, 14 dust storms were recorded in the plains. In 1933, there were 38 storms. In 1934, around 100 million acres of farm land had lost almost all of the top soil because of the wind. The dust storms caused dirt to get into houses no matter how hard the family tried to prevent it from happening Dirt also got into automobile engines and caused problems and even prevented them from operating. People wore masks to prevent the dust from getting into their lungs, but yet hospitals reported hundreds of patients sick with dust pneumonia Often these dust storms would come so suddenly that farmers would get trapped out in their fields and would suffocate The dust storms were so bad that people could not continue living there any longer. Many families packed their belongings and left there homes. Victims of the dust bowl migrated to California and other places on the west coast. They tried to go wherever they could in search of jobs. Many of them did not find jobs because of the depression. Often families lived in tar-paper hacks with no floor or plumbing. By 1940, 2. 5 million people moved from the dust bowl states. Government programs were set up to help the farmers and their families Programs were developed for soil conservation, and new methods and techniques were taught. The government also gave the farmer money and seeds to help them start over. The farmers were told to plant trees and grass to anchor the soil so that the same problems would continue no longer.

The Importance of Audit Independence

The Importance of Audit Independence 1. Introduction As the development of the modern business, audit is playing a more and more important role to insure the trueness of the financial report and help report users to make proper decisions. Consequently, it is very important for auditors to remain independence in body and mind when conducting an audit based on a public limited company. To expound this topic clearly, the essay is divided into the following parts: Firstly, it makes a literature review of audit independence and concluded the viewpoint into four categories; secondly, it introduces the definition of audit independence in body and mind and stated the important of both of them separately; Finally, it analyzes why it is important to remain audit independence from many angles such as shareholders, creditors, government, operators and other stakeholders. 2. Literature review When it comes to the audit independence, many scholars have conducted systematic research in this topic. Some scholars pointed out that auditor has two kinds of independence- body and mind, lack of the former one may shake the publics confidence on independence and lead to interest conflicts, and lack of the latter one means auditors lose their professional ethics and this is very dangerous (Carmichael Swieringa, 1968). Salehi have emphasized that the cornerstone for the auditing profession is audit independence. The auditors opinion is suspect without independence and the third parties think that there is no need for external auditors without independence (Salehi, 2009). Due to highly publicized audit failures, the topic of auditor independence has gained increasing attention from academics, regulators, and practitioners around the world in recent years (Hope Langli, 2008). Under the background of many high profile companies fraud cases exposure such as Enron, Adelphia, WorldCom, the importance of audit independence to improve corporate governance is getting more and more attention (Rezaee. 2003). As the no-audit services has become a more and more important lucrative business for CFA firms, audit independence is somewhat influenced, which make it even more crucial to maintain audit independence for auditors (Gul, Tsui Dhaliwal, 2006). Besides, Bou-Raad G. emphasized the significance of audit importance from the value -added prospect. Internal auditors are not just a traditional audit for supervision but also a valuable access to assisting managers to execute the objectives of the organization. In other words, corporate management benefits from audit quality (Bou-Raad. 2000). From the literature above, the importance of audit independence can be categorized into four reasons: Firstly, audit independence can hold the public confidence and avoid interest conflicts; Secondly, audit independence can help auditors to provide high quality financial report and avoid scandals like Enron bomb; Thirdly, the development of no-audit services make it more difficult but more important to maintain audit independence; Lastly, audit independence can improve the quality of audit and it can assist managers to make strategy formulations. 3. The introduction of audit independence in body and mind When it comes to remaining independence in body, it can be also called physical independence, external independence or surface independence. Auditors should take the role of independence auditors on front of the third parties. And it is the direct evidence for the public judging the independence of auditors. Once report users think that auditors have some current or potential relationship that damages the independence with the consigner such as employment, business partner, family or relatives and so on, it will definitely decrease the audit function as they probably do not depend on those reports so much (Law, 2010). Auditors should have no specific relationships with entity, and they mustnt hold equity stakes of the entity and should not be on the senior position of it. In order to avoid misunderstanding and enhance the trust, auditor must avoid or diminish this threat to a level which is acceptable. Independence in mind is hard to improve and the public can only infer the independ ence of auditors from the body like relationships with the entity and other stakeholders. Actually, even if auditors maintain independence in mind, as long as the public think they take sides with the entity or any other parties, no matter how precise the audit result is it is useless. As for remaining independence in mind, it demands that there is no stake between auditor and the consigner intrinsically. In the whole auditing process, auditor should keep an unbiased attitude that makes a professional decision and never succumbs to any external pressure. It comes up with higher requirement for auditors mindset. They are required to be neutral, objective and fact-based. Actually, those two concepts are different but integrative. They reflect both external and internal sides. Only remaining independence in body and mind can make sure the auditing result persuasive. Also, the function and value of conducting audit can be realized. 4. The importance of remaining audit independence Stakeholders make economy decisions by taking advantage of reports. Whether those reports are related and reliable are questions. Audit can help to solve this problem. However, auditor fails to fulfill the duty if they cannot remain independence in the conducting process. On one hand, report users will doubt this kind of dependence if they thought auditor and consigner belong to the same party. On the other hand, when auditor cannot keep an unbiased mindset, the auditing opinion probably gets wrong. For example, auditor fails to find out the information is cooked and issues unqualified opinion. This result is easy to mislead related report users for decision making. They may bear loss because of depending on this audit opinion. As the situation varies from Stakeholder to Stakeholder, the following analysis in the importance to remain independence in body and mind is based on different Stakeholders. 4.1 The importance of audit independence for the shareholders Shareholders are the direct beneficiary of companies and they will get more bonuses if the companies operate successfully. Consequently, shareholders have high demand for audit independence. Actually, when the company is in poor operation, controlling shareholders are not willing to public the truth, and then hurt the interest of minority shareholders. Controlling shareholders dont have the incentive to employ high independence auditors, and this phenomenon is called Entrenchment Effect (Fan Wong, 2002). As the shareholders right separates from the management right, owners do not involve into the daily management to the company. They employ staff to operate their company and enjoy the profits. Usually, shareholders care much about the profitability, efficiency, going concern, and solvency and so on. Those indexes reflect how well manager operates the company. Also, shareholders can assess managers performance according to the information. Generally speaking, they obtain the information from the reports prepared by managers. However, the report may involve fraudulence because it is manager who makes those reports. It has the possibility that managers cook the report so as to cover up their mistakes, bad performance and other situation where they fail to fulfill their responsibility. At this time, auditors work helps answer the question that how much report users can depend on the report information. But if auditor is unable to keep independence, it probably arouses the doubt to audit opinion from report users. Obviously, audit loses the value under this condition. Without unbiased and objective audit opinion, report users are unable to acquire useful information to know the companys condition and assess managers performance. Once shareholders lose control to the company, this business mechanism will definitely go disorder as managers probably make their own benefits by taking advantage of shareholders resource and power and regardless of the limitation from regulation and law (Agbejule, 2009). In the end, the company probably goes to liquidation or bankruptcy. 4.2 The importance of audit independence for creditor Nowadays, debtor-creditor relationshipÂÂ  is very common and necessary. Debtors want to loan in order to expend production or develop new market, and creditors want to obtain interest using their spare money. And what the creditors concern most is the debtors ability to pay for the debt. The debtors financial reports can offer some information such as some ratios which can reveal the debt paying ability. And if the company has a bad financial result, creditors can consider calling in a loan ahead of the expiry day to insure their money is safe. However, those reports are made by the debtor. Therefore, creditors may raise the doubt whether there exists the possibility that debtor offer false information to diddle money or conceal the fact that they have no ability to pay that money back. At this time, auditors work can eliminate or alleviate this doubt. However, audit cant work out if auditor were unable to remain independence when conducting the audit. Creditors are likely to ma ke a wrong decision due to the failed audit opinion. When creditor lends money to unqualified debtor, it probably bears a lot of bad accounts and toxic asset as consequence (Siddiqui, 2002). Consequently, audit independence which can help to provide true financial reports is very crucial to creditors. 4.3 The importance of audit independence to government As a company operates within one country, it uses the infrastructure construction and investment environment offered by the government. It should take on tax responsibility. The financial statement provided by companies is the evidence for government to decide whether levy or not and how many to levy. For example, business tax is based on the gross income of the company which can be found on the income statement. And the income tax is based on the profit also from income statement. If company cooks the financial reports in order to save tax cost, the government will be suffered directly. Therefore, government will conduct audit in case of tax evasion. Moreover, lacking of audit independence would influence government indirectly. If auditors provided fake financial reports, the pubic will be suffered. They will have less confidence on the trueness of the operation of the company, and the stakeholders will feel betrayed. If their interests are impaired, conflicts would emerge, and it is bad for the stability of the society. That is why the government published the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act after the Enron Bomb. 4.4 The importance of audit independence for operator Many people may misunderstand that auditor is enemy to operator referring to manager in this essay and the existence of audit is a stone in the way. This idea is partial and shallow. The role of audit plays is to increase the dependence to the information and check whether the whole business activities are in accordance with the regulation. To some degree, it serves to obtain superior management (Shih, 2006). Sometimes, auditors will come up with solutions to the existing management problems. For example, the internal control has leak which may incur situation where damages the whole benefits of company. Going details, the design of regulation may give a chance for embezzlement. Or auditor finds out some staff goes against regulation. Cases like that should call managers attention for better management. If auditor cannot keep independence when conducting audit, it will pose the threat to the company such as damage the company benefits. For example, the auditor is a brother to the cas hier. When this auditor conducts audit to cash, he cant remain independence or his independence has been affected. He may conceal the fact if the cashier had some guilt and issues unqualified opinion (Fadzil, 2005). Because of this opinion, managers cant notice this threat. It may have a bad effect on their working performance and company development. 4.5 The importance of audit independence for the other stakeholders The existence of a company has to bear many responsibilities. Therefore, the stakeholders can never be limited to the above mention. When a company becomes a listed company namely a public limited company, it has to fulfill more duties to the society and accept more supervision from the public. It raises fund by stock shares. Its public investors sell or buy the shares in the stock exchange, and their decision usually relies in the financial reports. However, those reports perhaps cannot reflect the financial position and income condition. Audit opinion is very important in their decision making process. If auditor could not remain independence, the audit opinion will mislead the users. Investors will lose money if they invested a loss company. For example, the collapse of Enron results from the accounting firm Andersen failed to remain independence. In the end, the share price cannot reflect the value of the company (Abbott, 2000). Stock market will go wrong and the economy will fal l apart. 5. Conclusions The most important responsibility for auditors is to provide high quality financial report which can help report users to make right decisions. The authenticity and reliability of the financial report is very crucial because it directly decides the strategies of stakeholders. The trueness of financial report which is also the quality of audit is decided by two factors: professional competence of auditors and audit independence, and the latter is more important. Audit failures caused by lack of audit independence have led to many companies fraud cases. Audit independence is also the need of shareholders, creditors, government, operators and other stakeholders. All in all, it is really important for auditors to remain independence in body and mind when conducting an audit.

Holes by Louis Sachar :: English Literature

Holes by Louis Sachar Summary I had just read a book called Holes by Louis Sachar, and was published by Dell Yearling in 1998. This story is about an innocent boy named Stanley Yelnats IV, whose name is very stand-out in his family, because every man in his family has this name except they are spelled differently from either frontward or backward. Stanley is a very quiet boy. Therefore, he has no friends in school and tends to be picked on because of his size all of the time. His family is very poor, and it is very reasonable to blame this cause on their great great grandfather. When Stanley’s great great grandfather was still living, he had stolen a pig from a Gypsy, and as the result she had pressed a curse on him and among his descendents. Stanley is a very bad luck kid. He was mistakenly convicted for stealing a pair of Clyde Livingston shoes. No one believes Stanley that those shoes were falling on top of him out of nowhere. As the result, the judge has given him two choices in which he’s either going to jail, or will be sent to a boy’s detention center, known as Camp Green Lake. Stanley, of course, decided his decision to Camp Green Lake, where he thought he would make some more new friends and get to do camping like other kids get to do. Stanley learns his vision at the lake was totally different when he finally arrived there. He found there is no lake, except it’s just a wide abandoned desert with bunch of holes everywhere. Mr. Sir, who’s a sunflower seeds addicted, gave Stanley an orange outfit just like the rest of the other boys are having. Stanley learns the life at the camp isn’t as simple as he thought it would be. In every early morning, all of the boys through out the whole camp would have to start digging holes that is must be 5 feet deep and 5 feet wide in the hot desert with only one canteen fills with water until the late evening. If any boy found anything interesting, he’s then must reporting it to Mr. Sir. Stanley makes a lot of new friends. Yet he’s only getting closer to one boy whose name is Zero. Zero is a very quiet person. He doesn’t talk much. He couldn’t read also. Therefore, Stanley has made an agreement with Zero in which he would teach Zero how to read, and Zero would dig holes for Stanley. Zero helps Stanley with the digging and whenever they are having free time Stanley would go on and teach Zero