Referencing and Paraphrasing

Preparation for mandatory test: Introducing Referencing Referencing is the key means by which you can avoid plagiarism and is central to the practice of academic honesty. The basic idea is that any time you use information, ideas or words from another source you need to use referencing to acknowledge the original author. Using someone else’s ideas without clearly identifying that this is what you have done is an obvious breach of the principles of trust and fairness which support academic endeavour.It can sometimes be difficult to know what  you are required to reference, and many students mistakenly believe that it is only academic publications which need referencing. In fact any time you use someone else’s ideas or information you need to reference: if you do not, you are plagiarising. The following lists help you understand when referencing is necessary and when it is not. When completing an assignment, the following sources must be referenced: * books and textbook s journal articles * newspapers and magazines * pamphlets and brochures * films, documentaries, TV programs and advertisements * web pages and all computer-based resources including blogs and blog posts, podcasts and vodcasts * letters and emails * personal interviews * lecture and tutorial notes * communications with lecturers, tutors and other professionals (emails and conversations) * reproduced * tables * charts * graphs * formulae * diagrams * illustrations * images * photographsWhen completing an assignment there is no need to reference: * your own observations – for example, in the experiment results section of a report * your own writing about your own experiences – for example, in a reflective journal * your own thoughts, comments or conclusions * your own analysis or evaluation – for example, in the opportunities and risks and recommendations sections of a report * your own interpretations of the significance of data or facts * your relation of data or facts to the argument of a report or essay – for example, in the recommendations section of a report * common knowledgeCommon knowledge There are some kinds of information that do not need to be referenced. Common knowledge – that is, knowledge held in common in the public domain – does not need to be referenced. For example, it is common knowledge that Australia is a democracy, and therefore a statement to this effect in an assignment does not need to be referenced. However, if you are discussing nuances of opinion from various Australian political parties on a topical issue, these views need to be referenced because they represent specialised knowledge.If in doubt about what can be assumed as common knowledge, consult your unit of study coordinator or tutor. The validity of information As a general rule, only credible sources should be used in university assignments. Information and ideas from websites, general members of the public and other students is not necessarily credible. Credibility stems from a quality assurance process. For example, articles in academic journals are usually peer reviewed, and have therefore been through such a process. University lecturers and tutors have been through an equivalent process.The internet does not have a standard quality assurance process. Information is frequently published with no checks for accuracy or substantiation. For these reasons you need to make sure that you assess the validity of information sourced from the web. Why should I reference? Beyond issues of academic honesty there are other good reasons to reference. As well as helping you to work in an honest manner, by making clear what is the work of others, referencing ensures that your marker knows what is your own work and that your assessments are marked fairly.Three good reasons to reference * Referencing is central to the development of your own knowledge and ideas * Many students feel confused about what is expected in terms of their use of sources and the presentation of their own ideas. While you are expected to present your own ideas in an assignment, a personal response to the assignment question is not adequate. Your marker looks for evidence that you have developed your ideas after close consideration of existing academic knowledge and ideas.In order to demonstrate that your ideas are based on thorough research, you need to refer to all relevant sources and present them in such a manner that you document their influence. * Referencing allows the marker to clearly identify your own ‘ voice’ * An important function of referencing is that it makes clear where a particular fact or idea has come from. Since your assignment will include a mix of your own ideas and ideas and information from other sources, it is crucial that your marker can easily identify the difference.If you do not include references, or do not adequately and accurately reference, you will be implying that ideas and informat ion are your own when they are not. This is plagiarism. * References are an important signpost for your marker In an assignment, your marker is looking for evidence that: * you have understood and assimilated ideas and information from your sources * you are able to analyse the significance of the ideas and nformation from your sources in the context of your assignment – for example, in the opportunities and risks section of a report * you are able to evaluate the relative relevance of the ideas and information from your sources in the context of your assignment – for example, in the recommendations section of a report * you are able to develop an argument based on the ideas and information from your sources  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ for example, in an essay. Good referencing helps your marker to clearly identify these qualities in your work. When should I reference? Knowing when you need to reference is only the first step in avoiding plagiarism.The second step involves learning ho w to integrate the information and ideas of others into your own work. Whenever you incorporate source material into your assignment you have a choice: to use the same exact words as the original, or to use your own words to express the idea or information. Summarising and paraphrasing offer alternatives to using direct quotations and ensure that you are able to develop your own voice and make clear your own contribution. Direct quotation A direct quotation is a word-for-word reproduction of someone else’s words, either written or spokenWhen you choose to use a direct quotation in your assignment, you need to: * Enclose the direct quotation in single quotation marks ‘†¦. ’, ensuring that all the words you have reproduced are included * Double-check your quotation to ensure that it is a word-for-word replication of the original and that the punctuation is also the same * Include the author’s family name (or source name), publication date and page numbe r, immediately after the quotation (or within the sentence where you use the quotation) * Ensure that the referencing details are accurate: your reader needs to be able to locate the original using this information.Quoted special words or phrases also need to be enclosed in quotation marks, even though they may not express an entire idea or sentence. A word of warning†¦ You should not rely too heavily on direct quotations in your assignments. While direct quotations can be useful in ensuring that you accurately transcribe a complex idea, if you use too many direct quotations in your writing you are letting your sources speak instead of establishing your own voice. This makes it difficult for your reader to ascertain what you have understood and what contribution you are making.When using sources it is important to ensure that you frequently re-express ideas in your own words and phrasing. Using your own words Paraphrasing and summarising are alternatives to using direct quotati ons, and allow you to express your source’s information and ideas in your own words. Paraphrasing A paraphrase is a short section of text that retains the source’s original meaning but expresses it in different words. In order to paraphrase you need to do more than simply change one or two words.To paraphrase legitimately, you need to first understand the original meaning, and then express this meaning in your own words, phrasing and sentences. Here is an example of how to paraphrase. The following passage is taken from page 180 of Schminke, M. , Arnaud, A. and Kuenzi, M. 2007, ‘The power of ethical work climates’ ? , Organizational Dynamics, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 171-186. Moral sensitivity can be improved through training. To enhance moral awareness, organizations first need to explain clearly what constitutes unethical and illegal behaviour, and to clarify desired employee behaviours with respect to all organizational stakeholders.This requires clearly com municating formal, comprehensive ethics policies and procedures (e. g. , ethics codes) to employees at all levels, including managers, so as to provide formal boundaries for decisions, activities, and behaviours in the organization. However, awareness training should also probe the informal gray areas of comprehensive ethics policies. It may do so through the use of scenario studies, games, and interactive videos, which include ethical dilemmas that employees may face in their workplace.Such training opportunities allow individuals sufficient exposure to the practice of identifying ethical issues in realistic settings. Acceptable paraphrase Below is a legitimate rephrasing of the original text: Organizations can take steps to improve the ethical sensitivity of their employees by providing clear guidance on what is appropriate ethical behaviour and where the grey informal difficulties may lie through variety of methods including dilemmas, games and scenarios (Schminke, Arnaud and Kue nzi 2007). Unacceptable paraphrase Below is an unacceptable paraphrase.Rather than a legitimate rephrasing, this is a collection of direct quotes from the original, which have just been organised in a different order: Moral sensitivity can be improved through training, which can be delivered through the use of scenario studies, games, and interactive videos, which include ethical dilemmas that employees may face in their workplace (Schminke, Arnaud and Kuenzi 2007). Unacceptable paraphrase Below is another unacceptable paraphrase. In this case, it is unacceptable because it merely involves the alteration of a few words in the original:In enhancing moral awareness, organizations should explain clearly what constitutes unethical and illegal behaviour, and specify desired employee behaviours for all stakeholders in the organisation (Schminke, Arnaud and Kuenzi 2007). Hint: As well as highlighting your understanding, paraphrasing information and ideas allows you to integrate them more e asily into your own writing. Summarising A summary is an outline of the main or most relevant ideas presented in a source. When summarising, be absolutely sure to use your own words, phrasing and sentence structures!Hint: Summarising can be useful when you want to focus on particular ideas or particular information in a source. When paraphrasing and summarising, you need to: * Ensure that the words, phrasing and sentence structure are your own. If you paraphrase or summarise and your words are too similar to the source’s, this is plagiarism. * Include the author’s family name (or source name) and publication date immediately after the paraphrase or summary (or within the sentence). * Ensure that the referencing details are accurate: your reader needs to be able to locate the original source using this information.Remember, your own contribution includes your ability to clearly express someone else’s ideas or information in your own words and demonstrate understa nding of the relevance of this information in the context of your assignment. How do I reference? There are a variety of different referencing systems used to acknowledge sources in academic texts. Often, within a given unit of study, one particular system will be favoured so it is important that you check with your unit of study coordinator. It is imperative that you choose a single recognised system and use it consistently and accurately throughout your assignment.This includes paying close attention to the presentation of referencing details, including the order of information, and the precise use of commas, full stops, italics and quotation marks. The Harvard referencing system as specified in The University of Sydney Business School Referencing Guide is used in The University of Sydney Business School. This section provides a number of examples of how to reference sources, both in-text (i. e. , in the body of your work) and in the accompanying reference list. Reference lists an d bibliographiesA reference list only includes the sources directly referred to in the body of your work. A bibliography includes all works that have informed your work, both those directly referred to in the body of your work and those not. Note: Most assignments require a reference list only. If you are unsure whether or not a bibliography is also required, please check with your unit of study coordinator or your tutor. Direct quotation When a word-for-word quotation is integrated into the text of your essay, you must always provide referencing details in the sentence where the quotation is introduced.In both the reference list and the bibliography you must also provide full details of the  source quoted. To reference a short direct quotation of about 30 words or less, place single inverted commas around the author’s words, and place his/her family name, the date of publication, and the page number in brackets after the quotation, for example: Truly difficult ethical conf licts in the work place exist ‘between one’s deeply held, subjectively informed relational ways of being in the world and more objectively fashioned general rules’ (Ladkin 2006, p. 8). The corresponding entry in the reference list would look like this: Ladkin, D. 2006, ‘When deontology and utilitarianism aren’t enough: how Heidegger's notion of ‘ dwelling’ might help organisational leaders resolve ethical issues’, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 65, no. 1, pp. 87-98. Below is an instance of using a direct quotation to refer to someone else's idea in your writing: Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari propose an unusual idea of philosophy. They define philosophy as the ‘art of forming, inventing, and fabricating concepts’ (1994, p. ). This idea is useful for exploring ways in which various forms of intellectual work can be seen not as a reflection on the world, but as an opportunity to intervene in the world. The correspo nding entry in the reference list would look like this: Deleuze, G. and Guattari, F. 1994, What is philosophy? , Verso, London. Quotations which are more than about 30 words must be set apart in the text by indenting in a block format, without using quotation marks. A font size one point smaller can also be used.Below is an instance of using a direct quotation to introduce someone else’s argument. Rowold and Heinitz (2007) make a link between trust and the transformation of followers in the following way: In addition, if the leader is a trustworthy model and represents a code of conduct, transformation occurs more easily. As a consequence of the leader's charismatic qualities and behaviours, followers identify with the leader. In turn, values and performance standards are more likely to be adapted by followers.Finally, transformational and charismatic leaders foster performance beyond expectations (p. 122). The corresponding entry in the reference list would look like this: R owold, J. and Heinitz, K. 2007 ‘ Transformational and charismatic leadership: assessing the convergent, divergent and criterion validity of the MLQ and the CKS’ ? , The Leadership Quarterly, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 121-133. Quoting a fact Whenever you include a fact that is not commonly known information in your writing, you must use in-text referencing to identify the source.For example: The recent global financial crisis has led to significant rises in unemployment levels throughout the developed world. The November 2009 Australian unemployment rate of 5. 7 per cent (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2009) is a welcome sign that the economy may be on the road to recovery. The corresponding entry in the reference list would look like this: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2009, 6202. 0-Labour Force Australia – November 2009, viewed 15 December 2009, http://www. abs. gov. au/AUSSTATS/[email  protected] sf/mf/6202. 0 Paraphrasing and summarising If you use your own wor ds to express a source’s ideas or information, you must still reference the source by providing the author’s surname and the date of publication in brackets at the end of the relevant passage. For example: Marketing potentially harmful products, like genetic tests, poses a challenge for corporate decision-makers in making sure they appropriately balance the benefits and harm of their product in their advertising (Williams-Jones and Ozdemir 2008).The corresponding entry in the reference list would look like this: Williams-Jones, B. and Ozdemir, V. 2008, ‘Challenges for corporate ethics in marketing genetic tests’, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 77, no. 1, pp. 33-44. Referencing according to the type of assessment task Although you need to reference in all university assignments (unless it is explicitly stated otherwise), what you are expected to reference – and how references must be expressed – depends on the type of assessment task. For ex ample, research essays require full referencing.However, other assessments, such as a closed book exam, are unlikely to require you to memorise entire quotations and page numbers. Reference requirements in some assessment tasks – for instance, oral presentations – are not as clear, and in such cases you should consult your unit of study coordinator or tutor. A note on using referencing systems This module helps you understand the principles and practice of academic honesty. It is essential that you learn and use the referencing system prescribed by each unit coordinator for any particular course of study.

Mcdonalds Operating Strategy Essay

Introduction McDonald?  ¦s, first started by Ray Krov, is now one of the most popular fast food restaurants across the world. They proudly serve more than 46 million customers in 59 different countries and have more than 30,000 different locations domestically and internationally (Food Service). The fast food industry is booming at a rapid rate, especially the healthy trend, with this in mind, McDonald?  ¦s has strategically plan to stay on top of their competitors by providing consumers with more options of healthy meals, cheaper prices, and better service. McDonald? ¦s is competitive in many categories; examples are price, quality, management and employee training, other categories will be explained throughout the preceding sections. Consumers trust McDonald?  ¦s products because they use many of the same trusted brands that families buy at local grocery stores. The only difference is that their shopping cart is a whole lot bigger. OPERATIONS COMPETITIVE STRATEGY McDonald?  ¦s Corporation competes in a challenging market segment by providing need-satisfying products to customers. In this segment, ineffective competitors often fail without proper strategies . To sustain its viability, the McDonald?  ¦s corporation employs an effective competitive strategy to make it stand out against competitors such as other fast food restaurants. McDonald?  ¦s competes on several bases, including cost, speed, and nutrition, their strongest priority is ?  §making customers happy (?  §McDonald?  ¦s Worldwide 3). The company recently made drastic changes to its process by introducing the ?  §Made for You system (Chase). Competition Bases Speed McDonald?  ¦s competes on several bases mainly to ?  §make their customers happyby providing speedy, affordable, and nutritious foods. Through extensive market research and survey, the organization discovered that its customers desire speed as one of the restaurants?  ¦ top priorities. Therefore, McDonald?  ¦s vision aims to ?  §provide fast, friendly and accurate service (?  §McDonald?  ¦s Worldwide 5). McDonald?  ¦s realizes that specific targets are necessary to measure the performance of speed, and continuously takes relevant measurements to compare actual performance with desired targets (measurements are detailed later in this report in the ?  §Quality Managementsection). To achieve efficient service times, the company utilizes proven, standardized training processes for its employees and new drive-thru layouts to reduce service times. Along with speed, McDonald?  ¦s also competes by offering prices at a low cost. Cost To offer high quality products at low cost, requires efficient processes throughout the entire McDonald?  ¦s organization. Once again, this goal is built into their vision statement when they claim that ?  §We will be the most efficient provider so that we can be the best value to the most people (?  §McDonald?  ¦s Worldwide 5). McDonald? ¦s incorporates several avenues to provide great value to its customers: ? XOne strategy that the company has employed for many years is the value meal. The value meal allows customers to buy a sandwich, french fries, and beverage at a discount when purchased together. McDonald?  ¦s restaurants offer from seven to twelve value meals, both for their lunch menu and breakfast menu. ?XMore recently, McDonald?  ¦s began offering a value menu, consisting of many individual items costing only $1. 00 each. First tested in southern California, the value menu has proved to be very successful and has been since incorporated to the individual stores .? Some individual franchise owners choose to offer daily specials of special menu items, such as ?  §$0. 39 hamburger Wednesdays, or other similar specials. Big Mac Mondays are a popular regional promotion. Nutrition McDonald?  ¦s third main competitive base is nutrition. The organization understands that health trend is an increasingly popular trend therefore; the organization has recently focused extraordinary efforts to promote their new nutritious choices. Although not specifically built into the organization?  ¦s vision, McDonald?  ¦s has already introduced many options to achieve this goal: ? In the United States, ?  §Go-Active meals have been offered within the last few years. These meals include a salad, bottled water, and a ?  §step-o-meter to help customers keep track of how many steps they take a day. ?XOther countries have seen similar healthy options. The United Kingdom saw fresh fruit bags, containing apples and grapes, as an alternative to french fries (?  §McDonald?  ¦s Worldwide 12). ?XNot only does McDonald?  ¦s care about its customers, but it is also considerate of its employees?  ¦ health. In Europe, the organization worked with external nutritionists to develop an ? Employee Guidebookwhich contains tips and nutrition information for healthy lifestyles (?  §McDonald?  ¦s Worldwide 13). ?XMcDonald?  ¦s has assembled their Global Advisory Council on Balanced Lifestyles. This council consists of exercise & obesity specialists, environmentalists, and other professionals to ensure that McDonald?  ¦s takes appropriate steps in helping its customers achieve optimal health. ?XThe company is also utilizing technology to their advantage. The current McDonald?  ¦s website lets a user select any combination of menu items, place the items in the online bag, and conduct a nutritional analysis on their selections. The user can break down the analysis even further than a menu item, down individual condiments, including ketchup, pickles, etc. (?  §Bag a McMeal ). Not only has the company introduced many steps to ensure nutrition, but it will strive to continue the trend toward nutrition. McDonald?  ¦s plans to: add additional healthy menu options (fruits and vegetables); increase nutrition awareness among McDonald?  ¦s employees; conceive new ways to deliver nutrition information to its customers, and other actions (?  §McDonald?  ¦s Worldwide 13). Strongest Priority ? §At McDonald? ¦s, making customers happy is what our business is all about. And we know it takes a lot to make that happen. We work hard to provide every customer with a choice of meals and an experience that exceeds their expectations. The preceding statement is the quote which introduces McDonald?  ¦s Worldwide Corporate Social Responsibility Report (2004). Although the company strives to compete on several bases, their ambient goal is customer satisfactions. They reach this goal through a variety of efforts. McDonald?  ¦s visionary goal is to continually improve their organization. One example is the manager on duty task of completing a ?  §travel path every thirty minutes of his shift. During a travel path, the manager personally checks every aspect of the restaurant, including: the lobby area where customers eat; the restrooms; the grill area behind the counter; the walk-in refrigerators and freezers; the stock area; as well as the entire perimeter outside the restaurant (Phillips, Eddie). Through completing travel paths, management continuously checks every aspect of the restaurant throughout the day. In addition to short term continual improvement, McDonald?  ¦s organization also thinks ahead for long term improvement. To ensure that they serve 100% safe food, McDonald?  ¦s conducts food safety tests multiple times throughout the day. The corporation changes ?  §Food Safety book used by the managers several times a year, in efforts to think toward the future for the most appropriate variables to measure (food safety will be further illustrated in the ?  §Quality Management section). Along with internal improvement to the organization, McDonald?  ¦s also collects external information from its customers to discover which aspects the company performs well, and which aspects could be improved. The manager is supposed to talk to at least one customer during each travel path and the manager can immediately react to this direct face-to-face communication. On a larger scale, McDonald surveys its customers two times per year. To entice customers to submit feedback, the organization offers a free sandwich in return for a completed survey (Phillips, Kenny). In summary, McDonald?  ¦s strives to reach its goal of ?  §making customers happy through their normal competitive bases of speed, price, and nutrition, and they also ensure customer satisfaction through continual improvement of their operations. Strategy Changes Made for You McDonald?  ¦s organization recently underwent drastic strategy changes to better serve their customers. Under their ?  §old system, the company would make several sandwiches at once, and hold the sandwiches in a warming bin until purchased by a customer. Under this system, management had to precisely predict how much food had to be put on hold. Precise prediction had to be used because if there were not enough food placed on hold, this would create the problem of increase waiting times for customers, and too much food would cause waste of expired items. McDonald?  ¦s dramatically changed their strategy in order to stay competitive with other fast food organizations. In 1999, McDonald?  ¦s spent $181 million to introduce their ?  §Made for You system (Chase). Under this new system, standard food items are not held in a bin until they are sold. In the ?  §Made for You system, modern technology greatly assists McDonald?  ¦s operations. When a customer places an order, the sandwich items are immediately displayed on a computer monitor in the kitchen and a tone sounds to alert the kitchen staff. Upon a new order, an employee in the kitchen will toast the bun, and assemble the sandwich accordingly. Standard items simply list the name of the sandwich, while customized orders list the sandwich name and the desired condiments. Once the sandwich is assembled, it is presented to the food loading area, where a different staff person retrieves the sandwich and completes the order by adding french fries, desserts, etc. The system works the same for front counter orders as well as drive-thru orders (Phillips, Kenny). Unfortunately, the introduction of the ? Made for Yousystem did not come easily. McDonald?  ¦s watched its customer satisfaction drop for the three consecutive years beginning in 1999 (Chase). After further research, they realized that although the new system provided fresher food, it was not as quick as the previous system. Instead of reverting back to the old system, McDonald?  ¦s continues to fine tune ?  §Made for You and add new options to help the system work faster. Revitalization Plan In order to cope with the first ever quarterly loss that resulted from inefficient use of the Made for You system (Chase), McDonald? ¦s has devised a new plan to increase profits. Previously, the corporation emphasized adding more restaurants to increase sales, but the new plan places emphasis on increasing sales at existing restaurants. The new plan will reduce spending, to enable more cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases (Cantalupo). Specific goals of the revitalization plan are to: ? XAttract new customers ?XEncourage existing customers to visit more often ?XBuild brand loyalty ?XCreate enduring profitable growth The main goal is to increase sales by creating an exceptional customer experience. McDonald?  ¦s plans to achieve this goal by focusing on its people, products, places, prices, and promotions. Menu Along with changes in their process strategies, McDonald?  ¦s has flirted with menu changes as well. Last year, they offered a ?  §new taste menu, where they offered a new sandwich for one week. The purpose was to offer customers a variety of options to satisfy peoples?  ¦ desire for variety. However, the new taste menu proved to be ineffective. Some customers would fall in love with an item, but it would only last one week, and they would be frustrated that they couldn? ¦t purchase their new beloved favorite sandwich. More recent changes to the menu have proved effective. McDonald?  ¦s realized that many of today?  ¦s customers seek healthy food options, and the corporation has offered items accordingly. As mentioned under ?  §Competition Bases, McDonald?  ¦s now offers a wider variety of nutritious items and provides information to help its customers as well as employees make informed healthy choices. QUALITY MANAGEMENT McDonald?  ¦s Corporation incorporates many quality management factors in its business process. Some of the most important plans undertaken to ensure quality include speed measurements, the five P?  ¦s (People, Product, Price, Place, and Promotion), employee training, and other factors. Speed One of the major quality management control factors includes minimizing the time that processes are done; this ensures an effective and efficient operations. A lot of these processes are done through the use of the latest information technology, whether it was through calculating the time of the processes or even making a database to value and make improvement to their processes. For example, one measurement is called Total Time in Line (TTL) which calculates the total time customers spend in the McDonald?  ¦s line, from the time the customer begins ordering until the time they get their food. TTL measurements are calculated the same way, the target TTL differs because of the service provided through the drive through or inside the restaurant. McDonald?  ¦s considers the fact that drive through customers usually expects their order faster and therefore, the drive through target TTL is 90 seconds. The target is slightly higher for the in-the-store customers because of the extra time they are willing to spend in the store (Phillips, Eddie). Along with measuring TTLs, other programs are utilized to make the speed of the service more efficient. The ?  §Made For You system uses the Kitchen-Video-System (KVS) to support fulfilling speedy orders. The Made for You system allows the order taker to enter or delete the orders on a touch screen that lists sandwiches, as well as individual condiments, in a way that eases the data entry process for the worker. As soon as any food is ordered, from any register, the necessary food items are displayed on a computer monitor in the kitchen. The kitchen staff immediately begins to prepare the food, and then erases the orders from the screen as the food is finished. Similar to TTLs, the time is measured between when an item is first displayed on the monitor, to the time when it is served. McDonalds continuously monitors these kitchen times in order to ensure that the Made for You system is working as efficiently as planned (Phillips, Eddie). Technology not only measures performance values within the organization, but it also assists in the drive through area. When a drive through worker is taking an order, it is displayed automatically on a screen available to the customer outside, called the Customer Order Display (COD). The customer can review the COD and correct any mistakes, thus making the ordering process more precise. More precise orders eliminate time wasted from correcting mistakes (Phillips, Kenny). Maintaining the speed and accuracy of the processes in McDonald?  ¦s is also done through less technological techniques. McDonald?  ¦s uses different colored packages to help the employee recognize the different types of food; colored wrapped sandwiches makes it easier to distinguish what is wrapped beneath. For example, a cheese burger is wrapped in yellow colored paper and a fish fillet is wrapped in blue, while a hamburger is wrapped in white paper. Special ordered sandwiches without standard condiments come in red and white paper, with a paper receipt attached which details the items on the sandwich (Phillips, Eddie). Quality Inspections Food safety is one of McDonald?  ¦s top priorities. Every restaurant is required to check food temperatures, expiration dates, and other food safety hazards several times throughout each day of operation. The corporation sends a standardized Food Safety book to every store which includes a comprehensive list of every item that needs to be measured. Cooked food temperatures are measured to ensure that all food is cooked properly before served. Refrigerated and frozen foods are also checked to make certain that they do not get too warm and are not spoiled. Expiration dates are checked on foods frequently, if the item is expired than it is discarded. Equipment is also measured to ensure that it is functioning properly. Also included in the safety checks is the water temperature in the restroom sinks, workers must be caution because water that is too hot can burn customers. Food safety checks are performed throughout the day, often during one of the manager?  ¦s many travel paths, which were described earlier in this report under ?  §Competitive Strategy (Phillips, Eddie). Periodic corporate inspections are one of the major quality management controls at McDonald?  ¦s. The McDonald?  ¦s Corporation applies two major inspections on each restaurant per year. One is called Field Operations Review (FOR), and the second is called System Observation Review (SOR). Since the inspections are made periodically, restaurants have two opportunities to pass the test. If the store fails to pass the inspection the second time, corporate takes over the store and brings in better employees to ensure that the proper processes and equipment is being used properly. Both inspections are extraordinarily thorough and they are based on a point system, points can be taken off for many different reasons. For example, points can be reduced if the credit card system is too slow, the store? ¦s walls have cracks, or even if the restaurant performs processes that slows the serving time. Points will also be lost if employees are not dressed according to regulations, this includes wearing name tags (Phillips, Kenny). Mcdonald?  ¦s must also provide a food safety log of recorded entries to ensure that proper food testing is completed properly (Phillips, Eddie). The Five P?  ¦s Even though many of the quality management processes in McDonald?  ¦s are done through the use of information technology, other quality management factors such as maintaining the five P? ¦s forces (People, Product, Price, Place, and Promotion) are essential in any business. Consequently, McDonald?  ¦s Corporation uses these related forces in the sense that each P creates a chain affect on each other. The following is a list of methods using the P forces. The first force is the people working in the McDonald?  ¦s chains, which are represented by service, hospitality, and pride. The staff employed in McDonald?  ¦s are continuously trained and kept in the company to reduce the cost of training short-term inexperienced workers. Moreover, the training process has been improved to include online e-learning tools for the restaurant staff. Maintaining the workers in the company is very important to McDonald?  ¦s and the corporation rewards workers who do outstanding services. This form of incentive is motivational to the workers (Cantalupo 4). The second force is the products which include the quality, taste, and price of the goods sold. McDonald?  ¦s is trying to establish flexibility with the changing tastes and preferences in the market, Moreover, they are also seeing growing interest in premium product and wholesome food choices. The quality and safety of the food is a main entity in maintaining the quality of the food at McDonald?  ¦s (Cantalupo 4). The third force is place which is represented by the clean, relevant, and modern store environments. Whether it was in the main restaurant area, the kitchen, or even the restrooms, the company ensures the safety and comfort for the consumers and staff workers. The company intends on having the gold standards for cleanliness (Cantalupo 5). The fourth factor is price, which is presented in the productivity and value. The value of the product is increased when consumers gets high quality products for lower costs. Therefore, McDonald?  ¦s Corporation ensures that its customers receive the highest value of food for the price they pay (Cantalupo 5). The fifth factor is promotion which is presented in marketing, leadership, and trust. The company has already earned its reputation for good quality food so they just focus on customers cares. They do this through community involvement and their social responsible towards the environment. This process will gain the trust of loyal customers and keep them for life (Cantalupo 5). Training McDonald?  ¦s realizes that its employees must understand their duties in order to fulfill the organization? ¦s goals. To ensure that all employees properly perform their assigned duties, McDonald?  ¦s invests greatly in their training program. The company continues to receive prestigious awards for their leading-edge training, including the ?  §Employer of Choice Award from the Restaurant Business Magazine (?  §Restaurant Management ). New crew members go through a thorough orientation process consisting of several videos, followed by several days of direct one-on-one training by a trainer. After employees feel comfortable with the operations, they may be promoted to Crew Trainers. Crew Trainers undergo further training for specialized processes such as the grill area, front counter, drive-thru, and other areas. Shift supervisors are the next step in the organization, followed by Second Assistant Managers, followed by First Assistant Manager, and the top manager at each McDonald?  ¦s restaurant is the Restaurant Manager (Phillips, Eddie). Training never stops at McDonald?  ¦s, no matter which position an employee holds. Some current employees describe McDonald?  ¦s as the ?  §best training company in the world (Phillips, Kenny). To improve the Made for You system, McDonald? ¦s recently introduced a strategy called ?  §Shift into Overdrive,?  ¦ and this strategy focuses on helping shift managers work more efficiently. All McDonald?  ¦s restaurants are required to send at least one manager to participate in the new training program (Phillips, Kenny). This training mainly focuses on the human aspects of Made for You, this ensures that the system is being used as design. Since the new system requires seamless work from several people, the entire team must work together for the system to work quickly to provide food to customers. Finally, to ensure the quality of the operations, McDonald? ¦s does surveys periodically to get feedbacks from customers (Phillips, Eddie). As shown throughout this section, the McDonald?  ¦s Corporation has been doing a very good job at keeping the quality of its products and services, whether it was through using computerized equipment or to train their human resources. RAW MATERIALS The Arrival & Maintenance Through the intense process of choosing and manufacturing raw materials, McDonald?  ¦s customers can be assured of a quality product. Whether arriving via truck or train, raw materials are delivered fresh and ready to use everyday. To ensure that this freshness is passed onto the customer, each arriving package is personally inspected for damage during its travel. In addition, the condition of delivery trucks are also taken into account to make sure that meat was untainted due to a filthy meat cooler. The meat cooler should always be set at 10 degrees below zero and the meat should remain at a constant temperature of 34 to 38 degrees. While some inspections are known, others are random to ensure that quality is consistent from one delivery to the next. The promise of high quality for McDonald?  ¦s raw materials does not cease to end at the delivery trucks. Inside the restaurant, the temperatures of freezers and refrigerators are recorded twice a day to guarantee the highest grade of ingredient usage. These temperatures are recorded in a book which is required to stay on premise for 60 days. After such time span, the book is moved to a local record storage where all previous data information is held. Grade ?  §A Beef and Other Meats All beef cooked at McDonald?  ¦s is of Grade ?  §A quality and 80%-82% lean. McDonald?  ¦s not only supports humane slaughtering of animals and refuses to purchase dairy cows over 5 year old due to the toughness of their meat. Upon the arrival of meat, received from Otto & Sons, Inc. in Chicago, a two hour supply is taken directly to the grill side freezers which stand at a constant temperature of 0 degrees. Once placed on the grill, the meat is cooked at a specific temperature to assure the meat holds the proper internal temperature to meet the requirements of food safety and yet hot enough to hold its natural juices. Cooked hamburger patties and other meat products are stored in a humidity controlled cabinet until usage to ensure that patties remain hot and moist. The preparation time of a hamburger should not take longer than 90 seconds and only 35 seconds after the hamburger bun itself has been toasted. This allows each customer to receive his/her meal in the timeliest fashion. Produce It is a known fact that agronomists can spend up to two years assisting a farmer grow perfect russet potatoes, 6-inches long, that produces a finished fry which is appealing both in looks and taste. In addition many produce items, lettuce for example, have specifications that are two pages long. With this many guidelines in place, McDonald? ¦s can guarantee that they are delivering to their customer the best ingredients possible. The produce delivered from Condie?  ¦s in Salt Lake City to the Evans and Colorado McDonald?  ¦s restaurant arrives via railroad to ensure that freshness is maintained. Upon inspection, should any produce not meet the correct internal temperature, the refrigerator is either immediately altered or the items are discarded. Restaurant Inspection Since McDonald?  ¦s believes so strongly in high quality products, Licensees are expected to obtain their desired product needs directly from suppliers rather than the McDonald? ¦s Corporation. While this ensures that the best raw materials are purchased at a reasonable price, it often leaves the McDonald?  ¦s Corporation ?  §in the dark concerning the safety precautions and procedures of franchised restaurants. As a result, the McDonald?  ¦s Corporation makes both announced and unannounced visits to international McDonald?  ¦s restaurants to ensure that proper procedures are being followed. With each visit, the restaurant being inspected is graded on their proficiency and performance. Based on this grade, the corporation will determine eligibility for growth of new franchise locations. In addition, the failure to meet requirements can result in a default in your franchise agreement for the following term. FORECASTING Aspects of Forecasting McDonald?  ¦s has a continual means of receiving information from customers, employees, and the industry that effects short, medium, and long term decision making and forecasting. Different kinds of information are received from all levels of the corporation and are used to learn more about the market movement and advertisement structure, to basic everyday processes in production and packaging of goods for the targeted markets. Forecasting is done in large by the corporation, as part of their responsibility to the franchisee?  ¦s and McDonald?  ¦s shareholders. Through our interview with the owner, we learned a lot about the basics of McDonald?  ¦s business and hierarchy; we were not able to get more in-depth information that is used for their budgeting, marketing, advertising, forecasting, and innovations of new products to come because it contains confidential contents. This is due to the scrutiny from people looking for flaws, bad business conduct, and other degrading allocations of McDonald? ¦s. Everything that was recorded was cleared at the corporate level. Forecasts are vital to McDonald?  ¦s organization and significant management decisions. Forecasts provide the basis for budgetary planning, cost control, planning new products, process selection, capacity planning, and facility layout. Typically, McDonald?  ¦s uses a qualitative type of forecasting. The main information used in forecasting the stability and future growth of the corporation is by the number of customers going in and out the door and all voiced opinions. There are different medians of communication for customer to relay there ideas, opinions, concerns, and problems they have with McDonald?  ¦s. At the particular location, a customer has employees, managers, and owners to voice what?  ¦s on their mind and how they like what?  ¦s going on in the restaurant. Often, McDonald?  ¦s managers and owners use open ended questions to allow customers to expand on what they want to talk about. McDonald?  ¦s nationally offers an 800 number for customers to use when the corporation has fallen short of their expectations or when a location makes a mistake with their order. Internationally, McDonald?  ¦s has a website that is not only interactive and informative throughout the 59 nations they supply to, but is a place for customers to voice their opinions and complaints. And as an owner of the McDonald?  ¦s on the intersection of Evans Avenue and Colorado Boulevard, Ronald Lessnau exclaimed, ?  §We listen! At the corporate level, qualitative forecasting can be seen, even with limited information that was given. Market research department takes data from talking with customers to find out how they like or feel about a particular ad campaign or a specific commercial. And product development department uses input on developing a new product or changing how the new product is prepared, priced, or packaged. McDonald?  ¦s has been extremely accurate in forecasting trends or needs the customers want and request. Mr. Lessnau states, ?  §McDonald?  ¦s, in the past has helped customers deal with their changing lifestyles. An example of this is when the Egg McMuffin, the first hand held breakfast sandwich by Herb Peterson, was introduced for the first time. ? §It took 10 years for breakfast to be successful at McDonald?  ¦s and now McDonald?  ¦s cracks more farm fresh, grade ?  §A eggs daily than the largest institution in the United States, the US Military. As consumers, it is known that McDonald?  ¦s has gone through a lot and where not always correct in projections influenced by the greatest number of customers. Even with using a qualitative forecast, the future is not always so clear so see. 12 years ago, due to the strong focus group surveys responses to healthier products put into motion the making of McLean Burger. McDonald developed and marketed the McLean Burger. It had 7% fat and was the best low fat burger on the market, costing 53 cents a pound more then the normal beef. It did not sell! Customers later decided that the product was too expensive and did not taste as good as its?  ¦ fatty brother. And maybe decisions that are based on the idea that the history of occurrences over time can be used to predict the future, time series forecasting, can explain why McDonald?  ¦s is slow to react to the Atkins Diet trends. Ronald Lessnau also gave examples of when qualitative forecasting influences how he fixes errors of the passed business decisions at his establishment. Decisions he has made have been based on estimates and opinion from surveys, interviews, history of products, and questionnaires. That particular McDonald?  ¦s has extended their hours as a result of many comments. Also, years ago they reduced some of the seasoning in the chicken products in a test market, and based on interviews and focus groups they went back to the original product and did not take the change national. He also described that in Denver, Colorado locations went back to the 99-cent double cheese burgers years ago because of feedback they received in focus groups that were conducted as part of their normal market research. As Lessnau explained, ?  §Sometimes you can prevent a good idea from going bad by talking to those closest to the customer, your sales people. The data collected for these long terms and every day business decisions were from employees as well as customers. SUPPLY CHAIN Examination of Supply Chain. Food quality is the key at McDonald’s restaurant. That?  ¦s why they take pride in the foods they serve to their customers. They seek out fresh lettuce and tomatoes, quality buns and potatoes, pure ground beef, select poultry and fish and wholesome dairy products. McDonald?  ¦s ensures that their products are guaranteed to be the best quality before serving to their customers. McDonald?  ¦s has many suppliers in which each supplier plays a vital role in providing McDonald?  ¦s with their products. First, McDonald?  ¦s receives its raw.

Journal 3 Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Journal 3 - Article Example It will be appropriate to distinguish the two. The second thing is to focus on the goals through defining the mission of the group. In the above case, the mission will be to successfully complete the project from hardware implementation to software installation. The third thing is to clarify the position of all the member of your group. This will help define the role of every individual. After doing this, the fourth step is to make the roles and identity of all the group members’ official. Using the above example, each members will be told to handle the assigned duty whether on software or hardware as intended. This will make each individual accomplish his target. What you do not know about decision making By default, decision making is one of the most important tasks of a senior executive; that is why they are referred to as managers. Many people presume that this is a very hard task, without acknowledging the fact that it might as well be the simplest task, if certain things are taken into consideration. In order to achieve this, they must first accept that decision making is a process and that two methods are used. The first method is advocacy and the other method is inquiry. Each of these processes will come in handy during varying situations. The next thing that executive members should take into account is that decision making at times is the work of a collective of executives. Because of this, not all the time people will share the same idea. Therefore, if they disagree, they should do it in a manner that is constructive. In such scenarios, it is essential that both teams structure a debate which will either take the design of point-counterpoint or the intellectual watchdog. After they all arrive at a decision, they should test this putting a number of considerations in place. With all the above taken into account, the idea of decision making becomes very easy. "Man’s Search for Meaning" In the book "Man’s Search for Meaning", there are many lessons for each and every leader in this society. According to this text, a leader’s job is to ensure that there is existence of meaning and purpose to his or her subjects. In his book, the author Frankly clearly puts out the essence of these two in an individual’s life. The setting of this book is in a prison where as a psychiatrist, Frankl was imprisoned during the world war. He wondered how other prisoners were able to survive the harsh conditions. Later, he was able to find out that the motivation they had was the will to meaning. Therefore as leaders, it is essential that we instill meaning to those who we serve because it is that which will keep them moving even through the difficult times they go through in achieving their goals. Section B The â€Å"Ultimate Meaning† of Viktor Frankl (On Moodle) The study of The â€Å"Ultimate Meaning† of Viktor Frankl is one that shifts the whole issue of leadership to a new level. In this discussion God as the provider of wisdom gets involved. In his search to define the â€Å"ultimate meaning† Frankl was only able to make in his last book â€Å"Mans search for the ultimate meaning, which this discussion is based. There comes the introduction of the ultimate destiny of man through the Urantia book. If one digs deep into the details of this discussion, it gets clearly portrayed that man tends to deal with facts, which sometime do not apply, while religion deals with values.

Implementing and Managing Budgets Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Implementing and Managing Budgets - Case Study Example Omega College is a private institution in the Midwest that experiences budgetary challenges because of their limited number of students and resources. The college experience many challenges because they rely on the tuition fees paid by the students to meet their daily operational costs whilst the number of students is not adequately high. For instance international students enroll at the college and study for only a semester then return to their hometowns. The college did not meet their enrolment targets in the last four years and students in other colleges were transferred to the State University to complete their Bachelor’s Degrees. Omega College relies on the generosity of the alumni, friends, and board members to assist finance the annual operating budget. I would recommend the institution in the short term to advertise the programs offered at Omega College at fair prices using various forms of media such as newspapers, televisions, radio stations, and social network sites such as Facebook, which is the most popular social site. Advertising will promote awareness in the society and hence individuals will be aware of the existence of the college and consider enrolling their children at the college. The college can get other additional revenues from projects such as clean water projects and renewable energy projects where they can generate biomass and solar energy and sell to the communities in the area hence generating more finances. I will conduct interviews with the community members to gather data to find out if the options being considered are viable and cost effective. The college will need to work with the master budget to summarize all their projected activities by the way of cash budget, budgeted balance sheet, and the budgeted income statement. Zierdt (2009) noted that the master budget is an all-inclusive projection of how the management plans to conduct all their activities over the fiscal year of the budget period. The college will

Was Hitler's rise to power due to his own strengths or to the Essay

Was Hitler's rise to power due to his own strengths or to the situation in Germany - Essay Example Political power sometimes is achieved out of situational advantage.The greatest racist in history Adolph Hitler did exactly that His views as a racist seeped into the general German mass that ultimately helped him to perform the notorious genocide killing 5 million Jews.The greatest racist in history Adolph Hitler did exactly thatHe incorporated racism within the cross section of the German mass against the Jews though various methods like using media to his benefit and through overwhelming oratory. The idea of racial discrimination through methodical racial institutionalization of education, employment and health was put into the ultimate practice with fearful results. For example the speech presented at Munich on the date April 12, 1922 presents the insight of the conceptualization and formulation of raciest ideas and making it the instrument of gaining power at the Reichstag. The situation and the groundwork were favorable for Hitler. Germany was passing through a phase of humilia tion and unemployment with economic downfall after the defeat of First World War.The Weimar republic was in power during the post First World War period starting from 1919. The Weimer government was completely unsuccessful with their political and financial policies and unemployment was on a high. As it is the country's defeat in the First World War resulted in economic instability that further incorporated fascist and Spartacist coups, like that of Hermann Ehrhardt's Freikorps, with wide spread political extremism and overall lawlessness. Constitution formed after abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II was inappropriate and weak and soon it lost popularity. The economy was badly hurt as a result of WWI defeat and treaty of Versailles claiming 20,000 billion gold marks as war reparations. This result in the currency to be unstable with 469,000 million marks national debt. Furthermore the economic coal fields of Rurh were occupied by the French government. To add more problem the 1929 stock market crisis made matter more severe. All these conditions ultimately led into hyperinflation that summed up to 663 billion marks. There are also enough evidences that Hitler political power was based upon brute force with his incorporation of brutal political murders with included murder of communist leaders. Additionally, he blamed the Jews for all economic and political crisis of Germany and motivated the population to become anti-Semitic. Once the population became Anti-Semitic it was helpful to gain popularity and thus gain political power as the Germans regarded Hitler to be their savior. However, election results show that there is a gradual rise of popularity of the Nazi party from 1928-1932 but the main problem remained that there was no specific party individually strong enough to rule. This was a situation of an example of political instability in Germany that Hitler took complete advantage. (Rise of Nazism, 14-15) An evaluation of the sources Hitler, Adolph; Hitler Speaks in Munich; SPEECH OF April 12, 1922; NBT; 1999 The Rise of Nazism; pp-14-15 This book published in 1999 was recovered from Russian Achieves and presents a wide range of speeches by Hitler. These speeches show the methods by which Hitler uses to motivate the audience with fact at the beginning and fallacy to back his intentions. In his speech Hitler started off with the right note by pointing towards the defeat of the First World War as this would be the best possible mode of attracting the audiences' attention as logically enough that would be the most concerned element of the mass during the 1922 Germany. He promptly indicates that there was a "debt of some 7 or 8 millions of marks and beyond that was faced with the debts of the rest of the world" (Hitler, 1, 1). This the best possible manner by which he could effectively guide his intentions towards a well formulated methodical approach that would enable him to take the audience by his side

Final assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Final assignment - Essay Example European colonisation adventures are also one of the main reasons for the mixing up of the diversified culture and acculturation. The immigration policies announced by various European and Australian countries also contributed the mixed cultural traits that put the ethnicity in jeopardy. Patrick J. Buchanan, famous American writer and political analyst, has indicated the same problem in his book under the title, â€Å"Death of the West†. In his book, he expresses his grave concerns regarding the future of individual recognition and even the solidarity of the USA and Western civilization due to its current economic and foreign policies. â€Å"Buchanan does a good job of legitimizing debate†, Widmann states, â€Å"over the politically incorrect subjects of White/European population rates and non-White, non-European immigration and its impact.† It is perhaps in the nature of every human that he contains ethnic prejudice for his own race. The individuals consider their own group superior and better one in comparison with other groups. Therefore, they desire for the uplift of their race and ethnicity. Hitler came to the limelight to confront the world as he thought German nation as the most superior and talented nation. The same is the case with Buch anan. Buchanan obtains apprehension that immigrants from all parts of the world are changing the very scenario of the society. The culture and civilization of the present USA may undergo serious set back with the influx of different races which will drag the West into many socioeconomic problems. Different the ethnic groups in a society, more are the chances of criminal activities in it. This is a fact beyond doubt that variation in groups because of race, religion, region, gender, caste, class, creed, social status and income creates conflict in a society. Marxist and Feminist perspectives are also the outcome of the conflict situation prevailing in the countries. Buchanan is of the view that

Aristotle's Theory concerning Moral Responsibility Essay

Aristotle's Theory concerning Moral Responsibility - Essay Example Aristotle believes that every human being has a responsibility for his or her actions, something that makes others reasonably praise, blame or even punish him or her; he shows this by pointing out various conditions, which lessen or even cancel this responsibility. He converses force of occurrences, threats, along with coercion, bad character, ignorance and intoxication. Taken together, his version shows the basic concepts involved in being a person who ends up getting reasonably praised or blamed. The primary limitation concerning voluntary action is the force of circumstances. Aristotle gives an example about a ship caught in a storm; in this case, the sailors have to throw goods overboard to avoid the sinking of the ship. Here, the action is not entirely voluntary; therefore the sailors are not to blame for their actions. On the other hand, the storm is not to blame for the undesirable outcome, which is the loss of the goods, since it is a natural event that no one is responsible. Another example is the case whereby my friend accidentally pushes me as a result of getting pushed by a bully; here, she is not to blame considering that it was not here intention to push me, rather, she got pushed, and as a result, ended up pushing me. These cases are extreme instances of the force of necessity whereby we always live and always get forced into our actions by natural facts, though we only notice this when the force happens to be sudden or unexpected (Williams 25). In reality, the interference of other people is what causes us the most grief, which in turn causes problems when it comes to responsibility attributions. This interference tends to take many forms; however, its paradigmatic forms happen to be coercion and manipulation. Concerning coercion, the judgment by Aristotle get balanced since it is dependent on what act my coercer is demanding from me, as well as the threats he is making. On the other hand, there are some actions, which tend to be extremely heino us that we must be blamed for carrying them out, whatever a person gets threatened with, together with whatever blame also tends to be attached to the coercer; hence Aristotle dismisses the thought that a man may be compelled to killing his mother (Williams 45). Apparently, a central issue at stake when it comes to attributions of responsibility happens to be the expectations that people have each other. Although there are some kinds of coercion that we do not normally expect people to oppose, there are also some forms of action that people should never embark on, regardless of such features. In these cases praise, together with blame tends to work on clarifying and to reinforce these expectations through the provision of a form of moral education. What determines appropriate or immoral character happens to be the manner in which a person reacts when he discovers the truth or failing to regret their deeds, then they can be blamed, albeit the original choice being justifiable. Accord ing to Aristotle, our praise and blame is in most cases, not about an individual act; rather, it is about the character of the one who acted. Importantly, not every form of ignorance gets excused since moral knowledge happens to be extremely distinctive from factual knowledge (Echenique 49). However, if a person tends to be morally ignorant, he or she ends up being unable to choose well; here, Aristotle grants that the majority of people of settled villainous character, whether they are morally ignorant or otherwise, are

New Labour Education Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

New Labour Education Policy - Essay Example In keeping step with the concept that the school is a reflection of society, New Labour's educational policies have been framed in their philosophy of free market competition, equality, and the recognition and reward of ability. New Labour has made a significant commitment to narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor and lessening the effects of the social and cultural capital that permeates the system. The policy is also committed to "reversing the increasing social exclusion of the unemployed and low-paid, and to equality of opportunity in education and the need to develop the potential of every child" (Tomlinson 2003, p.195). In addition, New Labour has maintained a steadfast commitment to "choice and competition, with education developing as a market commodity driven by consumer demand, fuelled by league tables of examination results, school 'choice' by parents, specialist schools and failing schools" (Tomlinson 2003, p.196). The ruthlessness of the market and cultural trad itions have often compromised the drive towards equality and fairness and has created tension in New Labour's controversial educational policies. No matter where you look in the educational system you will see the influence of the social stratification, racism, the gap between the poor and rich, and the class attitudes that are reflected in education's mirror. However, national standards and mandates have dictated that these influences must be overlooked and not considered in favour of an inclusive and performance based system. The initial enthusiasm that met New Labour's educational reforms has "dissipated into puzzlement, disappointment and concern about the direction of education policy, at least in... The researcher of this essay concluds that education reform in the UK has followed a violent and rocky road since the beginnings of formal education. Once thought to be the property of the elite, the researcher states that education is now perceived as a right that every citizen has an opportunity to attain. The traditional view that the school should be a reflection of the society becomes problematic when trying to instil equality, while honestly accounting for the culture. The call for free market choice and competition add additional tension to the multiple goals of the educational initiatives. Traditional social and cultural groups that underperform in society or economics will also underperform in education. This results in socio-economic groupings that take on the characteristic of being exclusionary. The students with social capital will group with like peers and self perpetuate the segregation. Meritocracy further increases the gap, as the most capable students will be the on es from an advantaged background. The researcher hopes that thse phenomena will resonate through race, ethnicity, gender, and the disabled. In this scenario demands that society make some fundamental changes in correcting its own prejudice. Still, Labour has shown a willingness to acknowledge its failures and alter their approach when possible. They have begun to consider the social context of the schools and it can be concluded that educational reform is far from ideal, but continues to evolve as society pulls it along.

A Fair Price Essay Example for Free

A Fair Price Essay An analysis of Warren Buffet as a superior investor and how this contradicts finance theory and the semi strong form of efficiency. Then on a personal level the ethics and social responsibility underpinning Warren Buffet and his company will be expressed. a) Discuss what can be inferred from the changes in stock price for Berkshire Hathaway Ltd. and Scottish Power plc. on the announcement day of the acquisition? On the 24th of May the public announcement was made that Berkshire Hathaway Ltd, would take over Scottish Powers’ PacifiCorp, a significant effect resulted to the stock prices of both companies respectively. The stock price effect is visible in graph 1 2 showing the daily prices for May 2005 for both companies. b) Assess the bid for PacifiCorp. Do you think the bid is a â€Å"fair† price? In assessing whether the bid price $5. 1 billion dollar is a fair price a valuation of PacifiCorp must be conducted. The model that was implemented to perform the valuation was the DCF method. The value derived from this methodology was $ 5 119. 348092 million dollars, rather astonishingly close to the bid price of MidAmerican. The DCF model can be found in appendix) Therefore with a value so similar to that of the bid price, it can be ascertained that the bid reflects the company’s value thus is a fair price. CAPM =| RF +| ? | (rm-rt)| 0. 1013 =| 0. 0488+ | 0. 75| (0. 07)| Table [ 1 ] Terminal Valuen = E(FCFE)n+1 /(rn gn) The DCF model was followed from Rosenbaum’s text (reference) the majority of the inputs have been derived from PacifiCorp’s annual reports. The EBIT has grown at %5. 7 since 2000, signifying good growth signs. This figure combined ith speculation from the 2005 annual report predicting sales to grow at %3 to result in a predicted growth rate of %5 to forecast the FCF’s. A CAPM was used to calculate the cost of equity (as seen in table 1). The industry Beta was used 0. 75(reference), the RFR %4. 88 was derived from the 20 year US Treasury bond rate and the market premium was given at %7. Using these figures cost of equity was found to be %10. 13. Once the cash flows have been forecasted at the 5% growth rate and discounted back at the %10. 13 Ke, then the terminal value must be determined. The terminal value was calculated the below formula, found in Damodorans’ text.

Each Man Kills the Thing He Loves Essay Example for Free

Each Man Kills the Thing He Loves Essay â€Å"It seems to me that we all look at Nature too much, and live with her too little† This quote provides a philosophical insight into the main theme I will explore within my chosen poems. Nature is defined as the phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of the earth, as opposed to humans or human creations. However this simply states that nature and humans are opposites, and one opposes the other. The poems I have chosen question this definition of nature and put it to humankind to answer the question, are we one with nature, or merely manipulating it to our own advantage, giving little back to our heritage? Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’ explores our own humanity and how easily two conflicting emotions become each other; whilst Charlotte Mew’s ‘The Trees Are Down’ examines human ignorance and through use of language she unravels the ever changing connections with nature. However it is Lawrence’s ‘The Snake’ that uses strong imagery to portray humankind in all its shapes and forms, forever changing. These three poems utilize a series of techniques that bring forth a common phrase we are what we hate, kill and love, which ultimately contributes to a universal relevance, the main idea I will be focusing on, ‘each man kills the thing he loves’. Oscar Wilde is considered a gifted author, playwright and poet of the nineteenth century. He was intimately involved in the up rise of aestheticism, a philosophy of nature and expression of beauty; Wilde expanded the narrow-mindedness of the Victorian Era, ultimately bringing a new light to society. ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, a semi autobiography, is considered the most seminal and serious of all Wilde’s works. However it is after being accused of homosexual offences, by his lover’s father, and further incarcerated at Reading Gaol that Wilde’s writing took a more melancholic approach. After serving his two years of hard labour, Wilde then moved to France, and was in ‘penniless exile’ It was in his last remaining years that Wilde produced two extremely heart felt pieces of work; De Profundis, a Latin term for ‘from the depths’, was an epistle addressed to his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, and recounted his lifestyle of extravagance and love, within the first half. In the second part the text looks into his recent experiences, during his time at Reading Gaol, as he comes to terms with his spirituality. The other, ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’, a six ‘cantos’ poem, further subdivided into six lined stanzas, describes his experiences of loneliness and death, whilst incarcerated at Reading Gaol. The initial scene of the ballad, ‘He walked amongst the Trial Men, In a suit of shabby grey’, was inspired by the hanging of Charles Thomas Wooldridge, on Saturday 7th July 1896, a thirty year-old man convicted of cutting the throat of his wife. Charlotte Mew was an understated poet, whose works were less recognised, in comparison to Wilde, however she was highly praised by the likes of Siegfried Sassoon and Virginia Woolf. Mew lived a traumatic life, from beginning to end; facing close family deaths and two of her siblings being diagnosed with mental illness. These early experiences affected her future and had major influences on her; beginning with her and her sister Anne making a pact never to marry, in fear of passing on her family’s madness. Additionally Mew had similar sexual orientations as Wilde, attracted to ones own sex, however due to the condemnation of homosexuality, in the nineteenth century, Mew was left with a strong sense of suppression. Her life was extremely stifled by such experiences of death, loneliness and disillusionment and hence reflects these themes within her work. ‘The Trees are Down’ is a six stanza poem, that follows no structured form, merely ranging from one to nine lines, each stanza. The poem is based around the Revelation reference, at the beginning of poem: ‘-and he cries with a loud voice: hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees† and relates this to our society, past, present and future. David Herbert Lawrence, D. H.  Lawrence, was an extremely successful writer and artist. Publishing many plays, novels and volumes of poetry. He lived a very modest life, born in the small mining township of Eastwood, England, in 1885. Lawrence was an outcast, with few friends at school, who didn’t follow in his father’s footsteps of becoming a miner. So Lawrence went on to study, gaining a scholarship at Nottingham High School and then becoming an elementary teacher. However it was after falling in love with his old professor, Earnest Weekely’s, wife, Frieda von Richthofen, that his life was altered. Breaking off his engagement and ending his teaching career, Lawrence developed his writing into a career. ‘Sons and Lovers’ is a semi-autobiographical account of Lawrence’s experiences as a boy, under the name of Paul Morel, who loved his mother and full of hatred for his father. Lawrence wrote this novel after the death of his mother, in 1910, and explores the love of a mother As her sons grow up she selects them as loversfirst the eldest, then the second. These sons are urged into life by their reciprocal love of their motherurged on and on. † All three poets lived extremely different lifestyles, however the common thread between them is the literary period they lived in, the nineteenth century. Wilde’s work, pre-incarceration, was considered extremely lush and light, however post-incarceration it grew sad and he adapted Dark Romanticism into his works. Mew explored Naturalism where the environment controls people, especially in ‘The Trees are Down’, which is similar to the works of Lawrence who combines naturalism with Pre-Raphaelitism, combining literacy with the visual arts, which is seen through his strong imagery. Comparing these three literary movements helps shape each poem, providing a purpose behind the theme of each text. The intent of these poems differ slightly from one another, however all three have embedded the allegory of killing our intimates within their texts. Wilde takes his own personal experiences of loss, and additionally the example of Wooldridge’s own act, to reveal how within love echoes hate and vice versa. Mew, who’s poem seems completely ahead of her time, exposes the ignorance of the human race. This exposure of human’s prejudice towards nature is again echoed within Lawrence’s poem through the line ‘my education said†¦ he must be killed’. The common purpose within these texts is the exposure of human’s ignorance and how inevitable it is. Lord Alfred Douglas’s father took Wilde to court for alleged homosexuality and this life altering moment in Wilde’s life is easily identified within the poem ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’. However Wilde carefully entwines Wooldridge’s own attempt of ‘killing the thing he loved’ within his own story to expose the wider occurrence of this tragedy. It is questioned whether or not Wilde came up with this statement or whether it is a nod to Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice when Bassanio asks ‘Do all men kill the things they do not love? ’ Wilde is well known for his stimulating epigrams, yet this phrase seems to generate a metaphor for life and although not a question, like in Merchant of Venice, Wilde questions the similarities of love and hatred. When searching the word ‘love’ up on Thesaurus. com it provides a list of antonyms, including ‘hatred’, and vice-versa and yet here we see Wilde placing the two, opposing verbs, hand in hand. Wilde’s underlying purpose within ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’ is not to recount his experiences at Reading, but what Wilde is really looking for is the mode of interaction in which love and hatred are one and indivisible, in which the bitterness is an expression of the admiration. Written in the nineteenth century Mew’s poem, ‘The Trees are Down’, was completely ahead of its time and in today’s society is seen as an empowering demonstration of humanity’s destructive ignorance. Using the line from the revelation Mew makes deep connections with the past and by examining her present looks into the future of what is to come, what is now extremely relevant. The purpose of this is to reveal society’s destructive nature and speak out against the destruction of our heritage as ‘half my life it has beat with’. Lawrence examines prejudices of the human race towards animals, within the poem, ‘The Snake’, and how we accept the words fed to us in an alleged ‘education’. However the irony of it all is that we are one with the Snake and this is what Lawrence was trying to achieve. Describing the snake drinking from trough as if ‘he’ is a person, the same as the narrator, then ‘he’ looks up ‘just like cattle do’. Lawrence’s connections across the animal kingdom; man, snake and cattle alike, break down the barriers of humans vs. animals, generating a scene of equality. However it is once the narrator’s ‘voice of†¦ education’ convinces him otherwise, his face becomes humanity; fearful and paranoid. Each text focuses on humanity and from here branches off the love-hate, ignorance and prejudices of the human race. Wilde highlights the correlations between love and hatred we express towards one another, Mew exemplifies humanity losing touch with their heritage, whilst Lawrence’s reveals the irony within humankind’s prejudices. In all three cases the writer is attempting to exemplify how two effects, wildly different, grow closer together, reciprocating off one another, or how two objects, scientifically/emotionally tied together can push one another away.

Citizens National Bank Searches For System Solution

Citizens National Bank Searches For System Solution In the information system world, before a problem can be solved, it first must be properly defined. Members of the organization must agree that a problem actually exists and that it is serious. The problem must be investigated so that it can be better understood. Next comes a period of devising alternative solutions, then one of evaluating each alternative and selecting the best solution. The final stage is one of implementing the solution, in which a detailed design for the solution is specified, translated into a physical system, tested, introduced to the organization, and further refined as it is used over time. Unfortunately, the same mistakes happen again and again when organizations decide to embrace a new information system either as a solution to a problem or set of problems the organization perceives it is facing, or a management realization that the organization should take advantage of new opportunities to perform more effectively. These mistakes occur repeatedly due to the lack of a thorough system analysis which includes a feasibility study to determine whether each proposed solution is feasible, or achievable, from a financial, technical, and organizational standpoint. The importance of system analysis, information requirements, and feasibility study come of their advantages in determining whether each alternative solution is a good investment, whether the technology needed for the system is available and can be handled by the firms information systems staff, and whether the organization is capable of accommodating the changes introduced by the system. Customer relationship management systems are very popular information systems nowadays and have been hailed as a way for companies to find, influence, and retain customers, even though industry experts cite failure rates for CRM rollouts of up to 70 percent. Thats a disastrously high figure for initiatives that typically cost hundreds of thousandsor even millionsof dollars. Most often the complexity of CRM systems can turn deployments into expensive, time-consuming mistakes when companies embrace a complete CRM package from well known vendors like SAP, or Seibel while they need only low-cost, easy-to-implement CRM software with some common CRM features like lead generation and management, deal tracking, and customer support management. Citizens National Bank searches for a system solution will be my main discussion in this case study which I think depicts a simple example of organizations that underestimate the importance of a thorough assessment to business processes and a deep analysis to the projected information system to define the requirements of the new system, available alternatives, and comparing multiple selection criteria in order to choose the best available solution which capable of performing the required tasks, satisfy users needs, and compatible with the organizations legacy systems. Singleton Needs a CRM Package The initial problem that Mark Singleton was trying to resolve is the implementation of a CRM system to increase sales by raising the number of contacts relationship bankers were making and improving the tracking of these activities so that the bank could learn more from them. Also Singleton wanted a CRM system that places a great value on the person-to-person interactions between his relationship bankers and their customers and doesnt interfere with those interactions and diminishes the relationship bankers rapport with customers. (Lauden, 2010) In the problem-solving process which is especially valuable when we need to build new systems as a solution to a problem or set of problems the organization perceives it is facing. The problem in this case came from the management realization that the organization should take advantage of new opportunities to perform more effectively, but they didnt apply the four steps of problem solving. In the problem-solving process to system building, we would need to take the following four steps: (Lauden, 2010) (1) Define and understand the problem. (2) Develop alternative solutions. (3) Choose the best solution. (4) Implement the solution. Citizens National Bank CEO Mark Singleton achieved the first step with an outstanding performance in defining and understanding the problem for which they need to build a new system but he failed dramatically in applying the rest of the steps required by the problem-solving process to build a new system. Mr. Singleton did not devise, develop or try several alternative solutions before opting for a new CRM system to solve the problem of paper and manual work and replace it with a new information system to automate some of the bankers tasks. Because he did not develop alternative solutions, he couldnt choose the best solution which led to a failed implementation at the first time. Figure : Problem Solving Process Source: Lauden, Management Information Systems New System Implementation! Its Tangible and Intangible Benefits Organizationally, Citizens National Bank of Texas is a private, full-service bank with headquarters in Waxahachie, Texas, and 200 employees that has operated independently since 1868. Citizens National Bank relies on personal, retail, and commercial customers and serves businesses and consumers in Ellis County and other nearby counties, primarily in communities with populations of 25,000 or less. (Lauden, 2010) Citizen National bank operates heavily manual and count on paper system in which sometimes a salesperson that left Citizens National could take records of customer interaction with him or her, leaving the bank with no information to maintain the relationship. The paper system also created too much information for Singleton and his branch managers to process effectively. So that the old paper system cannot support the large number of new customers and the annual grow at a rate of 12 percent. (Lauden, 2010) A major part of Citizen Nationals strategy for continuing growth was to implement customer relationship management (CRM) software. The CRM strategy targeted the banks two main contact points with customers: the banks call center and its sales force. The objectives of a solution for Citizens National Bank would be to reduce the amount of time, effort, and errors in the tracking of activities made by relationship bankers and to increase sales by raising the number of contacts relationship bankers were making and improving the tracking of these activities so that the bank could learn more from them. (Lauden, 2010) Tangible Benefits Increased productivity: Using a CRM system will enable relationship bankers to improve their tracking activities with customers, which in turn increase their productivity and give them ability to serve more customers. Lower operational costs: using electronic records will substantially reduce papers used and results in cost saving. Reduced workforce: this is will be the result of increasing bankers productivity to serve more customers, which in turn will considerably reduce the workforce required to handle the projected increase in sales. Reduced rate of growth in expenses Reduced facility costs: due to paper reduction, and workforce reduction. Intangible Benefits Improved organizational planning and flexibility: because the paper system created too much information for Singleton and his branch managers to process effectively. The CRM system will give them efficient information to make effective decisions. Improved decision making: having accurate information under executives and managers control will dramatically enhance the decision making. Improved operations: The CRM system will enable the bank to approve credit and loan applications more quickly. Improved asset utilization and improved resource control. More information available in a timely manner. Enhanced employee goodwill: because under the old paper system, a salesperson that left Citizens National could take records of customer interaction with him or her, leaving the bank with no information to maintain the relationship. Increased job satisfaction among employees. Higher client satisfaction: nothing will satisfy the customers more than getting a quick approvals and smooth transactions. Better corporate image: this is will result automatically from an increase in job satisfaction among employees and a higher client satisfaction. Why didnt the implementation of the Siebel CRM solution work out I believe that the implementation of the Siebel CRM solution didnt work out for Citizens National because it was not the best solution that applies or fits into the defined problem; it didnt work out because it was not a result of a thorough selection process that went through precise evaluation for multiple alternatives or solutions. The implementation failed for many factors, I will classify these factors in terms of organization, technology, and people issues Organization: the approach of Citizens National toward nearly all business functions, from tracking customer leads to generating reports about them, was very basic. The Siebel software was simply too rich in features. (Lauden, 2010) From the start, Citizens National had trouble getting the software to fit its rather straightforward, basic customer-lead tracking and reporting needs.With Siebel, we were spending way too much time turning off capabilities that we didnt need, Singleton explains. An example of functionality that didnt fit Citizens Nationals business model was Siebels capability for setting up customer support cases. While some large corporations may want to set up a support case with detailed complaint-tracking and resolution functions, the small bank had no use for it. Service complaints that come in to Citizens National are handled on the spot by its call center. For service inquiries that require a follow-up, such as a customer asking about the reordering of checks, the call-center representative schedules an activity by sending an e-mail to the employee who handles check orders. (Bartholomew, 2007) People: Employees found the software to be too complicated. They were surprised to learn, for example, that the system did not automatically generate potential business opportunities for customers on their records. Furthermore, bankers were not able to view multiple relationships between a customer and the bank on the same screen. The extra navigation was confusing and inefficient. (Lauden, 2010) The relationship bankers were the key employees; the system was intended to be of value to them, and, in turn, provide value to the bank. However, they found no incentive in the Siebel environment because their compensation was based on sales, and sales had become harder to make. Citizens Nationals bankers found the system difficult to navigate. For instance, the banking representatives couldnt understand why an opportunity to make a loan to a particular customer wasnt listed under the customers record. You have to assign that opportunity to that person, explains Doug Furney, president and CEO of The Small Business Solution. If you dont make those relationships when entering the data, the opportunity wont appear under that customers record. Not everyone easily grasped this concept. (Bartholomew, 2007) Furney says the way the screens were laid out in Siebel, Citizens bankers had to flip back and forth between the various screens to identify different relationships that customers had with the bank. Understanding these relationships in the system was very confusing to their bankers, he says. As a result, the banks top sales representatives, who werent eager to change the way they did their work to fit the needs of the software, found Siebels learning curve too steep to negotiate. Citizens Nationals 16 relationship bankers never got over the ease-of-use problems that Siebel presented, Furney says. (Bartholomew, 2007) Technology: Citizens National experienced compatibility issues between the database formats in Siebel and those used by the banks core banking application, developed by Kirchman. As a result, the two systems had difficulty exchanging information properly. The bank was forced to spend a significant amount of time fixing such compatibility issues, which negatively impacted its ability to serve customers. (Lauden, 2010) Citizens National also had to deal with a raft of customization issues, often stemming from the differences between databases. Furney worked to integrate Siebel with Citizens Nationals core banking application. The bank uses banking software from Kirchman, whose vertical systems are used by numerous small and medium-size banks to process and track customers deposits, loans and trust accounts. Trying to get these two systems to talk was a challenge, he says. (Bartholomew, 2007) One basic difference was the way the core banking application set up its customer data fields. The Kirchman system did not have individual fields for both the customers first and last names, choosing instead to include the full name in a single field. By contrast, in Siebel, the customers first and last name each had a data field. Thats the kind of thing we ran into when we tried to marry data from these two different systems, Furney says. This kind of integration takes time, and customers dont realize how much time is required. (Bartholomew, 2007) Was QuickBase a better solution for Citizens National In my perspective, QuickBase was the best alternative solution that meets the requirements of Citizens National Bank for a new IT system that is an easy to use, capable of doing some tracking activities, and store the interactions between relationship bankers and their customers and doesnt interfere with those interactions and diminish the relationship bankers rapport with customers. QuickBase was designed for organizing, tracking, and sharing information among team members in the workplace while encouraging progress by notifying workers via automated e-mails of updated files, new task assignments, and approaching deadlines. Because QuickBase was not programmed as a specific business application, businesses could modify its database structure to meet specific business functions. (Lauden, 2010) One reason some small and medium-size companies, as well as groups within larger ones, are adopting QuickBase is its flexibility. Intended not just for customer management, QuickBase-which is actually more of an easily modified database than a full-fledged business application-can be harnessed for other business tasks. For example, Procter Gamble uses the system to track technology projects. Because its easy to use, runs online via any browser and doesnt require an I.T. professional to set up, the hosted application is finding its way into all kinds of businesses. (Bartholomew, 2007) There are many factors suggest that the bank ended up with the right approach and the right choice of product, some of these factors are: The Citizens National staffs were able to make changes to QuickBase themselves, so the costs of ownership and maintenance fees were much lower. QuickBase offered Citizens National flexibility that it did not have previously. Because the system was Web-based, the relationship bankers were able to use it anywhere that they had access to a browser. Relationship bankers and management received daily updated access to all interactions and transactions, enabling them to track business in a way that was never possible previously. For the first time, Citizens National was able to completely track sales opportunities and, as Singleton said, where we lost business, so we know where we need to make those extra 10 or 15 sales calls. Also central to the success of QuickBase at Citizens National was Furneys ability to integrate the system with the Kirchman core banking application. Furney configured QuickBase to upload new account information to the core system every night via an XML interface. For example, a banking representative can click on a commercial customers file and immediate see all the contacts that have been made with that customer by bank staff, any actions that were taken on the customers behalf, and the end result. Citizens National bank representatives use it to check on customers to see if there has been a follow-up call to a contact, whether a voice-mail message was left with the customer, who the salesperson was and the status of the contact. Its been an invaluable tool for us to keep track of our customers, Singleton adds. (Bartholomew, 2007) A Complete CRM package is Not for Everyone Industry experts cite failure rates for CRM rollouts of up to 70 percent. Thats a disastrously high figure for initiatives that typically cost hundreds of thousandsor even millionsof dollars. For smaller businesses or for departments within large companies, even successful implementation at that cost is out of the question. Anecdotally theres a fairly high failure rate attributed to CRM implementations, says Jocelyn Young, program manager for CRM services for IDC. (Desmond, 2010) Customer relationship management systems have been hailed as a way for companies to find, influence, and retain customers. Packages from companies like Onyx, Pivotal, and Siebel go far beyond simple contact and sales managementthey link sales, marketing, and customer support operations into a single, cohesive chain. But the complexity of CRM systems can turn deployments into expensive, time-consuming mistakes. Many companies need low-cost, easy-to-implement CRM software. Fortunately, affordable packages have finally matured. (Desmond, 2010) Figure CRM Systems All for one, one for all: CRM deployments can be expensive because they touch nearly every part of a business. By driving everything from marketing campaigns to call center operations to inventory management through a single knowledge base, companies are able to fine-tune customer interactions at every point of contact. Source: http://pcworld.about.com Jerry Norman, president of Market Answers, a CRM consultancy in Austin, Texas, says the broad definition of CRM is part of the problem. If you ask 100 people on the street what CRM is, you are going to get 100 answers. The executives know that they need CRM, but they dont know what they are getting. (Desmond, 2010) One way to sidestep the issue, says Norman, is to narrow the focus of the CRM effort. Lower-cost CRM products such as Microsoft BCentral Customer Manager, SalesForce.com, and SalesLogix provide common CRM features like lead generation and management, deal tracking, and customer support management. These packages can be installed on a companys servers or hosted by an application service provider. But while a Siebel deployment can cost several hundred thousand dollars, a package like SalesLogix can be had for less than $50,000 for 20 usersa relative pittance by CRM standards. (Desmond, 2010) So I believe that, organizations that would benefit from using Siebel CRM package are the large corporations which use it to connect multiple departments inside the firm like sales, marketing, and customer support operations which will link them into a single, cohesive chain. Example for such organizations is Verizon Wireless, we will examine in the next section of this case study how Siebel CRM helped Verizon to achieve its business objectives and gets a competitive advantage. This case study is taken from www.Oracle.com Verizon Business Delivers New Sales and Support Tools and Improves System Performance by 35% Verizon Business Basking Ridge, NJ www.verizonbusiness.com Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications, is a global leader in communications and IT solutions. With one of the worlds most connected internet protocol networks, Verizon Business delivers communications, IT, security, and network solutions to many of the largest businesses and governments. Industry: Annual Revenue: Communications US$93.5 billion Employees: 32,000 Our work with Accenture to upgrade our Oracle systems has improved system performance significantly. In a recent survey, 84% of users said performance was faster or much faster. Plus, our sales and support staff have new tools to improve productivity and customer service, which ultimately drives customer retention and revenue. Rob Moore, Director Verizon Business Challenges Empower sales and support staff with new tools to provide end users with a better experience, supporting customer retention, which is vital in todays competitive communications industry React to market demands and growing competition from new and traditional players in the market with more flexible pricing Improve system performance and lower maintenance costs Strengthen reporting and enable what if scenario testing Solution Worked with Accenture to upgrade to Oracles Siebel CRM 8.0 and Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition, taking advantage of evolving technology to support a range of customer-facing communications industry business processes Gained new sales and support tools-for tasks ranging from quoting to contact management-to help 15,000 users better serve 250,000 large and midsize business customers Improved pricing flexibility with new, dynamic pricing features that allow the company to introduce new pricing or customer retention offers on demand, instead of requiring code changes and a separate release, which previously took several months Provided sales and support staff with a new, easy-to-use interface that supports best practices and improves productivity Expanded reporting functionality to drive greater visibility Upgraded hardware and middleware and enabled a service-oriented architecture (SOA) to extend integration across the enterprise and further consolidate systems Lowered support costs and positioned the company for long-term cost savings by reducing customizations Improved system performance by 35% and accelerated processes by up to 12 hours-vital for a system that processes about 120 quotes, 104 contracts, and 340 opportunities daily Improved user satisfaction, with 84% noting faster performance Completed the upgrade within a short, eight-month timeline Could Citizens National have made a better choice? I think everyone would agree with me that Citizens National Bank could have made a better choice from the beginning if its management followed the required rules and procedures of building a new information system. Citizens National Bank could have made a better choice if its CEO Singleton analyzed the size and scope of the needed system and tried to find answers for the following questions: What system will provide us with a genuine business benefits? How can the firm adjust to the changes introduced by the new system solution? What alternative approaches are available for the needed system solution? In the information system world, building a new information system in order to alleviate an existing problem in the business operations requires a deep system analysis. Before a problem can be solved, it first must be properly defined. Members of the organization must agree that a problem actually exists and that it is serious. The problem must be investigated so that it can be better understood. Next comes a period of devising alternative solutions, then one of evaluating each alternative and selecting the best solution. The final stage is one of implementing the solution, in which a detailed design for the solution is specified, translated into a physical system, tested, introduced to the organization, and further refined as it is used over time. (Lauden, 2010) Conclusion Transforming business processes into an automated information system and taking advantage of new opportunities available through the rapid development of information systems and technologies is never an easy task and should not be taken for granted. In order to achieve high results and gain the expected returns from the investment in new information system, organizations should follow the recommended procedures in building a new system from defining the system requirements, determining its scope, to choosing the best available solution that is capable of performing the required tasks without going through a series of complicated screens that lead to the frustration of end-users. The systems analysis lays out the most likely paths to follow given the nature of the problem. Some possible solutions do not require an information system solution but instead call for an adjustment in management, additional training, or refinement of existing organizational procedures. Some, however, do require modifications to the firms existing information systems or an entirely new information system. Sometimes the lack of a thorough system analysis and feasibility study make you get lost in the forest of a complete business application that fits only large corporations and that is exactly what happened to Citizen National Bank in its search for CRM system. While the approach of Citizens National toward nearly all business functions, from tracking customer leads to generating reports about them, was very basic, they chose Siebel CRM system that was simply too rich in features which employees found it to be too complicated. Citizen National Bank could have prevented the demise of five hundred thousand dollars in a learning lesson if they conducted a thorough system evaluation and selection process from the outset in which they would find that the required system was an easy to use system that doesnt exceed a thousand dollar in its implementation cost.