Succubus Heat CHAPTER 7

â€Å"More Timbits?† I shook my head for the third time. If I'd learned anything about the Satanists-excuse me, the Army of Darkness-in my breakfast meeting with them two days later, it was that they really liked donuts. A lot. They kept trying to force food on me and seemed particularly fond of the aforementioned Timbits, which were like donut holes except with a cuter name. â€Å"No thanks.† After the donuts, a large part of the meeting focused on me. They all wanted to know who I was, where I'd come from, how my own group operated, etc. I spun lies out as fast as I could, rapidly building up a backstory for my Seattle Satanist group. The Army listened eagerly, and I hoped I'd be able to remember everything I was saying if quizzed afterward. â€Å"You'll just have to come visit us sometime,† I said, hoping to allay the questions. â€Å"That's the only way you'll really understand. For now, I mean, Kristin wanted me to come here to talk about you guys.† The mention of Kristin sobered them up. Evan nodded. â€Å"Georgina thinks we maybe need to expand our activities.† There were six total gathered here, the truly â€Å"active† members. They ranged from 20s to 40s in age, and like Evan, they had that same sort of pleasant demeanor that was more suited to helping you pick out a DVD player or lawn mower than sacrifice a goat. Maybe it was just a Canadian thing. One of the members, a tiny blond college student named Allison, frowned. â€Å"But why? We're already doing what the Angel wants.† They all looked at me, and I saw conflict on their faces. I'd slept with a man far more moral than Dante last night and was in the full throes of succubus charisma. I could tell it affected them. It was part of why they were so intrigued by me, and it would give me leverage here. Yet, I also realized, no matter how powerful they thought Kristin was and no matter how much they respected her endorsement of me, I was still an outsider and not necessarily to be trusted, appealing or not. Again, I marveled at the strength of their conviction. â€Å"Well, I don't want you guys to stop†¦Ã¢â‚¬  That was, of course, exactly what I wanted. â€Å"But most of what you're doing is scaring people.† That wasn't exactly true, but how else could I describe it? â€Å"It seems like now that you've established yourselves, you should use that strength to start influencing people toward the Angel's will. Surely you'll best do his- her bidding by actually leading people into darkness.† I made eye contact with each person as I spoke, smiling and putting as much coaxing charm as I could into my voice. A guy with a shaved head, whose name I'd forgotten, popped a chocolate glazed Timbit into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. â€Å"That makes sense.† Allison didn't agree. â€Å"If that's what the Angel wanted us to do, we would know. Right now, we need to keep doing just as we have. We are getting strong, and we need to make sure that strength doesn't wane in the face of our enemies.† I forced myself to keep smiling. These people didn't understand anything, let alone their so-called enemies. I turned toward Evan and looked at him through lowered lashes. â€Å"Why settle for one goal, though? Evan, I thought you of all people really wanted to make this group great. I thought you wanted to bring more souls to the Angel's side.† â€Å"That's what we're already doing,† argued Allison. She didn't seem to like me using the come-hither eyes on Evan. For his part, Evan didn't like being caught between us. He started to stammer out something but was interrupted by the shaved-head guy. â€Å"How?† he asked Allison. She frowned. â€Å"What do you mean, Blake? How what?† â€Å"How are we bringing more souls to the Angel's side?† â€Å"By striking out at those who deny her greatness.† â€Å"Yeah†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Blake frowned and finished eating another Timbit. â€Å"But I don't think doing that is bringing more souls to our side.† â€Å"Are you questioning what we've done?† â€Å"No, I stand by it all. It's just†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Blake shrugged. â€Å"It seems like the things we're doing aren't really swaying souls toward the Angel. If anything, it's just making them take a harder stand against us.† Finally! Finally someone got it. I could have kissed Blake. Maybe I would later. â€Å"I mean, I'm not really sure the Zamboni plan is really going to darken souls. It'll just make people want to defend themselves against us. Maybe it's time to do the Angel's will through more subtle means.† â€Å"Yes,† I cried. â€Å"That's exactly what I-Zamboni?† With much enthusiasm, they explained an idea they'd come up with to spray-paint a Zamboni with Satanic messages right before it came out on the ice during a hockey game. Still keeping that idiotic smile on my face, I said in a level voice, â€Å"I think maybe you should reconsider that.† Debate went on for the next hour or so. I was a bit dismayed that I hadn't swayed them all to my point of view immediately, but I'd sent enough ripples through them to make a difference. No matter what they claimed, none of them were really sure what exactly the Angel did want, of course, and while some were comfortable in their rut, others were starting to grasp my logic. I took it as a great sign of victory that when we finally got up to go, they'd decided against taking any action-say, like, the Zamboni plan-until they'd met again. As we walked out of the restaurant, I caught up with Blake. I'd decided Evan was a lost cause. Blake seemed to be the smartest of the group, and I thought it might be time for a leadership change. With a little help, it wouldn't take much to topple Evan. â€Å"Hey,† I said, beaming at Blake. â€Å"I really liked what you had to say. Are you busy right now? Maybe we could talk some more.† He smiled back at me, genuinely interested. I probably wouldn't have even needed any succubus glamour to convince him. â€Å"I wish I could†¦but I have to go to work. Are you free later tonight? Like after dinner?† â€Å"Sure.† We swapped numbers, and as we were about to part, I asked in a low voice, â€Å"You don't think they'll do something anyway, do you? Despite what they said about†¦you know, putting the Zamboni plan on hold?† His grin broadened. â€Å"No, they won't do the Zamboni plan. I'm sure of it.† â€Å"How?† â€Å"Because they're out of spray paint.† â€Å"So they'll get more.† He shook his head. â€Å"Not without me. I'm their supplier. I work at Home Depot.† I again found myself with time to kill in Vancouver. It was a beautiful day, and the temperature was unseasonably warm for April. So, I went and walked along the waterfront. The water seemed bluer than our own Puget Sound back in Seattle, but maybe that was just because the weather tended to be sunnier here. I wandered through Stanley Park afterward and then finally meandered back to my hotel. As I did, I again passed one of the T-shirt shops. They'd changed their display and now showed a shirt with a U.S. map on it that read: Dear Canada, Please Invade . Back in my room, I booted up my laptop to check my e-mail. There were a few from the bookstore's mailing list that I ignored, as well as the usual spam. Along with those messages, I had one from greygoose. com's mailing list, a picture of a cat with some nonsensical caption that Cody had forwarded me, and a letter from Maddie. It was a mass e-mail she'd sent out this morning. It read: Hey, guys! I decided to start a blog. Check it out. A link followed. Even though every instinct told me not to, I clicked it. Should have listened to those instincts. Pictures of her and Seth bombarded me. They'd gone to the Seattle Aquarium last night and taken assorted photos posing by puffins, squids, and other sea creatures. Worse, Seth's nieces were with them. That nearly killed me. Seth had five adorable blond nieces, ranging from four to fourteen. I loved them to pieces, and breaking up with him had been like breaking up with them too. The girls all looked reasonably happy, and I wondered if they even remembered me. Well, of course they did. It hadn't been that long. But I knew I'd keep fading from their minds until eventually, I was just some vague memory of their uncle's ex. I shut down the laptop and decided to head down to the hotel's bar. It wasn't quite dinnertime, so the place was fairly deserted. I took a seat at the bar near the television and promptly made friends with the bartender. Three gimlets later, I'd also made friends with an older couple visiting from San Francisco and some businessmen in town from Winnipeg. We were laughing about a recent movie when the TV suddenly changed from a curling match to static. The bartender pushed buttons on the remote ineffectually. â€Å"What's going on?† he demanded. A few moments later, the picture returned, but this time it was on a different channel, one showing a local news program. My smile faded, and my stomach sank. â€Å"No,† I breathed. The camera crew was reporting from Queen Elizabeth Park, another gorgeous area in the city that I'd briefly considered going to after Stanley Park. I wondered if I might have seen this atrocity and been able to stop it if I had visited. The Army of Darkness had staged a demonstration there late that afternoon. I counted about ten of them, so they must have recruited some of their auxiliary members. They were clothed in robes and hoods made out of cheap black and purple velvet, but I recognized two figures that looked suspiciously like Evan and Allison. Some of them held signs with pentagrams and assorted â€Å"evil† slogans while they walked around chanting something I couldn't make out. One of them had stuck a pole in the ground with a giant rubber goat mask on top of it. The mask wasn't affixed very well and kind of hung off to the side, making it look more like a mutant goat than an emblem of Hell. The footage showed a crowd gathered around and, later, police coming to break everything up. I quickly charged the drinks to my room and sprinted off, pulling out my cell phone as I did. â€Å"Blake? This is Georgina.† He groaned. â€Å"I know, I know. I just found out.† â€Å"What the hell happened? They said they weren't going to do anything. You said they weren't going to do anything.† â€Å"I didn't think they would!† He sounded sincerely upset. â€Å"I was at work until about a half-hour ago. I had no idea-honest. They did it on their own. I guess a bunch of them got arrested. Evan, Joy, and Crystal made it out, though.† I sighed and canceled our plans for tonight. I had to do damage control before Cedric or one of his associates came after me-and I knew for a fact they would. I drove over to Evan's house. He answered the door, still wearing the robe but not the hood. His face was radiant and excited. â€Å"Georgina! Did you see the news? Did you see what we did?† â€Å"Yes!† I pushed him back inside, closing the door behind me before any of the neighbors could see him. â€Å"What happened? You said you wouldn't do anything else until we met again! What happened to influencing people for the greater goo-evil?† He finally caught on that I didn't share his excitement. â€Å"You don't think we influenced people?† â€Å"I think you influenced some people to think you were freaks. A bunch of churches are probably going to have sermons tomorrow about staying pure and true or something like that.† Evan flounced onto his couch, speculative but still glowing with the rush of their stunt. â€Å"No, this was powerful. Its effects will be far reaching.† Far reaching enough to get me smote, no doubt. â€Å"What happened? What made you decide to do it? Had you been planning it all along?† â€Å"No. It was just decided-a couple of hours after we met.† â€Å"But why?† I asked, frustrated. â€Å"Because the Angel told us to.† â€Å"But you said you wouldn't!† He looked at me like I was crazy. â€Å"But the Angel told us to. We had to obey her.† I started to argue the idiocy of that and then paused to reconsider something I hadn't given credence to before. â€Å"Are you saying the Angel actually spoke to you?† â€Å"Yes, of course. How else would we know what she wants?† An uneasy feeling came over me. This whole time, when they'd spoken of doing what the Angel â€Å"wanted,† I'd assumed it was in the way so many religious zealots presumed they understood their deity's desires. Those who said their deity spoke to them were usually crazy. â€Å"Does she, like, speak to you in dreams?† â€Å"No,† he said. â€Å"She appeared to me. Right here. Well, over there, actually. By the TV.† â€Å"The Angel appears to you,† I said flatly. â€Å"In the flesh. Shows up and tells you what to do?† â€Å"Of course. How else do you think we'd know?† That uneasy feeling increased. â€Å"What does she look like?† Evan sighed, a dreamy expression filling his features. â€Å"Oh, Georgina. She's beautiful. So beautiful. She glows-she's almost hard to look at. Her hair-it's like a cloak of gold, and her eyes†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He sighed again. â€Å"I can't describe them. Like all the colors in the rainbow.† My phone rang just then, interrupting his similes. I didn't recognize the number, but it was a Vancouver area code. â€Å"Hello?† It was Cedric. â€Å"If you are not in my office in ten minutes,† he said. â€Å"I will come and bring you here. And you won't like it.† I shoved my phone into my purse and stood up. â€Å"Evan, I've gotta run. Look, if the Angel talks to you again, can you give me a heads up next time?† He turned hesitant. â€Å"Um, maybe.† I paused at the door. â€Å"What's that supposed to mean?† â€Å"Well, you see†¦Don't take this the wrong way, but she told us not to tell you. She said to keep this to the inner circle. Probably she just needs to get to know you better.† That sent my mind reeling, but Cedric's words had a greater impact at the moment. I had no time to argue against an entity that might or might not be real. â€Å"We'll talk about this later.† I sped over to the Financial District, not bothering to count the minutes for fear of what I'd find. Nothing happened to me by the time I reached Cedric's office, so I assumed I'd made it. Kristin wasn't in the reception area, but his door was open. â€Å"Get in here,† Cedric barked. My heart pounding, I walked into his office. His face was filled with rage, and if I'd had any thoughts that his mild manner made him seem undemonlike, that idea was immediately banished. He clenched his fists as he glared at me, and I thanked whatever luck I had that he had remained sitting and didn't throw me across the room. Meekly, I slid into my usual chair. â€Å"What are you doing?† he demanded. â€Å"Or rather, what aren't you doing?† He pointed to his computer screen. It didn't have Wikipedia on it for a change. Instead, it showed pictures of the demonstration for a local paper's website. â€Å"You were supposed to stop this kind of thing! Did Jerome send you here to sabotage me and spy?† â€Å"No! They did this without telling me. I'd actually convinced them this morning not to do this other thing with a Zamboni, and then they went behind my back because their Angel of Darkness allegedly spoke to them.† As quickly as I could, I recapped the day's events and conversation. When I finished, his glower hadn't changed. He still clearly didn't believe me. â€Å"Jerome said you were good, but I had no idea you were this good. You manipulated this group right under my nose.† â€Å"No,† I repeated. â€Å"I'll swear to you by whatever you want. I tried to stop them.† He continued as though I hadn't spoken. â€Å"I am going to get shit for this from everyone. Our own people are going to come down on me-in addition to making me a laughingstock. And eventually, the other side is going to raise an eyebrow too. They don't like this kind of overt attack.† The other side. Heaven. The angels. Angels†¦ â€Å"Who's your counterpart here?† I asked. â€Å"Among the angels. There must be an archangel here too, right?† The question caught him off-guard enough that his pissed-off look momentarily lifted. â€Å"Of course. Her name's Isabelle. Why?† â€Å"Well†¦Evan and the others keep saying they're directed by an angel. All this time you thought they were just worshipping some all-purpose Satanic ideal. But what if a real angel is controlling them? I mean, Jerome's given up the fight with you. If anyone had reason to give you shit, it wouldn't be our side. It'd be theirs.† Cedric was silent for several moments. â€Å"This isn't their style. It's not Isabelle's either. I've known her for a long time.† When greater immortals said â€Å"a long time,† they usually weren't kidding. â€Å"Is she blond?† â€Å"Yes, but that doesn't mean anything. We can look like anything we want. Someone appearing to this group-and I don't think anyone is-could easily make themselves blond or bald or whatever. I think you're trying to shift the blame off yourself and Jerome.† â€Å"I'm not! Look, I don't want to get mired in any of this. I just want to finish my job and go home. And if you ask me, I think someone's trying to work you over and send you looking in the wrong places.† Good Lord. I sounded like everyone else now. Soon I'd be telling him he was â€Å"getting played.† â€Å"Isabelle wouldn't do it,† he maintained. â€Å"We're friends†¦well, kind of.† It was funny that demons lied and betrayed each other all the time, yet he somehow stood by the character of someone who was technically his enemy. I understood it, though. Jerome maintained a similarly bizarre friendship with Seattle's archangel, Carter. â€Å"Can you get me in touch with her?† Cedric regarded me in amazement. â€Å"You're really going to run with this?† â€Å"I'm not sabotaging you-but I want to find out who is.† â€Å"That's a lot of work just to take the attention off yourself.† I simply looked at him, maintaining as determined a look as I could in the hopes that he'd believed me. I also hoped the taboo demons maintained about messing with the employees of other demons would hold. Apparently it did because he said at last, â€Å"I'll show you how to contact her, as pointless as that is.† I exhaled the breath I'd been holding. â€Å"Thank you.† He shook his head. â€Å"But don't think you're in the clear. I'm still going to be watching you.†

Listing and Speaking

Skill Development: Fear of public speaking http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=a56v2PSUQy8&feature=related Proactive = controlling a situation by making things happen or by preparing for possible future problems Myth = an idea or story that is believed by many people but that is not true Come across = to make a particular impression Overwhelming = something that is so confusing or difficult Optimal = best or most effectiveProfound = major, significant Intimate = having a very close relationship Overcompensating = trying to make up for something that is lacking or bad by doing too much of something else Rehearse = to say or do (something) several times in order to practice Backfire = to have the opposite result of what was desired or expected Interpretation: Keys to Successful Interpreting: Consecutive Interpretation Note-taking http://www. youtube. om/watch? v=ddRk2pvzsVQ Rambling = lengthy Incomprehensible = beyond your understanding Furiously = rapidly Decipher = make sense of Scribb le = scrawl = jot down Groping around = searching blindly or uncertainly Consign = transfer Delegate = a person who speaks or acts on behalf of an organization at a meeting or conference Encapsulate = summarizeHindrance = obstacle Politics: Palestine http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=qANkb5hUUfo Resolution = decision |Contend = argue | |Confrontation = conflict |Negotiate = discuss | |Implicit = hidden |Accountability = responsibility | |Partition = separation |Demolish = destroy | |envisage = imagine |Get away with = escape | |Territory = area |To be held accountable = held responsible | |Disputed = undecided |swirling = twisting | Linguistics: Language acquisition http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=pmsQJfyVrr0&feature=related instinctively = intuitively |species = basic category of biological classification | |isolate = separate |defect = a shortcoming, fault, or imperfection | |multitude = large number |mutation = change or alteration | |cognitive = mental |disorder = a disturbanc e in physical or mental health or functions | |breakthrough = sudden discovery |version = a particular form or variant of something | Technology India Launches World's CheapestTablet Computer for 50$ http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=oQXQVuaJ43o;feature=related sneak peek = an opportunity to see something before it is officially available gadget = small device or machine with a particular purpose port = in computers: a data connection in a computer to which a peripheral device or a transmission line from a remote terminal can be attached. HD= high definition = a system which produces very good quality television images in greater detail than ordinary systemsDebate: How to Change http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=zSb5BmIfNhI maverick |unconventional person | |entrepreneur |capitalist | |leap |jump | |rash |reckless | |enhance |improve | |attribute |quality | |philanthropy |charity | Religion and Culture convert |change | |committed |devoted | |preach |give a sermon | |polish |improve | |by the stack |a great deal | |unequivocally |clearly | |manuscript |document | |authentic |true – original |salvation |saving | |embrace |accept | Positive Psychology How to be Happy: http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=ilry-1-ucnA;feature=related pursue = continue elusive = hard to find fugitive = difficult to get evolutionary = gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form ingrained = very difficult to change propensity = a strong natural tendency to do something mechanism = a process or system that is used to produce a particular result o endure = to continue going through something unpleasant sustain = to provide what is needed for (something or someone) to exist hedonic treadmill = the tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness genetic set point = baseline habituating = make or become accustomed or used to something. hard wired = functions that are innate and unlearned in living s ystems lottery savoring = enjoying mindfulness = being aware of fruition = realization virtues = good and moral behavior analogy = a comparison of two things sensation = a particular feeling or effect that your body experiences cultivate = to improve or develop

Auditing Chaper 2&3

Chapter 2 2-7 The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) is responsible for establishing auditing standards for audits of public companies. The ASB is responsible for establishing auditing standards for private companies. 2-10 The criticism of this statement according to the ten generally accepted auditing standards that the standards should provide useful guidelines for conducting an audit to improve practitioners’ quality of their performance.Based upon ten generally accepted auditing standards, the quality control system can provide only reasonable assurance, not a guarantee, that auditing standards followed with a professional judgment of their opinion. 2-16 a. The first general standard, which states in part, that a person must perform the audit or persons having adequate technical training, requires that an auditor have education and experience in the field of auditing. . The measures of the quality of the auditor’s performance are by accepting the gene ral standards of auditing. c. The general group of the generally accepted auditing standards includes a requirement of due professional care be exercised by the auditor. d. The criteria of audit plan and evidence gathering the general character of the three generally accepted auditing standards classified as standards of fieldwork. 2-20 a.The ethical implications of Rossi and Montgomery’s accepting the engagement is having adequate training and proficiency, due professional care, proper planning and supervision, sufficient understanding of the entity, its environment, and its internal control. Since Mobile Home Manufacturing Company decided to issue stock to the public and Rossi and Montgomery’s CPA firm never had a client to go public or might not had proper training of filling necessary paperwork for SEC should not accept the engagement. b.The auditor may face some problems when filing the SEC of the following: new securities registration statement submitted for appr oval, commission examines the statements for completeness before allowing their client to sell on the securities exchange, and require the financial statements along with the opinion of the independent firm to be part of the registration statement and subsequent reports. Let us not forget the auditor must file all of the proper paperwork from the S-1 form to register new security and any other special S-forms.The 8-K form includes the sale of subsidiary, change in officer, a new product line, or change of auditors. The 10-K form must file the annual report within 60 to 90 days after the close of each fiscal year according to the size of company. The 10-Q form must be file quarterly for all public held companies that contain valuable information within the financials to be review by the auditors before filing with the commission. Chapter 3 3-23 a.The report includes additional paragraphs for the definition and limitations of internal control of the combined report on the financial st atements and internal control over financial reporting is correct. b. The date of the CPA’s opinion on the financial statements of the client should be the date of the completion of all important audit procedures. c. If a principal auditor decides to refer in his or her report to the audit of another auditor, he or she is required to disclose the portion of the financial statements audited by the other auditor. -25 a. A CPA will issue an adverse auditor’s opinion if the exception to the fairness of presentation is so material that an â€Å"except for† opinion is not justified. b. An auditor will most likely disclaim an opinion because of a client-imposed scope limitation. c. The paragraph expresses an qualified opinion â€Å"In our opinion, except for the effects of not capitalizing certain lease obligations, as discussed in the preceding paragraph, the financial statements present fairly†, in all material respects,†¦ 3-26 a.It allows immaterial erro rs to be review if the financial statements show misinformation within the transactions and balances. b. Using the phrase â€Å"In conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America† rather than â€Å"are properly stated to represent the true economic conditions† indicate the auditor followed standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. Because financial statements prepared in accordance with U. S. accounting principles and audited in accordance with U. S. uditing standards are available throughout the world on the Internet, the country of origin of the accounting principles used in preparing the financial statements and auditing standards followed by the auditor identified in the audit report. c. Using the phrase â€Å"In our opinion† indicates that maybe some information risk associated with the financial statements, even though the statements been audit. Also, the first and fourth generally accepted auditin g reporting standards that require auditors to state an opinion about the financial statements taken as whole, including a conclusion about whether the company followed U.S. generally accepted accounting principles or the IFRS issued by the IASB. d. The name identifies that CPA firm or practitioner who performed the audit to ensure the quality of the audit meets professional standards of legal and responsibility. e. Using material misstatement within the audit report conveys that the auditors are responsible only to search for significant misstatements, not the minor misstatements that do not affect users’ decisions.

How to Improve Nonverbal Communication Assignment - 14

How to Improve Nonverbal Communication - Assignment Example Physical Appearance: This is how other people see us and how we perceive them and is an important part of the nonverbal dialogue. How we look is what others see on first meeting and this creates perceptions about us in the other person’s mind. At the same time, we apply this to others and receive important nonverbal information, based on our perceptions. For example, if I meet someone who appears to have taken the trouble to be tidy and clean, I think they will behave in ways that match the appearance, such as a friendly and natural manner, well-spoken and polite, smiling and responsive. I am more likely to respond to them in a positive way, mirroring their behaviors. The people I relate to best in social and work situations are those who try to present a pleasing appearance because, in my experience, this goes together with behaviors that help communication, as mentioned above. I have seen how such a person reacts to praise or criticism quietly and thoughtfully, and this also increases my positive perceptions of them. On the other hand, I have met people who are dirty and untidy in appearance, who do not return a smile or greeting, and my perceptions of them are negative, causing me difficulty in establishing communication and rapport. Kinesics: (external displays of human feelings and emotions). These are expressed through such actions as a look, mimicry, gestures to emphasize meanings, poses, and visual communication (sight and movement of eyes). These nonverbal components provide a great deal of information when interactions take place. This is most helpful in cases where people are speaking in different languages, something I have experienced, as I am Russian. Gestures thus become the unique means of dialogue and carry out vital communicative functions.

Corporate and business strategy case study Essay

Corporate and business strategy case study - Essay Example 2) The other key issue is that the company’s chocolates are seasoned. For example the box chocolates show the sales of almost 35% during the period of 10 weeks before the Christmas, a further 10% are for the Easter, including three million Easter eggs. Typically the company sells almost ï‚ £10m in last 72 hours of Christmas. 3) Chocolates of the company are hand made this makes the process of automated packing difficult for the boxed chocolate. The other companies on the other hand like Cadburys make moulded chocolates, which makes the automated packing easier. 4) Thorntons long-term strategy included vertical integration and product differentiation. This means the top person in the company belonged to a particular family. The product differentiation apart from the taste of the chocolate was also marked by the freshness of the chocolate. 5) One of the key issues has been the taste of the chocolates manufactured by the company. Thorntons range of the continental chocolates has made the company largest selling specialist of assortment chocolates in the UK. of Thorntons’ chocolates. However, since the demand of company’s chocolates is seasonal this puts extra pressure on requirement of the manpower during the peak season. The requirement of casual staff for packing purposes increases which leads to reduction in efficiency. Also the sales during peak season become almost ten fold hence there is requirement of extra staff at the retail stores also during the peak season. This makes the company more dependent on the casual staff. The casual staffs are quite expensive and it is not easily available. As it is the requirement of the casual staff in general in the market is more during the festive seasons. Also the casual staff is untrained, hence it has to be trained, which requires some of the resources of the company. The casual staffs have lower speed of working thus reducing the efficiency. The other critical issue is that the chocolates

Week three discussion questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Week three discussion questions - Essay Example Also the analysis will help provide the direction, speed and also the extent of the trends. There are a number of different ratios that can be calculated from the financial statements of a company. The three most important ratios however, are the Liquidity, Profitability and Gearing ratios. The ratio analysis is of great importance, as it is the most effective method to estimate a firm’s performance and also compare it with that of its competitors and the industry on the whole. The long term viability of a company can be assessed from the ratios which indicate the overall performance, such as the asset turnover ratio, which measures how effectively the company has been utilizing its assets to generate sales. The other important measure is the gearing ratio which indicates the capital structure of the company and how effectively it has utilized its debt raising capacity. A company which has an optimum gearing ratio can be considered to be well positioned, or, geared for long term growth. It is imperative to note that though there are strong policies and strict procedures set up within a company, frauds do occur at times. Anonymous reporting hotlines are found to be effective reporting mechanisms. It is also important to keep a positive atmosphere, as very strict policies and internal controls might have adverse effects on employee motivation. Hence it is essential to carefully analyse the working conditions and the policies are to be set accordingly, so that both the objectives are achieved successfully. With the improvements in technology, it has become increasingly easier and effective for management to implement security programs and software within the organization. Software based on Benford’s law and surprise testing are also effective measures when carried out in a professional well planned manner. The most important thing to understand is a person’s base nature, in order to identity deception, fraud or a false statement. The most

How Do We Forgive Our Fathers (Poem) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

How Do We Forgive Our Fathers (Poem) - Essay Example The speaker of the poem is most probably a son, a son who faces the double dilemmas of knowing himself and knowing his father, without losing touch with his own identity. The poem suggests that a father’s masculinity defines his personality, which in turn, shapes his attitudes and behaviors as a husband and a father to his family; in other words, masculinity develops and delimits his destiny, a destiny that is intertwined with his children’s identities. In the first stanza, the poem looks at his father through the haze of the past and the future. The first line states: â€Å"How do we forgive our Fathers?† (Lourie 1). These words ask all children about forgiving their fathers. â€Å"Fathers† is capitalized, which makes it more personal because a son would say â€Å"Father† not â€Å"father.† It is in plural form too, which connotes the universality of having fathers as a shared experience. The first line also evokes the image of a father who must be forgiven. The speaker no longer asks if people need to forgive their fathers, but focuses on the process, the â€Å"how.† Apparently, the speaker does not know the process of forgiving someone as important in his life as a father. The poet continues the thought to the second line, which states: â€Å"Maybe in a dream† (Lourie 2). ... The future may be bleak when children have a hard time forgiving their fathers. The question of forgiveness is perceived with both hesitation and opportunity. The next few lines of the first stanza introduce the greatest faults of fathers in general. The third line continues to the idea of fathers’ deficiencies. It states: â€Å"Do we forgive our Fathers for leaving us too often or forever† (Lourie 3). Instead of answering the question â€Å"how,† the poet refers to the reasons why people have to forgive their fathers. The shift of the content from the â€Å"how† to the â€Å"why† provides a clearer explanation of the context of forgiveness. What have fathers done to be forgiven? The poet answers that fathers sometimes leave their families too much or forever, wherein â€Å"too often† means they always have to go to work, and for their spare time, they drink or spend it with their colleagues and friends. This aspect of fatherhood highlights c lass, race, and gender issues. The working class, especially low-income minority groups, spends their lifetime working to make ends meet. As fathers, the patriarchal society expects them to be the breadwinners, which is a gender issue. As men of the house, they must make money, or else, society questions their masculinity. To leave â€Å"forever,† on the contrary, means that the father has abandoned his family. He has sired a child and left him/her to his/her mother. This kind of fatherhood is criticized, but not as blatantly as mothers who abandon their children. Somehow, a masculine world condones abandoning fathers as an acceptable norm. These reasons for forgiving fathers are important because they undermine the essence of a father. A father who is gone or almost always gone can hardly be a father in

Statistics Homework Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Statistics Homework - Assignment Example When it comes to making forecasts using multiple regression, we must consider not only whether each independent variable value is reasonable by itself, but also whether the chosen combination of predictor values is reasonable. From the multiple regression, it is possible to compare the slopes of two or more regression lines and test whether the  slopes  and intercepts are significantly different". The null hypothesis could read that the slopes for the two groups are not significantly different. We compare the p-value with the If p-value< we reject the null hypothesis and conclude that conclude that the slopes for the two groups are different. From the figure below, R-squared value is 0.09232 implying that only approximately 9.232% of variation in price is explained by carA. The coefficient of carA on the other hand is -28463, this shows that the price of cars with no garage is much more, those with garage are -28463 cheaper. From the figure below, R-squared value is 0.01968 implying that only approximately 1.968% of variation in price is explained by carA. The coefficient of carA on the other hand is -14845, this shows that the price of cars with one garage is much more, those with more than one garage are -14845 cheaper. From the figure below, R-squared value is 0.1549 implying that only approximately 1.968% of variation in price is explained by carA and carB.

Yasukuni Shrine Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Yasukuni Shrine - Research Paper Example Since 1970s these visits have sparked controversy and for many to see respect being paid to Class A war criminals of World War 2 is being considered very offensive to the nations that face the aggression of the Imperial Japan. With Japan’s former Prime Minister Koizumi visiting the shrine, this controversy has been given new life and limelight (Okuyama 2009) The Yasukani Shrine is one of the most controversial shrines in the world. It is a Shinto Shrine that is situated in the Chiyoda district in the capital of Japan, Tokyo. The reason for its controversy is that this shrine was built as a dedication to all the Japanese Soldiers who died fighting in World War 2 on the orders of the Emperor of Japan (Yasukuni Shrine 2008). The Symbolic Registry of Divinities has listed about 2460000 men and women who died for the Imperial Japan. The souls that are enshrined here include all of those who have served the interest of the Imperial Japan since the year 1983. This will include the na tional crisis like the Boshin War, Seinan war and also wars with other countries like Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars. The most controversial aspect of this shrine is that it also has the souls of soldiers who were killed during the active duty during the World Wars (Yasukuni Shrine 2008).... This location was chosen by Meiji Emporer. It was first established to help commemorate the men and women who had died in the Boshin War that resulted in the power restoration of the Meiji. The shrine is among the many that were built under the government sanction Shinto program throughout Japan. Since 1879 the shrine has been named as the Yasukuni Jinja (Ponsonby-Fane 1963; Yasukuni Shrine 2008). It has now become the principal shrine to commemorate the dead who have sacrificed their lives for Japan and its interest. When World War 2 ended, the United States and the Occupation Authorities issued what is now called the Shinto Directive. This directive ensured that the state and the religion was separated in Japan. This obviously had an impact on the Yasukuni Shrine. It was pressurized that either the shrine be declared a religious institution that will not be dependent on the Government or it can itself become a secular government institution. It was then decided by the general masse s that the shine will become a private institution that will be privately funded. Since the year 1946 the shrine has been operating privately (Tetsuya 2008). There is no person buried in the Shrine. This is of the essence as only the souls are enshrined here. There are no ashes, graves or bones of any soldiers here. The priests here only perform purification traditions for the souls of the dead. So the issue arose from the fact that there are many souls enshrined here that are considered to be World War 2 criminals. This enshrinement started in 1959 by the enshrining of 1068 souls that were either Class B or Class C criminals and were declared so before their execution by the tribunals of the Allied Forces. Then in 1978 the kami of fourteen soldiers was

Human Resource Management Essay Example for Free

Human Resource Management Essay After reviewing chapter 13 of Human Resource Management: Acquiring and Building Employees’ Skills and Capabilities; I have reached the conclusion that the best way to improve the management of human resource is to: †¢First place to start improvement would be to improve employee’s skills. Improving employee skills would be very beneficial to any company. Training is important as an employer I want to boost character, commitment, competence, and team player qualities in my employees. I think training sessions that teaches good reinforcement, involves skill role playing, on-the-job training, real-life simulations and experiential training, and welcomes feedback from the trainees are most effective. The training enhancement programs need to be designed based on analyzing data for each employee, and giving assessment before training. †¢Then I have noticed when I enter certain business there’s a picture of one or more of their top employees. The employee is recognized for that week or month for his or her high quality of work. Recognizing your best employees will give other employees the incentives to produce quality work. Acknowledgement shows that you are a team player. Being a team player builds character in an individual. †¢Next, providing incentives boost up moral. I would prefer to initiate the merit pay system for my employees. At my job every year we received a pay raise, not this year the union negotiated to put the raise toward a different cause. The union’s actions cause many employees’ morale to go down. There is nothing like receiving paid reasonable for working excessively. The two areas that I selected are Labor Relations, and Pay and Benefits. Labor relations play a key role within a company. I have experienced employees having problems with their employers and do not have anyone to fight for his or her rights. Improvements with communication will provide the employees means of better communication within their employers. For instance, having an employee’s feedback box will provide all employees’ access to address different issue without the feeling of intimidation. The employees are aware that these issues can be very damaging to the company, if not addressed in the proper manner. I just think that the employees are more in tuned with the issues that are more pertinent. The area of Pay and Benefits is also an important factor. Looking at today’s economy people is willing to work any job with good pay and benefits. In today’s society there are employees who expect to get paid for less work. There are employers who will pay less for more work. I think that ever employee needs to be evaluated honestly on his or her work performance. I would also have employee meetings to collect important feedback. In order to receive honest feedback, I will allow the employees to submit their opinions anonymously. Conclusion After reading the three chapters concerning the ways that human resource management impacts a business. I have realized that I have a lot to learn reading is good but the best teacher is experience. I pray that everything I have and will read stay with me during my future business adventures. A great deal of what I have read, I have been experiencing through the actions of others on my job. Just like with everything else you have to weigh the pros and cons.

Community Capacity Building Strategies | Evaluation

Community Capacity Building Strategies | Evaluation The article outlined below is an evaluation of the success or otherwise of the Community Capacity Building programmes within the United Kingdom. The original purposes of all the Community Capacity Building programmes in Britain was to increase the amount of social housing and also community based facilities actually available for those people that need the most. The Community Capacity Building programmes in Britain are as will be examined intended to maximise the level of local regeneration or renewal through the greater provision of social housing and community facilities without necessarily constructing large numbers of new purpose built buildings. The evaluation will seek to actively examine the examples of good practice as well as the examples of where the Community Capacity Building programmes have either gone wrong completely or have failed to live up to expectations. The Community Capacity Building programmes as will be examined are mainly concentrated in areas with higher num bers of black and ethnic minority community groups such as Birmingham, London, Manchester, and Glasgow. The over all objectives of the Community Capacity Building programmes is to improve the situation in local communities within the rural and urban areas with the greatest need for economic regeneration and renewal to be achieved. It was anticipated that such economic regeneration or renewal would strengthen local communities and thus go on to enhance their social cohesion.[1] The function of the Community Capacity Building programmes was to build up the most economically deprived local communities in a social sense at the same time as regenerating their physical environment by renovating existing buildings and facilities. The New Labour government also regarded the Community Capacity Building programmes as being connected to the other economic and social regeneration as well as renewal schemes that it introduced after coming into office in 1997.[2] It was the New Labour government that brought in the Community Capacity Building programmes throughout the whole of the United Kingdom. The Community Capacity Building programmes were administered differently in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales due to the New Labour government introducing devolution into Scotland and Wales.[3] To a large extent the Community Capacity Building programmes were regarded by the New Labour government as being complimentary to the already existing as well as the proposed regeneration and renewal schemes such as the Regional Development Corporations and the New Deal for Communities projects.[4] Indeed just like the New Deal for Communities projects the Community Capacity Building programmes were set up in such a way as to allow local communities to have a meaningful input into the regeneration and renewal schemes actually carried out.[5] The New Labour government hoped that the involvement of local communities in the decision-making process of the Community Capacity Building programmes would make such local communities feel more attached to those programmes. Due to the Community Capacity Building programmes being targeted towards the fighting of poverty and social exclusion inside the most deprived local communities these programmes have involved a high degree of participation from black and ethnic minority community groups.[6] Despite the Community Capacity Building programmes all having similar organisational frameworks as well as the same over all objectives there have been differences in the effectiveness and also the performance have become apparent. There have been good, indifferent, as well as bad practices can be discerned from those Community Capacity Building programmes which have been implemented in the United Kingdom.[7] There have certainly good practices, which have been followed in the implementation of the most successful of the Community Capacity Building programmes carried out within the United Kingdom. These good practices could also be followed in the Community Capacity Building programmes that have apparently failed or underachieved as well as helping to shape the structure and organisation of future regeneration or renewal programmes.[8] All of the Community Capacity Building programmes aim to increase the amount of social capital available within deprived local communities such as those in Birmingham, London, Manchester, and Glasgow whilst at the same time seeming to offer people better opportunities. The Community Capacity Building programmes are there to provide people in deprived areas the facilities and also the services that helps to improve the over all quality of their lives besides assisting the regeneration and the renewal of their local communities.[9] All of the Community Capacity Building programmes to differing degrees involve voluntary sector organisations as well as local community groups. It can convincingly argued that the Community Capacity Building programmes that have worked the best are the ones that have involved as many voluntary sector organisations and local community groups as possible in deciding the regeneration and renewal schemes that will be carried out. For the Community Capacity Building programmes the difficult part of involving a higher number of voluntary sector organisations and local community groups is that in can complicate the decision-making process, and thus lengthen the total time taken to fully implement the regeneration and renewal projects eventually agreed upon.[10] The ideal good practice for the Community Capacity Building programmes to achieve would be to effectively co-ordinate all the relevant voluntary sector organisations and local community groups in order to ensure the regeneration and the renewal projects are carried out without delay, and that such projects are finished successfully. The organisational key to achieving the intended regeneration and renewal projects is to arguably only to involve the most relevant voluntary sector organisations and local community groups that will have a part to play in ensuring the success of the Community Capacity Building programmes in any nearby areas.[11] Rural areas that have benefited from the introduction of these programmes included Teesdale and East Northamptonshire.[12] When it comes down to the successful completion of any of the Community Capacity Building programmes good practice has demonstrated the value of only involving the most relevant of the voluntary sector organisations and local community groups. These are the organisations and the groups that are needed to start and then finish the chosen regeneration and renewal projects previously agreed to. In the deprived areas of the United Kingdom in which the voluntary sector organisations and local community groups have exactly matching, or in fact similar outlooks it has proved to be easier to agree over the regeneration and renewal projects they wish to implement. There is the regeneration and the renewal projects that will add the most social value to the particular local area, the improvements that they have made possible in the first place. In the deprived areas in which the voluntary sector organisations and local community groups have co-operated in the Community Capacity Building progra mmes it has seemed that success has been most likely.[13] It has been assumed that the voluntary sector organisations and local community groups that are most important are those which represent black and ethnic minority communities and they will automatically not to mention unanimously agree on the regeneration and the renewal projects they need to fully implement. Unanimous or comprehensive support for regeneration and renewal projects will allow the Community Capacity Building programmes that enthusiastic voluntary sector organisations and local community groups are part of to be more successful. It is logical to argue that the Community Capacity Building programmes that have worked the most effectively have been the ones that have managed to gain wide-ranging agreement between the diverse voluntary sector organisations and local community groups involved in the decision-making process.[14] Examples of successful programmes have included Canning Town Outlook as well as the Secret Garden in Highgate Newtown.[15] Perhaps the best way of obtaining good practice in the implementation and also the running of the Community Capacity Building programmes is to adopt several regeneration and renewal projects in order to meet the needs of as many voluntary sector organisations and local community groups as possible. However to maximise the social value achieved due care has to be taken to make sure that only viable regeneration and renewal projects are adopted. It is good practice to select viable regeneration and renewal projects rather than simply choosing to spend scare funds on projects that are realistically un-viable, and will therefore not increase social capital, or indeed increase economic as well as social opportunities. The achievement of good practice is to make sure that the regeneration and also the renewal projects carried out are the best possible use of limited budgets. The voluntary sector organisations and local community groups that are given advise by other organisations, governme nt departments, and also local authorities can also make better decisions than those that are not given sound advise. However not all of the Community Capacity Building programmes have been a success when it comes down to the achievement of their objectives in relation to the full implementation of regeneration and renewal projects. The failure or the underachievement of some of the Community Capacity Building programmes is frequently due to the poor practices relating to the decision-making processes, which mean that the voluntary sector organisations and local community groups do not co-operate with each other effectively. Alternatively the voluntary sector organisations and local community groups that belong to failing Community Capacity Building programmes have contributed to the lack of success by failing to agree to regeneration and renewal projects.[16] The Community Capacity Building programmes across the United Kingdom have not all been able to make the voluntary sector organisations and local community groups enthusiastic about the community engagement required in order to successfully implement the regeneration and renewal projects to which they have agreed to. The voluntary sector organisations and local community groups may find it hard to find enough funds to carry out the regeneration and renewal projects that they want to implement the most to serve the needs of their local communities. The Community Capacity Building programme that has been widely considered to be the least successful was the one that covered the Glasgow area. The Glasgow Community Capacity Building programme was hindered by poor decision-making, as well as poor practices by the voluntary sector organisations and local community groups that belonged to it.[17] The voluntary sector organisations and local community groups that were part of the Glasgow Community Capacity Building programme to a large extent were unable to co-operate effectively with each other. The over all lack of co-operation and co-ordination between the voluntary sector organisations and local community groups belonging to the Glasgow Community Capacity Building programme had a knock on detrimental effect. This effect was noticeable when it came down to the speed and also the stability of decisions made with regard to regeneration and renewal projects. The slow pace of decision-making as well as unsuitable tarnished the reputation of the Glasgow Community Capacity Building programme. The poor reputation of the Glasgow Community Capacity Building programme has in many respects overshadowed the aspects of the regeneration and renewal projects that contributed to the improving the lot of the local communities within the Glasgow area. After all the Glasgow area has the large st concentration of black and ethnic minority communities in the whole of Scotland. Given the size of the black and ethnic minority population that live inside the Glasgow area it is hardly surprising that were difficulties in balancing the diverse interests of the voluntary sector organisations and local community groups within the vicinity.[18] It could be argued in fact that the success or failure of the Community Capacity Building programmes within the United Kingdom is determined by more than just good or bad operating practices within these programmes. The New Labour government although it was keen to establish and promote the Community Capacity Building programmes right across the whole of Britain intended that they would be linked with other bodies and institutions in raising living standards. Various voluntary sector organisations and local community groups ideally co-operate and co-ordinate with each other when part of their respective Community Capacity Building programmes yet they could not be expected to right all the problems of local communities in deprived rural and urban areas throughout the United Kingdom. The Community Capacity Building programmes were meant to complement other programmes or social schemes such New Deal for Communities.[19] Some of the differences in the ways in which the Community Capacity Building programmes operate are due to the introduction of devolved government in Scotland and Wales as much as via good and bad practice.[20] Therefore to summarize the Community Capacity Building programmes have undoubtedly played their part in the improving of the lives of the people that live in the most deprived areas of the United Kingdom. It is noticeable that the most successful Community Capacity Building programmes have allowed voluntary sector organisations and local community groups to co-operate with each other in order to implement regeneration and renewal projects quickly as well as successfully. The involvement of voluntary sector organisations and local community groups has meant that local communities have had a greater influence over the regeneration and renewal projects carried out as part of the Community Capacity Building programmes. The Community Capacity Building programmes are thus a means of allocating extra central government funding into the most deprived areas of the United Kingdom. Although such programmes allow voluntary sector organisations and local community groups to varying degrees of inf luence over subsequent regeneration and renewal projects they do not have enough funds from the central government to end economic and social deprivation overnight. The New Labour government has used other programmes such as the New Deal for Communities as well as the extension of social housing schemes to tackle poverty alongside the lack of affordable housing. The voluntary sector organisations and local community groups that are part of these programmes aware that although there are merits to the scheme there are also limitations to how much can actually be achieved in the most deprived areas of Britain. Bibliography Balloch S and Taylor M, (2001) partnership working: Policy and Practice, Policy press Coxall B, Robins L Leach R (2003) Contemporary British Politics 4th edition, Palgrave, London DEFRA, (2003) Community Capacity Building and Voluntary Sector Infrastructure in Rural England, Crown Copyright. Diamond J and Liddle J, (2005) Management of Regeneration, Routledge Home Office, (2004) Firm Foundations – The Government’s framework for Community Capacity Building, Crown Copyright Dorey P (2005) Developments in British Public Policy, Sage Publications, London Jones B, Kavanagh D, Moran M, Norton P, (2004) Politics UK, 5th edition, Pearson Longman, London Kingdom J (2003) Government and Politics in Britain, An Introduction 3rd edition, Polity Press, Cambridge Moran M, (2005) Politic and Governance in the UK, Palgrave, Basingstoke Rydin Y, (2003) Urban and Environmental Planning in the UK, Palgrave, Basingstoke Seldon A Kavanagh D, (2005) The Blair Effect 2001 – 5, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1 Footnotes [1] Coxall, Robins, and Leach, 2003 p. 380 [2] Moran, 2005 p. 29 [3] Kingdom, 2003 p. 495 [4] Dorey, 2005 p. 25 [5] Seldon Kavanagh, 2005 p. 411 [6] Jones et al, 2004 p. 619 [7] Rydin, 2003 p. 47 [8] Balloch Taylor, 2001 p. 15 [9] Seldon Kavanagh, 2005 p. 315 [10] Jones et al, 2004 p. 619 [11] Home Office, 2004 p. 20 [12] DEFRA, 2003 p. 5 [13] Diamond Liddle, 2005 p.20 [14] Jones et al, 2004 p. 619 [15] Home Office, 2004 pp. 8 10 [16] Jones et al, 2004 p. 619 [17] Seldon Kavanagh, 2005 p. 316 [18] Jones et al, 2004 p. 619 [19] Home Office, 2004 p. 2 [20] Jones et al, 2004 p. 620

The Influence of Women in Epic of Gilgamesh Essay -- Epic Gilgamesh es

The Influence of Women in Epic of Gilgamesh Gilgamesh can be viewed as a writing that describes the social scene of the times it was written in. The characters of Enkidu and Gilgamesh are strong males. The roles of women in Gilgamesh are submissive and subtle. Women in this ancient Sumerian tale tend to be passive, but capable of influencing the outcome of events. Enkidu is a mighty force to confront. He is so strong that he is seen as a wild animal in his first appearances in the book. Gilgamesh is as strong or even stronger than Enkidu. He is the king of Uruk and is part god and part man. These dominant male characters command the most attention of the reader. The prostitute is one of the roles of women in the text. She brought about the conversion of Enkidu from a savage creature to a civilized member of society. Without this female intervention, Enkidu would not stand by Gilgamesh's side in the adventures to come. The harlot is used by society as a tool to draw Enkidu in. The male trapper told her to entice Enkidu with her nakedness and to lie with him. Once Enkidu had do...

A Typical Man :: essays research papers

There are days that it would be nice outside and I'll go out for a walk; I'd either go to the park up the block, the Bodega (a Spanish grocery store) at the corner, or a friend's house. I would walk down the sidewalk and it's like I'm a famous person or an expensive car the way guys around me would act, and the thing is that it happens to all women. You get the "looks" by the guy across the street, the "stare" by the men driving by, the "whistles" from the group of guy's sitting on stairs as I walk by, and then there's the occasional "neck-break" when a guy walks by me. All that attention is very uplifting to some and tolerable by most, but when a guy crosses the line and actually speaks his mind, that's when he becomes a sexist pig. In the short story "A&P" by John Updike it's main character Sammy didn't cross the line on being a sexist pig. From the moment the three girls-"Queenie", "that chunky one", and "the tall one"- entered the supermarket he acted like a normal typical man, Sammy couldn't keep his eyes off them. So much in fact that the girl's were a big distraction, " I stood there with my hand on a box of HiHo crackers trying to remember if I rang it up or not"(421). He watched the girls every movement as if they were the only thing that mattered to him at that time; "†¦the girls had circled around the bread and were coming back†¦"(421), "†¦and then they all three of them went up the cat-and-dog-food-breakfast-cereal-macaroni-rice-raisins-seasonings-spreads-spaghetti-soft-drinks-crackers-and-cookies aisle. From the third slot I look straight up this aisle to the meat counter, and I watched them all the way" (422). The three girls obviously had his undivided attention. He deeply and metaphorically describes every striking detail about all three of them. With the chunky one he notices that her bathing suit is new; "†¦it was bright green and the seams on the bra were still sharp and her belly was still pretty pale so I guessed she just got it (the suit)"(421). "†¦and a tall one, with black hair that hadn't quite frizzed right, and one of these sunburns right across under the eyes and a chin that was too long-you know, the kind of girl other girls think is very "striking" and " attractive"†¦"(421); and Queenie, "She came down a little hard on her heels, as if she didn't walk in bare feet that much†¦"(421).

An analysis of the relationship between the hospitality culture and employees in China :: Business, Organization

According to Adelman et al. (1994); Bitner(1990); King (1985); King and Garey (1997),former research on service management have not considered the influence of culture on provide the service from staff. Tsang (2011) state that hospitality culture were focused on researches in recent years in China. Hospitality culture is not only very important for the hospitality industry, but also very significant for employees. In addition, hospitality culture is involved four factors: materials culture, behaviors culture, spiritual culture and rules culture. The key point of hospitality culture is spiritual culture, because this can determine the value of other cultures in the hospitality organization. Why hospitality culture so significant? There is some evidences to prove that hospitality culture is significant to the hotel organization. The First aspect, hospitality culture can improve the hotel services level and increase the turnover level. Mattila (1999) and Stauss and Mang (1999) argued that the customer estimate the service would depend on hospitality culture.The hotel has strict discipline to manage the staff, and staff must comply with the institutions during their working time. According to Martin and Lundberg(1991), Bennigan's is a America restaurant chain, it created research to find out why consumers did not come to their restaurants. The consequence is that only 15 per cent of consumers did not satisfied with the food, but 67 per cent of the consumers are dissatisfied with the staff's attitude. For instance, customers receive satisfying services, so they will remember these services and want to receive those services again next time. Although this is not enough to evaluate the results of a hotel service, it can make a good impression in customers’ minds. Secondly, it is not easy to fail the hotel have good culture in the strong competition of the hospitality industry. Nowadays, more and more businesses are focusing on hotels, so the hotel industry is face with fierce competition. When hotels have the same level of facilities,and hotel culture is the key point to estimate the hotel services. In addition, hotel culture can improve the position in the same industry. Hospitality culture and employees influence on each other. On the one hand, hospitality culture has some advantages and disadvantages to affect employees. At first, it can promote the skills of employees, because the hospitality lay out to train the employees’ skills. Shames and Glover (1988) claimed that human interaction and communication are involved in service experience as same as a social experience.

Polygraph Research

Christopher Langford Writing II T-Th 930-1045 Writing Assignment 2 Polygraph I began my research thinking I wanted to find out where we were today in our advancement of the lie detector machine and its accuracy. There was a time it was heard of often and considered quite controversial in its legitimacy. My research took me on a different journey then I had expected. A journey discovering that the Polygraph Machine is not only just as controversial today as ever, but also that there appears to be behind the controversy then simply its technology. The Polygraph Machine was traditionally known for its use in lie detection within law enforcement.So I began my search in the Criminal Justice data base of our school library. I came across an interesting article, â€Å"The Truth Surrounding Lie Detection Technology†, written by Rebecca Kanable, a freelance writer specializing in law enforcement topics for the periodical Law Enforcement Technology. Her article, although informative of the details in how the polygraph machine works, what it detects physiologically, and why it might be considered inaccurate, revealed to me there may be more behind the controversial system then simply its technology.She would reference an important sounding entity called the APA (American Polygraph Association), explaining the APA founding, their development, and purpose. After discussing the APA and its extensive research and technology, another official sounding entity was introduced, the NAS (National Academy of Sciences). The NAS reported that contrary to the APA’s pride in their more than 80% accuracy in detecting deception, a majority of the research was unreliable, unscientific, and biased.The APA responded that the NAS findings were confined to a review of the research on polygraph testing in particular, and how it relates to personnel screening. The APA said the NAS relied on 57 of more than 1000 research studies available. The NAS in turn responded that a century of research in psychology and physiology provided little basis for expecting the polygraph test could have extremely high accuracy because the physiological responses are not uniquely related to deception only. At this oint a third entity was introduced, the NACVSA (National Association of Computer Voice Stress Analysis), who also bashed the APA as a flawed method and flawed technology. They would tout how they were supported in agreement by the NITV (National Institute for Truth Verification), yet another official sounding entity. This back and forth seemed a bit odd, as though one or the other had an agenda. That is what redirected my research into whom these entities were, and who was considered more reliable for the truth about lie detection. First stop was the APA web site (APA. org).I discovered it was a profit driven business selling technology, instruments, research, and advanced training and education programs, as well as advertising their APA magazine. Their primary customer s were law enforcement, the legal community, and private sector security screening. It certainly was official, but only in the business sense. Ironically, in my search for the APA web site, it was paired with Antipolygraph. org web site. A location for message board discussions against the polygraph, most of which was specifically directed at the APA. I then moved on to the first entity contradicting the APA in Kanable’s article, the NAS.NASonline. org had nothing to sell, but rather a non profit society established by an act of congress signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 and extended by President Woodrow Wilson charged with the mission of providing independent objective advice to the nation on matters related to science and technology. It definitely carried some weight in legitimacy, but to be sure it was not a bias source about this topic, I search its site database for this particular topic, and although it spoke about the technology of the polygraph, it made no specific me ntion of the APA itself.I was unable to do the same of the APA site as you had to be a paying member to access their database. I felt the NAS response to the APA research was legitimate coinciding with their purpose. What about the NACVSA? It turns out they are a direct competitor of the APA. Upon arriving at the CVSA1. com web site, it was immediately obvious in their solicitation of CVSA software and training. Also solicited were funding assistance through grants from both Walmart and Target to purchase the technology. They tried to hide behind government looking signs and symbols to appear more â€Å"official†.They covered the bases offering insight of cases solved by their technology, who was using their technology, and the history of their technology. They would repeatedly indicate their direct support from the National Institute for Truth Verification. Of course this institute must be official and have a web site. A Google turned up nothing for the NITV, and any mention of them would link you to the CVSA1. com web site. An attempt at Wikipedia also only had them listed as a vendor and tied to the NACVSA.Returning to the CVSA1 website for further investigation, I noticed in small print in the corner the following, â€Å"the NITV is the manufacturer and sole source for the Computer Voice Stress Analyzer†. That certainly did explain their avid support of the CVSA technology. One last scroll through all the sites having mention of the NITV, I noticed a Government site with their mention. Eforia. bis. doc. gov. was a public posting of government documents from the department of commerce. It displayed 11 charges against the NITV of illegal exportation as a private business. So much for that.Realizing I only had information from either the biased private businesses of technology, or the seemingly unbiased sources of government documents and a science society founded by congress, I now wanted to find others with something to say about the polygraph . I went back to the school library database with a refinement for only magazines and newspapers. First was a eye catching title of an article in the Atlantic Monthly by Alan Berlow called â€Å"The Wrong Man†. I gave accounts of cases leading to the conviction and eventual carrying out of death sentences of what would turn out to be discovered as wrongful conviction down the road.The tie with the polygraph came in that the results of the polygraphs, although not admissible in court, did find in agreement with what resulted in their convictions, even in contradiction of there being no physical evidence. This article revealed why the DA in one of those cases was so adamant in ignoring the lack of evidence for guilt and continuing till a conviction. He had knowledge of, and was influenced by, the non admissible results of the polygraph. The Wall Street Journal offered opposite perspectives on the polygraph. In 2003, an Article by Sharon Begley called â€Å"Inertia, Hope, Moral ity, score TKO’s in Bouts with â€Å"Solid Science†.The dispute with the polygraph was no different then others but with her particular method and terminology of expression. The second Wall Street Journal article, â€Å"For The Polygraph Paradox; Lie Detectors Aren’t Perfect; But convicted Sex Offenders Concede, They May Be Good Enough†, by Laurie P. Cohen. Although alluding to a positive use for the polygraph in spite of its controversy, I doubted the weight of this perspective as the only source of data was that of those who were convicted. It has no opposite data of those who were not convicted.I didn’t take either article as being to far out of bounds as the Wall Street Journal is widely known as quite reputable, whether you agree with a particular article or not. So I then narrowed my search to the immediate locality, and took an article from the Telegram & Gazette. It was a General interest periodical in 1989 with no specific author. It was m erely stating a factual outcome of the Massachusetts Supreme Court having ruled the polygraph test as inadmissible in this state. My research into the polygraph, although somewhat informative about its accuracy, was far more revealing about the source of opinions about the polygraph.My research resulted in verification of exactly what the assignment intended. The need to investigate and verify the legitimacy of expressed information before accepting it as factual evidence of what you are researching. Annotated Bibliography Kanable, Rebecca. â€Å"The Truth Surrounding Lie Detection Technology. † Law Enforcement Technology, Aug 2010, Vol. 37 Issue 8 p60-67, An article that reveals the uses and allowances of the polygraph in our law enforcement system, legal system, and employment system. Barlow, Alan. â€Å"The Wrong Man† The Atlantic Monthly Nov. 1999 Vol. 84, Issue 5 p66-91 Article telling three separate stories of how the polygraph had an inappropriate influence on t he outcome of three murder trials. Begley, Sharon. â€Å"Inertia, Hope, Morality Score TKO’s in Bouts with ‘Solid Science’. † Wall Street Journal, N. Y. 6 June 2003 B. 1. AN anti polygraph writing reinforcing public opinion about the misuse Of the polygraph and its lack of agreeable legitimacy for use in trial court. Cohen, Laurie P. â€Å"The Polygraph Paradox; Lie Detectors Aren’t Perfect; But, Convicted Sex Offenders Concede, They May Be Good Enough. Wall Street Journal, N. Y. 22 Mar. 208 A. 1. This article explores a remote possibility of some positive outcome for polygraph use. Unfortunately it an opinion piece and purely based on speculation from a partial perspective. Court Rules Polygraph Test Not Admissible: Telegram & Gazette, [Worcester, MA. ] 12 Dec. 1989: C7 Globe Newspaper Company Inc. General Interest Periodicals – U. S. This newspaper clip is a simple statement of a judicial finding. American Polygraph Association www. polygr aph. org Update 2012This is a privately owned web site for the purpose of self promoting propaganda and solicitation of services. G. W. Maschke. c/o www. antipolygraph. org Copyright 2000-2013 A web site created for the purposes of providing a message board for those who want to explain there experience with the polygraph technology. Alternately used as a data collection point for anti polygraph propaganda. National Academy of Sciences www. nasonline. org Copyright 2013 A site for the release of information provided by the society of elected scholars for this organization that was created by congress to service humanity.National Association of Computerized Voice Stress Analysis www. cvsa1. com Copyright 2013 Another site for the solicitation of a product used for lie detection and the services this association can provide. Bureau of Industry and Security Export Enforcement BIS Public Affairs Aug. 2008 www. eforia. bis. doc. gov Just the simple display of actual court released docume nts about the 11 charges brought against the vendor NITV for the illegal export of lie detection devices to foreign governments.

Computer Engineering Pdf

Study Plan Masters of Science in Computer Engineering and Networks (Thesis Track) I. General Rules and Conditions 1. This plan conforms to the regulations of the general frame of programs of graduate studies at the University of Jordan. 2. Candidates for admission in this program are holders of the Bachelor's degree in the following specialties: a) Computer Engineering b) Electrical Engineering c) Networks Engineering d) Communications Engineering e) Electronics Engineering f) Bachelor of Mechatronics II. Special Conditions: None. III. The Study Plan: Studying (33) credit hours as follows: 1. Obligatory courses listed in Table 1; (15) Credit Hours. Course No. 0903720 0903723 0907721 0907731 0907741 Course Title Random Processes Variables and Stochastic Credit hrs. 3 3 3 3 3 Prerequisite 0903720 0907721 Analysis of Communications Networks Network Systems Design Advanced Computer Architecture Distributed Systems 2. Elective courses selected from the list shown in Table 2; (9) Credit Hours. Credit Course No. Course Title Pre-requisite hrs. 903721 0903725 0903728 0903730 0907702 0907722 0907723 0907732 0907733 0907779 Digital Communications I Wireless Communication Systems Data Communication Systems Multimedia Streaming Computer Performance Evaluation Networks and Systems Security Wireless Networks Advanced Embedded Systems Parallel Processors 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 0903720 0907721 – Special Topics in Computer Engineering and 3 Networks 3. Masters Thesis, 0907799; (9) Credit Hours. 1 Study Plan Masters of Scienc e in Computer Engineering and Networks (Non-Thesis Track) I. General Rules and Conditions 1. This plan conforms to the regulations of the general frame of programs of graduate studies at the University of Jordan. 2. Candidates for admission in this program are holders of the Bachelor's degree in the following specialties: a) Computer Engineering b) Electrical Engineering c) Networks Engineering d) Communications Engineering e) Electronics Engineering f) Bachelor of Mechatronics II. Special Conditions: None. III. The Study Plan: Studying (33) credit hours as follows: 1. Obligatory courses listed in Table 3; (24) Credit Hours. Course No. 0903720 0903723 0903725 0907721 0907722 0907723 0907731 0907741 Course Title Random Processes Variables and Stochastic Credit hrs. 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 Prerequisite 0903720 0903720 0907721 0907721 Analysis of Communications Networks Wireless Communication Systems Network Systems Design Networks and Systems Security Wireless Networks Advanced Computer Architecture Distributed Systems 2. Elective courses selected from the list shown in Table 4; (9) Credit Hours. Credit Course No. Course Title Pre-requisite hrs. 903721 0903728 0903730 0907702 0907732 0907733 Digital Communications I Data Communication Systems Multimedia Streaming Computer Performance Evaluation Advanced Embedded Systems Parallel Processors 3 3 3 3 3 3 – 2 0907779 Special Topics in Computer Engineering and 3 Networks 3. The Comprehensive Exam (0907798). – 3 Masters of Science in Computer Engineering and Networks Course Descriptions 0903720 Random Variables and Stochastic Processes (3 Credit Hours) Pro bability and random variables. Distribution and density functions. Functions of random variables. Two random variables and sequences of random variables. Multidimensional random variables. Stochastic Processes. Markov chains. Spectral representation of stochastic processes. Spectral estimation. Project. Digital Communications I (3 Credit Hours) Introduction to Communication Systems. Baseband and Bandpass digital modulation techniques: Line Codes, ASK, FSK, PSK, DPSK, QAM. Performance measures: power, bandwidth, bit error rate. Carrier and symbol synchronization. Signal design for band-limited channels. Signal design for fading channels. Project. Analysis of communication Networks (3 Credit Hours) Pre-requisite: 0903720 Introduction to queuing theory and traffic engineering. Markov chains, steady-state and balance equations. Continuous and discrete arrival models. Basic queuing systems. Erlang formulas. Applications to telephony systems and aata networks, performance parameters (blocking probability, delay, throughput and reliability). Systems with vacations, priority systems, polling and reservation systems. Network simulation. Project. Wireless Communication Systems (3 Credit Hours) Review of Multiple Access Techniques: TDMA, FDMA, CDMA, OFDMA. Design of wireless communication systems: modulation, propagation, channel estimation, equalization and coding. Cellular systems (GSM/3G/4G), Synchronous and Asynchronous CDMA and code synchronization. CDMA performance and multi-user interference cancellation. Satellite communication systems. Indoor communication systems, wireless LANs and wireless protocols. Data Communication Systems (3 Credit Hours) Introduction to communication and switching networks. Asynchronous and synchronous transmission, SDH/SONET. Design and planning of telephony systems. Broadband access technologies. Internetworking and the Internet Protocol (IP), routing in IP. Quality of Service (QOS). Voice over IP (VoIP). Audio and video streaming. IP network planning. Integration of data and cellular/wireless networks. Security issues. Project. (3 Credit Hours) Information Measures. Audio Video Data Compression. Performance of Compression Techniques and Rate Distortion Function. Mathematical Introduction to Number Theory. Cyclic, BCH and CRC Codes. Convolutional and Turbo Codes. LDBC Codes. Performance of Error Correcting Codes. Packet Data Transmission and Formatting for Audio and Video Data. Multimedia Streaming 0903721 0903723 0903725 0903728 0903730 4 0907702 Computer Performance Evaluation (3 Credit Hours) Issues in Performance Evaluation and Benchmarking. Measurement Tools and techniques, Trace Driven and Execution Driven Simulation. Choice of metrics. Benchmarks. Statistical techniques for Performance Evaluation. Trace Generation and Validation, Synthetic Traces, Verification of Simulators. Design of Experiments. Analytical Modeling of Processors, Statistical modeling, Hybrid Techniques. Application of queuing theory, Markov models and probabilistic models for computer system evaluation. Workload Characterization. Network Systems Design (3 Credit Hours) This course gives a broad view of the current state of computer networking research. Topics include: Internet architecture; Internet routing: the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), routing characterization, routing security, Internet AS relationships, traffic engineering, end host congestion control; quality-of-service, network security: intrusion detection systems, worms, and honeypots; mobile and wireless networking; peer to peer and overlay networking; content distribution networks; sensor networks; critical network infrastructure services: Domain Name Server (DNS), mail servers, etc. network measurement: distance estimation, bandwidth measurement, trouble shooting tools; network management. Networks and Systems Security (3 Credit Hours) Pre-requisite: 0903720 Review of Computer Networks. Number Theory and Field Arithmetic. Sources of Network Threats. Data Encryption: Cryptography and Ciphering. Risk Management. Key Management. Protocols and Alg orithms of Security Systems. Email and Web Security and Firewalls. Performance Evaluation of Security Systems. Wireless Networks (3 Credit Hours) Pre-requisite: 0907721 Introduction to wireless networks: physical layer, MAC and IEEE 802. 11, HIPERLAN, Bluetooth, channel assignment and channel hopping, power control and rate control, multi-radio, network layer, mobile IP, and naming, routing in mobile networks, transport protocol in wireless networks; types of wireless networks: wireless mesh networks, sensor networks, cellular networks, delay tolerant networks, RFID and WiMax; wireless network management and security: localization, network usage studies, network diagnosis, network security. Advanced Computer Architecture (3 Credit Hours) Subjects in scientific methodologies, review of computer design principles, processor design, RISC processors, pipelining, and memory hierarchy. Instruction level parallelism (ILP), dynamic scheduling, multiple issue, speculative execution, and branch prediction. Limits on ILP and software approaches to exploit more ILP. VLIW and EPIC approaches. Thread-level parallelism, multiprocessors, chip multiprocessors, and multi-threading. Cache coherence and memory consistency. Advanced memory hierarchy design, cache and memory optimizations, and memory technologies. Advanced topics in storage systems. Designing and 5 0907721 0907722 0907723 0907731 evaluating I/O systems. 0907732 Advanced Embedded Systems (3 Credit Hours) System specifications. Requirements and models of computation including State Charts, SDL, Petri nets, Message Sequence Charts, UML. Process networks, Java, VHDL. SystemC, Verilog and System Verilog, and SpecC. Embedded system hardware, I/O, communications, processing units, memories. Embedded operating systems, middleware, and scheduling. Prediction of execution times. Scheduling in real-time systems. Embedded operating systems. Implementing embedded systems: hardware/software codesign. Task-level concurrency management. High-level optimizations. Hardware/software partitioning. Compilers for embedded systems. Voltage scaling and power management. Actual design flows and tools. Validation. Simulation. Rapid prototyping and emulation. Test. Fault simulation. Fault injection. Risk and dependability analysis. Formal verification. Parallel Processors (3 Credit Hours) In-depth study of the design, engineering, and evaluation of modern parallel computers. Fundamental design: naming, synchronization, latency, and bandwidth. Architectural evolution and technological driving forces. Parallel programming models, communication primitives, programming and compilation techniques, multiprogramming workloads and methodology for quantitative evaluation. Latency avoidance through replication in small-scale and large-scale shared memory designs; cache-coherency, protocols, directories, and memory consistency models. Message passing: protocols, storage management, and deadlock. Efficient network interface, protection, events, active messages, and coprocessors in largescale designs. Latency tolerance through prefetching, multithreading, dynamic instruction scheduling, and software techniques. Network design: topology, packaging, k-ary n-cubes, performance under contention. Synchronization: global operations, mutual exclusion, and events. Alternative architectures: dataflow, SIMD, systolic arrays. Distributed Systems (3 Credit Hours) Pre-requisite: 0907721 Introduction to Distributed Systems. Distributed Operating Systems. Processes and Inter-process Communication (IPC). Distributed File Systems. Remote Procedure Calls (RPC). Security Models. Distributed Architectures and Technologies. Middleware. Object Based Distributed Systems. Messaging and Message Oriented Systems. Agent-Based Systems. Distributed Application Project. Special Topics in Computer Eng. and Networks (3 Credit Hours) 0907733 0907741 0907779 Topics of special interest in current computer engineering and networks issues. The course description is specified by the department at every course offering. 6

The Expectancy Theory of Motivation

The Expectancy Theory of Motivation The Expectancy Theory of Motivation Mr. Jeffrey Kiger Western Governor’s University LET 1 Task 1 Abstract The Expectancy Theory of Motivation was developed by Victor Vroom in 1964. The theory is not without its critics however, most of the evidence is supportive. The Expectancy Theory helps to explain the motivations of employees in both a positive and negative ways. A lot of people in the workforce feel this way about their jobs or careers. Although they have probably never thought much about why they feel this way or asked themselves â€Å"what can I do to overcome these feelings? The Expectancy Theory of Motivation There are 3 relationships that are associated with the expectancy theory of motivation. The first relationship is effort-performance, which is the perception by employees that a certain amount of effort will lead to an acceptable performance standard. The second relationship that this theory explains is that individuals believ e the desirable outcomes are the result of performing at a certain level. The final relationship that is related to the expectancy theory of motivation concerns the correlation between rewards and personal goals.This part explains to what degree a company’s rewards satisfy an individual’s personal needs or goals. The relationship also stresses the importance of those possible rewards for the employees. The employees seem to have a number of issues that they need to overcome in order for them to be successful with the new production process. It seems like Supervisor A is having trouble communicating and motivating with his team. All 3 of the Expectancy Theory relationships seem to be prevalent in this situation. Some of the team members don’t think that they can physically do the job.A portion of the employees feel that the new production system is too demanding for their abilities. The company needs to re-examine the processes, break them down to more basic step s, and then spend a little time retraining the production teams. The employees will then see that they can meet the production goals. Some of the other employees don’t want to do the job, they can meet the production goals but they have decided that it isn’t important enough to do so. They have determined that the effort isn’t worth it because other employees get paid the same amount even though they don’t reach the same production goals.They haven’t understood the actual relationship of performance to reward. They are putting the focus on the other employees and forgetting about themselves. The company needs to address this conflict in order to have successful production teams. The last group of employees do not think that the rewards for achieving the company’s production goals will mean much to them at the end of the week. They are obviously concerned about their personal goals of making as much money as possible each week. They are getti ng the reward for their effort toward the company’s production goals however, it’s not enough.These employees really have to make a decision concerning the reward versus their personal goals. In my opinion, the company needs to do 4 things to fix the issues at hand. First of all, the company needs to understand why the production goals are not reached and find solutions so that the employee can be successful. Secondly, they need to do a better job of communicating the production goals and standards. The third item that needs to change is the accountability of the employee to the production goals. Last of all, the company could even change the production levels that must be met to receive a bonus.The possibility of reaching the goals and receiving the reward/bonus will help the employee see the achievement of the performance reward relationship. Appendix Each Appendix appears on its own page. Footnotes 1Complete APA style formatting information may be found in the Publi cation Manual. Table 1 Type the table text here in italics; start a new page for each table [Insert table here] Figure Captions Figure 1. Caption of figure [Figures – note that this page does not have the manuscript header and page number]

Kfc-Stratefy for Developing

Kentucky Fried Chicken Strategic Plan-Part One Jeanette Cortez, Autumn Crowther, James Hopper Fernando Manaloto, Joe Newkirk, and Rita Salem International Strategic Planning and Implementation STR/GM 581 March 31, 2011 Dr. Tim Becker, MBA Introduction Kentucky Fried Chicken has been established as a franchise in Latin America and the focus of this plan will be the El Salvador franchise. The strategic management process is vital and a well laid out plan is necessary. Consequently, by evaluating the background of KFC, the outcome should lead to a clear mission and vision statement outlining the purpose and goals of the company.Also, the mission and vision will keep all shareholders informed of the objectives that should be met by KFC. â€Å"Defining the company mission is one of the most often slighted tasks in strategic management† (Pearce II & Robinson Jr. , 2009, p. 42). A mission lays out the organization’s goals and basically specifies the purpose of the organization . Decisions and strategies can be established after environmental scanning is done along with a Situational Analysis (SWOT). The strategic process also involves frequently assessing the industry structure and choosing strategic plan options that help expand global operations.The two chosen strategic options that will be discussed will be product differentiation and cost leadership. This plan should give clarity on how the options and recommendations fit with both the competitive situation and the organizational situation. Background Based in Louisville, Kentucky, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) corporation is touted as the â€Å"world’s most popular chicken franchise† (KFC, 2011). KFC serves over 12 million customers in 109 territories and countries throughout the world (KFC, 2011).Famous for its Original Recipe Fried Chicken, there are â€Å"more than 5,200 restaurants in the United States and more than 15,000 units around the world† (KFC, 2011). This company whos e inception was in a gas station back in 1930 by Colonel Harland Sanders is now owned and operated by Yum! Brands, Incorporated. As of 2008, Yum! had revenues in excess of $11 billion and was ranked #239 on the Fortune 500 list (KFC, 2011). KFC Mission Statement, Vision and Strategy KFC’s Mission Statement is: â€Å"’The Association of KFC Franchisees, Inc. s united to protect, promote and advance the mutual interests of all member franchisees and the Kentucky Fried Chicken system. † (Association of Kentucky Fried Chicken Franchisees, Inc. 2006). KFC’s parent company is Yum! Brands (Yum! ). Yum! ’s vision and strategy is â€Å"committed to continuing the success realized during our first ten years. Our success has only just begun as we look forward to the future, one which promises a long runway for growth, especially on an international level† (Yum! , 2011). KFC El Salvador also falls under Caribbean and Latin America Franchisee Association (CARIBLA).CARIBLA’s mission statement and objectives are â€Å"the mission of the CARIBLA Franchisee Association is to represent, promote, and protect the general interests of all member YUM franchisees in Latin America and the Caribbean† (CARIBLA, 2011). Objectives – Contribute to maintain and improve the profitability the restaurants for the short and long term (supply chain management projects). – Represent the members' interests in different areas. – Defend and protect franchisees contractual rights. – Communicate as one voice with YUM Restaurants International. (Association Mission and Objectives,  para. 1). Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats | |Beneficial |Harmful | |Internal |Strengths |Weaknesses | | |1. Purchase power of consumer is rising. |1. Frachise cost is high. | | |2. More than half of Salvadorans income is spent on food. |2. Competition is high in the industry. | |3. Recognized worldwide brand name (15,000 w orld-wide locations. |3. Small country population. | | |4. Quality and freshness regulated throughout every franchise. | | | |5. Offers choices of local food on menu. | | |External |Opportunities |Threats | | |1. Online Sales assist profits. 1. Foreign products are currently fashionable but interest could | | |2. Introduction of new products. |decrease. | | |3. Expansion due to rising economy (Continual Growth) |2. Economic climate stability. | | |4. Only current location in capital city – San Salvador largest |3. Local suppliers are minimal. | | |hub for travelers. |4. â€Å"Pollo Campero† is a Salvadorian brand and well established | | | |chicken eatery. | | | |4.Many fast food competitors such as Burger King, McDonalds, | | | |Pizza Hut, etc. | Product Differentiation The goal of product differentiation is to increase profits by increasing consumer demand and decreasing the demand of price elasticity. Organizations typically attempt to differentiate their products t hrough physical characteristics, location, service, and subjective image differences. KFC’s product differentiation is most impacted by location, service, and physical characteristics.Consumers value a variety of products and because each consumer has different tastes, the organization will attempt to pry consumers away from current competitors by offering physically differentiated products. KFC must differentiate itself vertically, meaning the company will set itself apart from competitors by the actual quality of its products (Waldman and Jensen,  n. d. ). However, KFC’s management must wisely choose upon its locations. The company’s largest competitor, Pollo Campero, operates in 14 different locations in El Salvador and poses a high threat to the company.In addition to location, an organization’s products are highly differentiated by service. With the presence of Pollo Campero, KFC must not only rely on good food but also provide exceptional customer service that will retain its customer base. Cost Leadership The cost leadership strategy targets a broad market. KFC has developed strong relations with suppliers that use cheap ingredients. Additionally, the organization has the capital required to increase production in assets. While this type of investment represents a barrier to entry that many organizations may not overcome, this is an advantage for the organization.Furthermore, KFC’s flexibility in supply chains, product differentiation, and ease in their productions gives the organizations a competitive edge over its competitors (QuickMBA. com,  2010). Conclusion KFC is based in Louisville, Kentucky and is subsidiary of Yum! Brands, and operates in over 109 countries. A KFC store in El Salvador operates under three mission statements of Yum! , the Association of KFC Franchisees, and CARIBLA. KFC has recognizable strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to be evaluated before further expansion in El Salvador. Product differentiation and cost leadership are advantages that KFC utilizes in edging out competitors. Recommendations KFC has choices to make in expanding in El Salvador. One recommendation is for KFC to contact the lone KFC operator in El Salvador to persuade him/her to open more franchises in San Salvador with a goal of gaining more name recognition to expand into other El Salvadoran cities. KFC’s strengths and name recognition will create more opportunities in El Salvador. Another recommendation is to have the lone franchisee to find out if interest in opening new KFC stores exists among El Salvador’s entrepreneurs.The franchisee could be paid a bonus for recruiting applicants that receive franchise approval. Both of these recommendations depend on KFC equaling or surpassing food quality and customer service of chief rival, Pollo Campero, and by using product differentiation and cost leadership. References Kentucky Fried Chicken (2011). Retrieved from KFC website on March 27, 2011: www. kfc. com. Association of Kentucky Fried Chicken Franchisees, Inc.. (2006). Association of Kentucky Fried Chicken Franchisees, Inc.. Retrieved from http://www. kfcf. com/history. htm CARIBLA Franchisee Association. (2011). CARIBLA. Retrieved from website on March 28, 2011: http://www. caribla. com/association_mission. htm Pearce II, J. A. , ; Robinson Jr. , R. B. (2009). Strategic management: Formulation, implementation, and control (11th ed. ). Waldman and Jensen. (n. d. ). Product Differentiation ; Strategy. Retrieved from http://courses. umass. edu/resec732/docs/Waldman%20and%20Jensen%20Chapter%2013. pdf QuickMBA. com. (2010). Strategic Management. Retrieved from