Buy Essay Online: Comparing Homers Odyssey and Joyces Ulysses

Comparing Homers Odyssey and Joyces Ulysses This essay will analyze the style, genre and plots of the nether field episodes build in Homers Odyssey and Joyces Ulysses. Before entering this small treatise, it is important to visualise the etymology of the word pit, since it is the setting for both Joyce and Homer (of course in Homers case, he was speaking of the literal aidhs and Joyce was referring to the graveyard, where Bloom attends the funeral of Paddy Dignam and broods about the death of his further son ). Homers use of the word Hades was to refer to the abode of the exsanguine or the unseen nether cosmos where we come up Odysseus searching for Tiresias, to befall out how to return to Ithaca safely. The Homeric Hades is not the modern suck of Hell, mentioned in the Old and New Testaments. In fact, C.S. says In real heathen belief, Hades was hardly worth talking about a world of shadows, of decay. Homer . . . represents the ghosts in Hades as witless. They gibber mean inglessly until some living man gives them sacrificial blood to drink. Comparing the style Objective vs. Existential Eight months preliminary to the setoff publication of Ulysses , Joyce penned If you want to read Ulysses you had better fore intimately exit or borrow from a library a translation in prose of the Odyssey of Homer. Joyces recommendation is a must in order to explicate the all-embracing meaning of his work. A good commentary would also be base useful in exegesis. Most people, . . . opening Ulysses at random atomic number 18 easily sc arcrowed away by the first shock of its queer motley of vulgar slang and metaphysical obscurity. I must admit that my first reading of Ulysses was horrifying. I am a lover of the western class... ...oehrich, Rolf. The surreptitious of Ulysses. (Folcroft, PA Folcroft Press, 1969) Schutte, William, An Index of Recurrent Elements in Ulysses Hades. James Joyce Quarterly. imprint 1977 (Vol. XIV, No. 3) Skeat, Walter. Con cise Dictionary of English Etymology. (Great BritainWordsword, 1993) Smith, William. Wordsworth Classical Dictionary. (London Wordsworth Editions, 1996) Smith, Paul. A attain to the Ulysses of James Joyce. (New York Covici Friede, 1934) Thornton, Weldon. Allusions in Ulysses. (North Carolina UNC Press, 1968) The student may wish to begin the newsprint with the following quote I hold this go for Ulysses to be the around important expression which the present age has found it is a disk to which we are all indebted, and from which none of us can escape. T.S. Elliot Buy try on Online Comparing Homers Odyssey and Joyces UlyssesComparing Homers Odyssey and Joyces Ulysses This essay will analyze the style, genre and plots of the Hades episodes found in Homers Odyssey and Joyces Ulysses. Before entering this small treatise, it is important to visualize the etymology of the word Hades, since it is the setting for both Joyce and Homer (of course in Homers ca se, he was speaking of the literal aidhs and Joyce was referring to the graveyard, where Bloom attends the funeral of Paddy Dignam and broods about the death of his hardly son ). Homers use of the word Hades was to refer to the abode of the out of work or the unseen nether world where we find Odysseus searching for Tiresias, to find out how to return to Ithaca safely. The Homeric Hades is not the modern trance of Hell, mentioned in the Old and New Testaments. In fact, C.S. says In real ethnical belief, Hades was hardly worth talking about a world of shadows, of decay. Homer . . . represents the ghosts in Hades as witless. They gibber meaninglessly until some living man gives them sacrificial blood to drink. Comparing the style Objective vs. Existential Eight months prior to the first publication of Ulysses , Joyce penned If you want to read Ulysses you had better first get or borrow from a library a translation in prose of the Odyssey of Homer. Joyces recommendation is a m ust in order to get the in effect(p) meaning of his work. A good commentary would also be found useful in exegesis. Most people, . . . opening Ulysses at random are easily scarecrowed away by the first shock of its queer classification of vulgar slang and metaphysical obscurity. I must admit that my first reading of Ulysses was horrifying. I am a lover of the western class... ...oehrich, Rolf. The privy of Ulysses. (Folcroft, PA Folcroft Press, 1969) Schutte, William, An Index of Recurrent Elements in Ulysses Hades. James Joyce Quarterly. mould 1977 (Vol. XIV, No. 3) Skeat, Walter. Concise Dictionary of English Etymology. (Great BritainWordsword, 1993) Smith, William. Wordsworth Classical Dictionary. (London Wordsworth Editions, 1996) Smith, Paul. A separate to the Ulysses of James Joyce. (New York Covici Friede, 1934) Thornton, Weldon. Allusions in Ulysses. (North Carolina UNC Press, 1968) The student may wish to begin the report with the following quote I hold th is book Ulysses to be the most important expression which the present age has found it is a book to which we are all indebted, and from which none of us can escape. T.S. Elliot

Technology in the Classroom Essay example -- Education Teaching

engineering science in the classroom virtu wholey every single occupation in todays working(a) world is impacted by applied science in nonpargonil get to or another. As I have grown as a person and a student, I have noticed the unadorned impacts and changes engineering science is taking on in educational activity. These changes and impacts be both verificatory and cast out to the children, young adults, and adults who are pursuing technological opportunities. In The fraud of Fiction, washstand Gardner said, The business of education is to give the student useful information and life-enhancing experience, matchless largely measurable, the other notOne of the main reasons technologies are seemly so popular in todays education is because it is introduced to children at any earlier age than every before. Ninety-nine percent of all elementary and secondary schools in the United States have installed computers.1 Students are promote to research by using the int ernet for book reports, do banners or signs for science fairs, and typing their paper for an essay. I believe it is big for students to be introduced to this at an early age. I also believe that they generate a well grounded understanding of the important reasons to use a computer. So many a(prenominal) children get caught up in games, email, chat, and music because they may go by to a fault much time on a computer. These things are alright to an extent, nevertheless they should really learn from an early age the true sizeableness of technology in education.Technology is a major focus when discussing the shipway to advance schools in the future. Because students are now becoming extremely amend when it comes to technology, school districts are now making it mandatory for teachers to be erudite when it comes to technology, no mat... ...d not just be exposed to computers and the internet without many elementary base knowledge. They need to understand the dangers that chat rooms, email, and free sites toilette have. along with students, teachers and professors should be aware of what their students are accomplishing while using these unhomogeneous forms of technology. not solely will technology in the classrooms benefit their users in the present, only it will aide them when finding a job in the future. Technology is such and important part in education and it is only acquiring stronger. 1 calculating machine confluence George Beekman Pg.4192 A Vision for Technology in breeding http//www.nsba.org3 Will Technology Really Change Education? Authors Todd W. Kent and Robert F. McNergney 1998http//www.ecsu.ctstateu.edu4 http//nces.ed.gov5 Computer Confluence Author George Beekman Page 426 Technology in the Classroom judge example -- Education TeachingTechnology in the Classroom Almost every single occupation in todays working world is impacted by technology in one form or another. As I have grown as a person and a student, I have noticed the obvious impacts and changes technology is taking on in education. These changes and impacts are both positive and negative to the children, young adults, and adults who are pursuing technological opportunities. In The Art of Fiction, John Gardner said, The business of education is to give the student useful information and life-enhancing experience, one largely measurable, the other notOne of the main reasons technologies are becoming so popular in todays education is because it is introduced to children at any earlier age than every before. Ninety-nine percent of all elementary and secondary schools in the United States have installed computers.1 Students are encouraged to research by using the internet for book reports, making banners or signs for science fairs, and typing their paper for an essay. I believe it is important for students to be introduced to this at an early age. I also believe that they get a well grounded understanding of the im portant reasons to use a computer. So many children get caught up in games, email, chat, and music because they may spend too much time on a computer. These things are okay to an extent, but they should really learn from an early age the true importance of technology in education.Technology is a major focus when discussing the ways to improve schools in the future. Because students are now becoming extremely educated when it comes to technology, school districts are now making it mandatory for teachers to be knowledgeable when it comes to technology, no mat... ...d not just be exposed to computers and the internet without some simple base knowledge. They need to understand the dangers that chat rooms, email, and free sites can have. Along with students, teachers and professors should be aware of what their students are accomplishing while using these various forms of technology. Not only will technology in the classrooms benefit their users in the present, but it will aide th em when finding a job in the future. Technology is such and important part in education and it is only getting stronger. 1 Computer Confluence George Beekman Pg.4192 A Vision for Technology in Education http//www.nsba.org3 Will Technology Really Change Education? Authors Todd W. Kent and Robert F. McNergney 1998http//www.ecsu.ctstateu.edu4 http//nces.ed.gov5 Computer Confluence Author George Beekman Page 426

Is Reading Fiction a Waste of Time

I love rendition fiction. When my mom told me that it did not teach me anything I was appalled. Fiction taught me many an(prenominal) unseasoned dustup and introduced me to bleak ideas. Even though non-fiction croupe teach people so many things, it still can be boring from time to time. Fiction is fun, intriguing, and can teach people many new things, even if the person who is reading the story doesnt know it. I have conditioned many things when I read all sorts of fiction stories.When I read a fantasy book such as fairy tales, I learned astir(predicate) the culture of a current region. When I read motion and adventure stories, I can learn about(predicate) the climate, weather, and characteristics of a certain type of climate region. When I read a story thats about crime or mystery, I can learn about different things that detectives do and different types of law enforcement. On the website Everyday Theology, the position that fiction does not waste your time is emphasized a lot.It dialog about how fiction strengthens our desire, expands our horizons and makes us better writers. Having a great imagination is important because it helps let us create new things and make new ideas possible. Expanding our horizons can help us understand other people and ideas. macrocosm a better writer could help us tell rising generations about their past and help others understand what they dont understand. place Twain once utter Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities.Truth isnt. Ralph Waldo Emerson said Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures. Both of these quotes tell us about how fiction can teach you more than non-fiction. Fiction taught me many diction words too. In the book Harry Potter, I learned the words indifferent, obscure, revere, and deride. If fiction can teach and audience so much, than why not waste your time reading it? It will teach the reader so many new things.

Introduction To Financial Management

Define the terms pay and fiscal prudence, and chance on the major sub- atomic number 18as of finance. finance is the study of applying specific rate to things individuals keep back to admit function used and decisions determined Finance by Cornett, M. M., Adair, T. A., &type A Nofsinger J. (2014). M Finance (2nd ed.). In simple words, finance is how much rate is attributable to goods and dish outs and the basis of such attribution. Financial care whitethorn be specify as the counselling of the finances of a line of products or an presidency in order to achieve the financial objectives. It includes creation, impressive utilization of specie to ensure the smooth functioning of the subscriber line. It encompasses planning, administration and controlling. The divers(a) sub beas of finance are1.Investments deals with deciding on what kinds of securities/bonds the social club lavatory buy.2.Financial way management of finances to ensure that the financial objecti ves are reached 3.Financial institutions and markets these two sub areas comfort the raising of upper-case letter funds by the lodge.What are the ternion basal salmagundis of avocation self-control? What are the advantages and disadvantages to each (Cornett, Adair, & ampereNofsinger, 2014, p. 21)? The three radical underframes of personal line of credit monomania are furbish up proprietorship, confederacy and conjunction. A sole proprietorship is where the business is run by a single person. The advantages of this form of ownership are as follows This is the easiest form of business to commencement exerciseThis is abnormal least by regulations in that location is no interrogative of share of profits. The owner gets to retain the full share The profits are taxed only erst as business income. The disadvantages of this form of ownership is as followsThe life history of the order is restrain to the life of the owner. There will be no continuity once the owner dies. The chief city invested in the business is throttle to the resources obtainable with the owner. The scope of raising external finance is limited The owner undertakes the constitutional risk of the businessThe indebtedness of the owner is oceanic and may behave to his in-person assets likewise A partnership is that form of business ownership where to a greater extent than iodine person work together base on an agreement to share the profits and losses.The advantages are as follows More than one owner is at that place in business and accordingly the risk is everyplacelap Each partner will contribute capital and hence more capital will be available This is withal relatively easier to start compared to a great deal The income from this type of ownership is taxed once as personal income The disadvantages of a partnership is as followsThe profits are shared amongst the partners. Hence, when compared to a sole proprietorship there is lesser profits Generally, the financial obligation of the partners is unlimited (except in the case of a limited liability) It is difficult to modify ownershipA corporation is a separate legal entity whose trans doings and conduct of the business is separate from its owners. Corporations can borrow money, sue and be sued in its own name. The advantages of a corporation are as follows The liability is limited to the add together paid on stock by the investor The corporation has an unlimited lifeThere is separation of ownership and management as the corporation is a separate legal entity Transfer of ownership is sonant As a corporation, it is easier to raise capital from equity and debt marketThe disadvantages areThe authorisation riddle arises as there is separation of management and ownership There is double tax receipts the business income is taxed in the imparts of the embodied and the dividends is taxed in the hands of the shareholders as dividend incomeDefine the terms force relationship and agen cy problem, and list the three approaches to derogate the infringe of interest resulting from the agency problem. An agency relationship is where a forefront hires an otherwise person (called an ingredient) to carry come forth the work of the principal in a fiduciary capacity. In case of a corporation, the board of directors who followthe top management are the agents elected by the principals (stockholders) to carry on the business. An agency problem is where there is a contravene between the agent and principal in terms of functioning and in terms of interest. There are many ship canal to minimize the contravene of interest. However the three most grave are as follows1.Ignore the contend on handThis is the least preferred way of resolving the problem. The stakeholders may resolve to force out the problem on hand. The disadvantage is that the problem continues to ride out a problem and is never solved. In this case, the problem may go out of control. 2.Monitor jitneys actionThe shareholders may monitor the managements action closely to ensure that the situation is not breathing out out of control. 3.Make film directors take ownershipBy giving the coachs a parting in the capital of the smart set in the form of say ESOP, the manager will also have a moral indebtedness obligate on him to micturate decisions and act in the best interests of the company.Why is good behavior so important in the field of finance (Cornett, Adair, &Nofsinger, 2014, p. 21)? A corporation is a type of ownership where the management is disjointed from the ownership. The shareholders are the owners who have invested their money in the form of equity capital. It is the managements responsibility to spend the money judiciously. Since the management is handling other peoples money, ethical behavior plays a very important role in the field of finance. Some of the many famous financial scandals are (accounting-degree, 2013) barbaric management scandal This is a Hou ston based company which reported $1.7 one thousand thousand fake earnings.Enron This was a Houston based commodities, energy and service corporation where the shareholders lose $74 billion dollars. Worldcom scandal A telecommunications company inflated the assets by as much as $11 billion. Tyco juvenile Jersey based swiss security company where the CEO and chief financial officer stole $cl million and inflated company income by $ergocalciferol million Satyam scandal Indian IT services company falsely boosted revenue by $1.5 billion Does the inclination of shareholder wealth maximization conflict with behaving ethically? rationalise (Cornett, Adair, &Nofsinger, 2014, p. 21). The most important aspiration of management is to ensure that there is maximization of shareholderswealth. This means that over a gigantic period of time, the value of the stock has to increase steadily so as to ensure maximum profits to the shareholders. However, there is eternally a pass on wheth er the maximization goal conflicts with ethics.While the goal of wealth maximization is very important, it should not be done in an unethical way. The affairs of the company has to be conducted in such a way that it adheres to all disposal regulations, accounting principles and ethical standards. Examples of unethical ways to increase the wealth is window dressing, violating regulations, etc. All these cannot be cited as an excuse to ensure that the goal of maximization is reached.Introduction To Financial ManagementDefine the terms finance and financial management, and identify the major sub-areas of finance. Finance is the study of applying specific value to things individuals own to include services used and decisions determined Finance by Cornett, M. M., Adair, T. A., & Nofsinger J. (2014). M Finance (2nd ed.). In simple words, finance is how much value is attributable to goods and services and the basis of such attribution. Financial management may be defined as the manage ment of the finances of a business or an organization in order to achieve the financial objectives. It includes creation, effective utilization of funds to ensure the smooth functioning of the business. It encompasses planning, administration and controlling. The various sub areas of finance are1.Investments deals with deciding on what kinds of securities/bonds the company can buy. 2.Financial management management of finances to ensure that the financial objectives are reached 3.Financial institutions and markets these two sub areas facilitate the raising of capital funds by the company.What are the three basic forms of business ownership? What are the advantages and disadvantages to each (Cornett, Adair, &Nofsinger, 2014, p. 21)? The three basic forms of business ownership are sole proprietorship, partnership and corporation. A sole proprietorship is where the business is run by a single person. The advantages of this form of ownership are as followsThis is the easiest form of business to start This is affected least by regulations There is no question of share of profits. The owner gets to retain the full share The profits are taxed only once as business income. The disadvantages of this form of ownership is as follows The life of the company is limited to the life of the owner. There will be no continuity once the owner dies. The capital invested in the business is limited to the resources available with the owner. The scope of raising external finance is limited The owner undertakes the entire risk of the businessThe liability of the owner is unlimited and may extend to his personal assets also A partnership is that form of business ownership where more than one person work together based on an agreement to share the profits and losses. The advantages are as follows More than one owner is there in business and hence the risk is shared Each partner will contribute capital and hence more capital will be available This is also relatively easier to star t compared to a corporation The income from this type of ownership is taxed once as personal income The disadvantages of a partnership is as followsThe profits are shared between the partners. Hence, when compared to a sole proprietorship there is lesser profits Generally, the liability of the partners is unlimited (except in the case of a limited liability) It is difficult to transfer ownershipA corporation is a separate legal entity whose proceeding and conduct of the business is separate from its owners. Corporations can borrow money, sue and be sued in its own name. The advantages of a corporation are as follows The liability is limited to the amount paid on stock by the investor The corporation has an unlimited lifeThere is separation of ownership and management as the corporation is a separate legal entity Transfer of ownership is easy As a corporation, it is easier to raise capital from equity and debt market The disadvantages are The agency problem arises as there is separa tion of management and ownership There is double taxation the business income is taxed in the hands of the corporate and the dividends is taxed in the hands of the shareholders as dividend incomeDefine the terms agency relationship and agency problem, and list the three approaches to minimize the conflict of interest resulting from the agency problem. An agency relationship is where a principal hires another person (called an agent) to carry out the work of the principal in a fiduciary capacity.In case of a corporation, the board of directors who constitutethe top management are the agents elected by the principals (stockholders) to carry on the business. An agency problem is where there is a conflict between the agent and principal in terms of functioning and in terms of interest. There are many ways to minimize the conflict of interest. However the three most important are as follows 1.Ignore the challenge on handThis is the least preferred way of resolving the problem. The stake holders may resolve to ignore the problem on hand. The disadvantage is that the problem continues to remain a problem and is never solved. In this case, the problem may go out of control. 2.Monitor managers actionThe shareholders may monitor the managements action closely to ensure that the situation is not going out of control. 3.Make managers take ownershipBy giving the managers a portion in the capital of the company in the form of say ESOP, the manager will also have a moral responsibility imposed on him to make decisions and act in the best interests of the company.Why is ethical behavior so important in the field of finance (Cornett, Adair, &Nofsinger, 2014, p. 21)? A corporation is a type of ownership where the management is separated from the ownership. The shareholders are the owners who have invested their money in the form of equity capital. It is the managements responsibility to spend the money judiciously. Since the management is handling other peoples money, ethica l behavior plays a very important role in the field of finance. Some of the many famous financial scandals are (accounting-degree, 2013) Waste management scandalThis is a Houston based company which reported $1.7 billion fake earnings. Enron This was a Houston based commodities, energy and service corporation where the shareholders lost $74 billion dollars. Worldcom scandal A telecommunications company inflated the assets by as much as $11 billion. Tyco New Jersey based swiss security company where the CEO and CFO stole $150 million and inflated company income by $500 million Satyam scandal Indian IT services company falsely boosted revenue by $1.5 billion Does the goal of shareholder wealth maximization conflict with behaving ethically? Explain (Cornett, Adair, &Nofsinger, 2014, p. 21). The most important goal of management is to ensure that there is maximization of shareholderswealth.This means that over a long period of time, the value of the stock has to increase steadily so as to ensure maximum profits to the shareholders. However, there is always a question on whether the maximization goal conflicts with ethics. While the goal of wealth maximization is very important, it should not be done in an unethical way. The affairs of the company has to be conducted in such a way that it adheres to all government regulations, accounting principles and ethical standards. Examples of unethical ways to increase the wealth is window dressing, violating regulations, etc. All these cannot be cited as an excuse to ensure that the goal of maximization is reached.

Research Assignment Essay

To understand the what the advantages of a declarative language as opposed to a procedural language, we must understand the difference in the midst of the two. A procedural language such as FORTRAN or entreat (There are more) give precise instructions that tell the computer what to do. In other words a procedural language is your basic if-this, then-that. circumstantial variables are defined that tell the CPU how to process information. It takes a software engineer that knows the intimate details of how the code works to ensure that programs work the look they are supposed to.In a declarative language, language is employ that in its simplest form, just makes maven. There is no intricate code that is confusing. atomic number 53 example in SQL would be creating tables CREATE TABLE Employee. The intentionr piece of tail create a simple table without having to know the inner kit and boodle of how the table is actually created.The advantage of declarative language is that it m akes life so much easier for the everyday user to function in declarative programs without existence a programmer. When a user types something in, the language just makes more sense to the everyday user and there is also plenty of information that discharge be found to aid in using declarative languages.adjective language can have its advantages though. This is true for security designers. This allows only those that are developing a program to know the inner workings of the program. In my opinion it is a good deterrent for unskilled soulfulnesss to make modifications to programs that use procedural language.Cross joins are legitimate for several reasons. The main reason is to cut down the amount of information that the database is searching for. This also acquired immune deficiency syndrome in increase performance. If cross joins were non allowed then the program would drive away much more information that is needed resulting in increased duration to sort the data. This is e xample is two- fold the database would work harder to retrieve information and the person looking at the returned information would have to work harder to sort it.I could imagine persons that are making inquiries across a WAN linkup via a VPN making an inquiry and needing that specific data quickly. If cross joins were not allowed then can one imagine how much data is creation sent across the internet or how much bandwidth is being use? In addition to that idea what about the integrity of data that any given person has access too? Cross joins allow for increased productivity, less strain on the database resources and security filtering of information.References-http//www.academia.edu/306590/A_COMPARISON_OF_DECLARATIVE_AND_PROCEDURAL_CONSTRAINTS_IN_DATABASE_MANAGEMENT_SYSTEMShttp//www.teach- www.teach-ict.com/as_as_computing/ocr/H447/F453/3_3_6/types_language/miniweb/pg3.htm

Computer Security Incident Response Team Essay

In the last decade, more and more companies have started to look into e-commerce to connect them to the infinite world of global suppliers, sparkners, consumers and untold more. This boom in technologarithmy has placed multiple assets are danger from a certificate stand point wholeowing hackers/crakers and anyone on the internet to recognise access to these network and gain information or try to take chances subscriber line to a point where it stand stills.Increase in defence mechanism of service attacks, child pornography, virus/worms and other tools used by individuals to set down data has lead to law enforcement and media to look into why and how these guarantor breaches are conducted and what new statutory laws are destinyed to stop this from happening. According to CSI calculator crime and security Survey 2007, the average annual discharge describe by security breach has shot up to $350,424 from 168,000 the previous year. To kick in to this, more and more organ izations are reporting computer intrusions to law enforcement which accustomed to 29 percent compared to 25 percent the year before. 1 To be roaring in respond to an adventure, there are a few things that need to be followed 1. Minimize the number of scratchiness of security accompanyings. 2. Assemble the marrow computer security Incident Response Team (CSIRT). 3. Define an ensuant rejoinder end. 4. Contain the damage and minimize risk. 3 How to minimize the number of severity and security incidents It is impossible to prevent all(a) security related incidents, and there are things that fire be make to minimize the electrical shock of such incidents Establishing and enforcing security policies and procedures. Gaining support from Management in twain enforcing security policies and manipulation incidents.Accessing vulnerabilities on the environment on lawful basis including regular audits. Checking all devices on certain time frames to make sure that all the updates were performed. Establishing security policies for both end users and security personal and asking for security clearance each and every time an access is granted. Posting banners and reminders for responsibilities and obstacle of use of applications, and other brasss on the network. Implementing secure password polices thought the network. Checking log files on regular basics and monitoring traffic. Verifying backups are done on regular basics and maintained in an appropriate manner. This would excessively include the new email backup policy laws. Create computing device Security Response Team (CSIRT) 3 Security threat is the same for both large, small, and government organizations and therefore it is valuable that regardless(prenominal) of what the company has for its security measures, it also has a written document that establishes guidelines for incident response. Incident respond be after is a set of guidelines that document on security incident handling and communicati on efforts.This plan is activated when an incident that could impact the companys ability to function is established. Computer Security Incident Response designing (CSIRP) should contain the following 1. Mission Things the response police squad will be responsible for, including how to handle incidents as they happen and what steps are essential to minimize the impact of such incidents. 2. Scope this would define, who is responsible for which area of security, it can include things like application, network(s), employees, communication both internally and to the public and a great deal more. . Information flow How information will be handled in example of an emergency and how it will be reported to the appropriate authority, pubic, media and internal employees. 4. work provided This document should contain all the services that are either provided to the users or services that are used or bought from other vendors including testing, education, service provider issues to name a few. 2 The CSIRT team must contain several members including a Team leader which will monitor changes in individuals actives and responsibility of reviewing actions.An Incident Lead, that will be dedicated as the owner of set of incidents and will be responsible for speaking to anyone outside the team while and corresponding changes and updates. A group of individuals part of the CISRT team called members will be responsible to handle responsibility of the incident and will monitor different areas of the company. Other members of this team should include sub judice help, public relations officers, contractors and other member of management both from business and IT that can help during security breaches.If an Incident has occurred, it is important to classify this as an incident severity. Most companies use between unfeelingness 1-5. 1 being the in high spiritsest and 5 being the research phase where no system or users are affected. For most system anything at a lower place Se verity 3 is not a major impact of the system plainly if there is a system wide issue that requires immediate attention, a severity 1 or 2 would fall under the kin of Incident response procedure and set up a high alert. The cost of an incident can be very high, depending on the loss of data, therefore identifying the risk and all the real threat fall under this category.Once the incident has been identified it should go into the assessment phase, where it should be unflinching if the system can be bought back up again and how some(prenominal) damage is done. If the business is impacted assessment should be done. The assessment includes rhetorical investigation usually involving a team of expert that look into the how umteen computer were affected, what kind of information was stolen or changed, entry level of attacks, potentiality damage done by incident, recovery process and the best way of life to assess this from happening again.The next phase of this is containment, which is the assessment of damage and isolation of other systems that can also be compromised including network. Backup of the system in the current state should be done at this time for further forensic investigation. Analyzing of log files and uncovering systems that were used like firewalls, routers should be identified. each modification of files including dos, exe should also be carried out in this phase. Once all this is done, the next step is Recovery. Recovery is restoring clean data back the system so it can perform is function as required.After facility last good backup, it is important to test the system before place this in production again. Further surveillance of network and application should be set in place as intruders might try this again. every company today, weather small or big needs an incident response unity to defend itself against predators on the web. The government agencies has set approximately rules and regulations on such standards and are required that company follow these standards to block further disruption of the service.This becomes even more critical for companies that play important place in the economy like credit card, health, insurance and much more. Several regional companies today can help plan CSIRP plan that provide help creating a team of individuals that can act spendthrift in such situations. The implementation of such plan cost less in the long run, when compared to companies that dont have such response plan and loose data that is critical to their survival.

The Dichotomy of a Feminine Interior and a Masculine Exterior

1.1 IntroductionSpace/architecture is wittingly or unwittingly gendered. Spaces ar two considered feminine or masculine ( feminine or masculine be two of the larger genders known ) . Spaces oftentimes get the features of their users. Spaces occupied by enceinte females argon associated with femininity and infinites occupied by educate forces ar associated with maleness. For illustration, in traditional put onlis, we had the zenana country and the mardana country. The zenana country was that wad of the haveli where the adult females of the kinfolk spent most of their twenty-four hours. Mardana country was that portion of the haveli which belonged merely to the work forces. So of course, the zenana country began to be associated with muliebrity and mardana country began to be associated with maleness. Spaces be gendered non merely base on the user or the usage of the infinite, al unitary excessively based on the handiness of the infinite. We might detect that hole-and -corner(a) infinites be considered feminine and public infinites are considered masculine. Spaces are gendered based on their high quality every bit good. Often superior infinites are considered masculine and inferior infinites are considered feminine.In human beingy families, the adult females are restricted to the inwardlys of the house whereas the work forces of the house pee travel out to prepare a life for the household. on that pointfore, we can presume the inside of the house to hold feminine characters and extracurricular of the house to hold masculine characters. This dichotomy surrounded by the feminine inside and masculine outside has been compared to genius and civilization, subjective and accusative etc severally. Feminine and masculine are two distinguishable entities. It will be really interesting to give way the rush from one gendered infinite to an another(prenominal), or analyze the function of several(predicate) infinites and doorsills in segregatin g two otherwise gendered infinites.transitional infinites are besides called the in amongst infinites or liminal infinites. Bobby Alexander ( 1991 ) in his book titledVictor Turner Revisited Ritual as Social Changewrites The root excogitate threshold is derived from the Latin word for threshold, and literally means being on a threshold ( Alexander, pg 31 ) . In all contexts, liminal refers to an intermediate body politic or status, an mediate status in which the liminal entity has features of what it is between, except at the comparable clip is damp and distinguishable from them. It is a infinite which is basically forked and is, by definition, the interaction with which is impermanent. Transitional/liminal infinites are the porch, anteroom, corridors, courtyards, gallery, stairway etc. These infinites frequently do non hold a distinguishable map like kiping, cookery, analyzing etc, but are frequently experienced merely while change of location from one infinite to another . The features that define liminal infinite include layering, disintegration, blurring, and ambiguity. They may be the threshold or the point of breakup between two infinites but the separation or the transportation may be so seamless that it is just now perceived.This paper talks about the feminine inside and masculine outdoor wave-particle duality and analyses the function of the transitional infinites in organizing or overthrowing the duality.1.2 Need IdentificationSome infinites are associated with muliebrity and some are associated with maleness. Spaces associated with muliebrity are frequently discriminated against. In traditional houses, infinites associated with muliebrity are non merely discriminated against but are besides segregated from infinites associated with maleness. There is a mans sphere and a womanhoods sphere. There are a figure of factors which hold out to this segregation of infinite based on gender, societal secernment of adult females being a major fac tor. Today, adult females enjoy a comparatively better societal locate. This alteration is reflected in the segregation of infinite based on gender, as there are really few infinites which polish entirely in mans sphere or womans sphere. One could state that there is no clear mans sphere or womans sphere. The line between the two has become blurred. This thesis aims towards analyzing the duality between infinites associated with maleness and those associated with muliebrity and analyzing the function of liminal /transition infinites and thresholds in organizing or overthrowing the duality.1.3 AimThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the supposed duality between the masculine outside and the feminine inside of a place and lowstand the passage between the two.1.4 Research inquiryTaking the duality of a feminine inside and the masculine outside, how do we get refine critically analyzing the function of liminal infinites in either forming or overthrowing the said duality?1.5 AimsF irst nonsubjective is to analyze the duality of interior and exterior as nature and civilization, feminine and masculine, private and public.Second aim is to happen out the factors that lead to this passage from interior to exterior.Finally analyze the function that transitional infinites play in organizing or/and overthrowing the duality.1.6 ScopeThe intent of this paper is to understand liminal infinites. Liminal infinite in itself is a considerable subject. Therefore, I have restricted myself to analyzing merely the liminal infinites at place. My research is traveling to utilize lenses provided by gender surveies. The qualitative and the quantitative facet of passage infinites are studied wherever it is traveling to act upon my research from the position of gender. Anything beyond this is out of range of this research.1.7 RestrictionsIt is a survey of liminal infinites throwing visible shaft of light on the gendered side of the survey. All the work that has been done on sex an d Space, are basically point of views of popular designers and minds. It is therefore a decoct of their perceptual experiences and my critical analysis of the same. Merely secondary mentions viz the books are addressable which are besides non facts but point of views of others, which may be unequal. discrepancy based on gender can be experienced in traditional places. Today, with the alteration in the mentality of the people, the place of adult females has improved. moorings of favoritism based on gender have reduced but they excuse exist. Spaces associated with muliebrity may non be discriminated against but are still separate from infinites associated with maleness. Because of the restriction of clip this facet could non be studied in item. There were other restrictions of geographics and resources.1.8 Research MethodologyFirst portion of the thesis trades with mind the duality between interior and exterior by comparability the inside and outside with nature and civilization , feminine and masculine, private and public. The function of place in understanding the duality will besides be studied in this portion. This portion is traveling to be carried out by reexamining plants of other designer on the topic.Second portion trades with analyzing the passage from one gendered infinite to another. It besides deals with analyzing liminal infinites and threshold in the context of the duality. This portion will dwell of reappraisal of plants of other designers on this topic. It will besides consist of primary and secondary illustration surveies of traditional houses/havelis and modernistic-day houses. Here infinites of each house would be analysed under assorted caputs such as usage, resident, handiness, location etc. The function of different liminal infinites and thresholds in the house in leaving feminine or masculine character to a infinite will besides be studied.1.9 cognomen of Case StudySecondary Case Study Rangrez House in Patan, GujaratPrimary Case survey Haveli Mubaraq in Malerkotla, Sangroor territory, PunjabBoth the houses were inhabited by Muslim household. The comparing of the two instance surveies would hence non hold any(prenominal) major discrimination based on different cultural patterns. Both the instance surveies have been selected in similar climatic zones. Similar liminal infinites and thresholds are therefore apparent to be found in both the instance surveies.These traditional houses are so traveling to be compared to a modern house. A modern house in Punjab has been selected in this respect. As a consequence, the points of difference ( if any ) will non be influenced by climatic and geographical characteristics. So, the difference in the function of passage /liminal infinites in segregating feminine infinites from masculine infinites in both the traditional and the modern houses might be due to alter in the mentality of people.

Sainsbury Case Study

Introduction Sainsburys is promptly the troika most burning(prenominal) food retailer in the united Kingdom. In 1995, Tesco overtook the party to become the mart draw after more(prenominal)(prenominal) than 20 familys of constant growing. It has recently been pushed spikelet by Asda in 2003. Sainsburys Supermarkets employ over 145,000 tidy sum, including Sava Centre. A large Sainsburys Supermarket offers over 23,000 cros prattles, 40% of these argon Sainsburys own brand. The Sainsburys supermarkets serve over 11 million clients a week and as at June 2002 had 463 stores d sensation step up the UK.In the year ended March 2003 it inform worldwide group disorder of over ? 17. 4 billion and profits of ? 454 million, with a total of over 170,000 full- prison term and part- duration staff. The enterprise was founded in 1869 from an idea of John throng Sainsburys and his wife Mary Ann. The freshman store was opened in Holborn, London and was selling fresh foods and later specialised into pack historic periodd groceries. Their dodge was Quality perfect, prices piti fiter. The stores were very innovative by having their own none lines and captureing the harvests to consumers in a radical-make way.They had marble forbids, mosaic floors, as easily as staff uniforms. The success was sudden and more or little(a) other equal stores were wee-weed in London. On all shop, there was a high guide iron sign saying J. Sainsburys. In 1922, it became the Uks largest grocery group, and so got integ outrankd as a private hearty club infra the name of J. Sainsbury Limited. During these propagation they promoted quality fresh food produced with their own label line which do them extremely successful. The p finisered kept on growing even though it had to face the recessional during the World War 2.M whatever stores got destroyed during Londons barrage and the belittle of the field of study income wanened the society. simply in 1956, Alan Sainsburys became chairwoman after his father, John Benjamin Sainsburys death. He came up with a cuttingfangled-made idea of promoting self-importance- dish supermarkets in the Uk after a trip to America. Their claim was to match quality of nation on the wholey branded nigh(a)s with lower prices. The fellowship went through its golden cartridge clips. Innovative ideas and low speak to of harvestingion gave the confederation a strong market po rallyion when it went public in July 1973. At the time, the family own 85% of the firms sh atomic bet 18s.It was the largest ever f stripeation on the London Stock change with ? 14. 5 million avail open sh atomic number 18s. The future(a) of the confederation looked bright and they introductory gear replacing their 10 000 sq. ft. high street stores with self-service supermarkets above 20 000 sq. ft. New stores were opening in all England and the company invested in b argon-ass technology. In 1991, the group was generating maj or profits and raised ? 489 million in bracing equity to fund the expansion of the superstores. In 1992, the long time CEO John Sainsburys retired and was succeeded by his cousin, David Sainsburys.He had variant plans for the firm and decided to facilitate up a change in the counsel style. But wrong decisions such as reluctance to move into non-food retailing or the indecision between quality or value made the company go down. Problems such as increasing infrastructure be, stronger and consolidated tilt from other stores were starting to rise. The firm was not focusing on low prices anymore b bely more on the store look and emerge reach amendments. Their market and sh ar loss to Asda shows quite well that merchandise mix is distinguished to guests.Macro environs Political operators Political chemical elements argon about how and to what extremity the political science intervenes into the organization. These interactions may include * Labor law * Environmental la w * Tariffs and quotas * Political stability * Tax policy * Trade restrictions For pillowcase, the fact of European Union extensions and mod countries joining it, has an continue on the variety of products sell in Sainsburys. We burn down now manipulate some foreign products as Polish beers or Cypriot yoghurts sold in the topical anesthetic supermarket.The destruction behind this is to attract new customers by giving them the products they are practice session to buying in their own countries before feeler to the UK. For employment legislations, the government encourages large retailers as Sainsburys to offer a mix of va tummycies from flexible, lower-paid and locally-based jobs to highly-skilled, higher-paid and centrally-located jobs, as well as employing students, gray batch and workings parents. Sainsburys offers thousands of jobs to spate in the UK, being a craunch-intensive sector and having a p distributivelyy impact on the employment rate by hiring large amou nt of students, disabled and elderly the great unwashed.The wages paid to this category superpower be the minimum wages, but at least the unemployment rate is slightly reduced. In an indus evidence with a typically high staff turnover, these employees allow for a higher level of loyalty and try to give their full abilities at the workplace. Trade restrictions between the UK and the rest of the world broadly pertain supermarkets bid Sainsburys as the buyers are not able to find what they are flavour for in stores. All the foods imported must pass a strict domination in order for us to discover them on the shelves. Political stability around the world may excessively bring a chaos into our fridge.In the case of demonstrations, protests or more solemn political conflicts, we hind end urinate delays or even cancellations in the arrivals on products in the country. If we just imagine that Brazil went on strike for a week, where would we be getting our coffees from every morni ng? Socio-cultural factors Socio-cultural factors are about how new trends and styles emerging in the world around us can affect our economy. Our world is changing and developing every day with bulk adapting new habits and getting aware of new things going on. These can include * rush attitudes * Safety emphasis Age distribution * Population growth rate * Community works Sainsburys can be so called the modern-day supermarket, following all the new market trends and rapidly responding to all the new demands consumers might possess. It is operating under a good news report and perpetually following the responsibility for the society and the surroundings, by organizing benevolence events, sponsoring games, competitions, etc. The last a couple of(prenominal) decades, the population in the UK has been ageing as there is a low birth rate, so Sainsburys in return has been hiring elderly employees to satisfy the unemployment gap in that age section.Elderly buyers are looking to purch ase affordable, healthy foods which makes supermarkets draw back actions. In general, there has been a great shift of wad wanting to eat healthy and quickly, thus Sainsburys has introduced vegetable packets and healthy meal deals. Consumers are always in a hurry not having time to get home and cook a proper meal, so more nipping, ready meals rich person been offered to them. An increase in immigration of buyers from the Eastern Europe has made Sainsburys introduce new recipes and more variety of goods for that group of customers.That is now why we can see Lithuanian or Romanian products as sausages sold in Sainsburys. A large number of lot from the Middle East living in the UK fork out alike made a big impact, this is why we now see Halal meat or an enormous variety of spices in our local store. Legal factors * Discrimination Law * Antitrust Law * oeuvre Law * Consumer Law * Health and Safety Law Legal factors are related to the legal environment in which the company operate s. Sainsburys is in the boundaries of legal factors in all cardinal fields locally, nationally and globally. there drive been many changes in the laws passed in the UK over the last few years, one of the ex antiophthalmic factorles being the age discrimination law. This law says that all raft, irrespective their age should be treated the same at their workplace and promotions should be allocated regardless the age. The upper age for payment of Statutory Sick accept has been removed, meaning that people over 65 who are still working are entitled to SSP the same way other employees are. This of course has had a big impact on supermarkets as Sainsburys as the management has to be very careful when selecting people filling the vacancies and obeying this law.Another example of a legal factor was when The Food Retailing Commission suggested an enforceable Code of Practice should be set up banning many of the current practices, such as demanding payments from suppliers and changing ag reed prices without notice. (Mintel Report, 2004) On the maiden of October 2011, the minimum wage in the UK for an adult(over 21) has been changed from 5. 93 to 6. 08 pounds an moment, promising there ordain be room for more generous change in the future as the economy recovers from the financial recession. This has hit the Sainsburys pockets. 5 pence an hour for each employee can add up to hundreds of thousands of pounds per week for Sainsburys. In January 2010, it has been denote that a new law was going to be issued that all under 21s volition have to show an ID card when buying alcohol in the supermarket. There were also rises in the alcohol prices during this campaign to discourage people from drinking. This has given over Sainsburys a hard time, as less people are able to buy alcoholic drinks either due to age limit or high prices. No one can take a wine bottle through the till without proof of age anymore. ) Economical factors Each government has an consequential impa ct on each company. Like other companies, Sainsburys was affected by a crew of economical factors as * Taxation charges * Economic growth * Inflation * step in rates * Changes in income Each factor has a different impact on company. For example, the revenue enhancement charges force the company to increase the price of products to obtain the desired profit. If the appraiseation charges are low the price of products is lower and when the taxation charges are high, the price is higher. Another factor is inflation.Inflation changes from year to year and affects more and more the customer. If in 2000 with 100? you bought 100kg of sugar, now in 2011 you can buy only(prenominal) 50kg of sugar. The economic growth can affect your company in a bad manner or in a good manner. For example, now we deal with a crisis period and large companies comparable Sainsburys suffer a lot. The economic growth also has some employment effects. We can see a rise in the number of people employed by Sa insburys and this affects the United Kingdom economy. instantly in 2011 we deal with a crisis period and appear some changes in population income.The number of companies that went in a bankrupt or are nearly to bankrupt has been increased and this results a large number of laid-off people, which means a decrease in gross revenue. Sainsburys also open up a bank in 1997, part of Lloyds Banking group. Sainsburys Bank offers a lot of services like travel money, car, health and liveness, pet insurances. overly Sainsburys Bank covers loans, savings accounts and has its own credit card and bail plans. 2) Technological factors Forces that create new technologies, creating new product and market opportunities Kotler P. amp Armstrong G. , 2008. Principles of Marketing, 12th Edition. Technology for Sainsburys is significant because it helps control the population and attracts new and potential customers. With technology, Sainsburys can create new sort of products expedient for populat ion. Technological process is improving from year to year and helps company to decrease the production costs. In these processes are increasingly utilise machines and robots and because of this many people lose their jobs. By introducing more machines than people can reduce the pay off of products and other costs.The products also are more complex with new facilities. In all these years of existence, Sainsburys developed some technological strategies of product selling. The Sainsburys improvements of product selling are * Online shopping * Online recruitment * leave off coding * egotism service counter Online shopping improves a lot the sales because it helps the consumers to buy directly the product, without going to the store. The customer has more time to choose the product, compare with other products and also compare the price.Sainsburys has also an online recruitment service. This service would part with the company ? 4million a year in administration costs. It helps you to become an employee of Sainsburys by only sending your CV to their Online Recruitment Office and they will choose one. Bar coding it is a very innovative method of sorting the product. The bar coding helps the company to be more ordered and the customer also. For example, some kind of unsettled applications that can scan the bar code and shows you the best price for product.Self service counter is another technological process which reduces the workforce costs and with this service the customer can avoid queues. For example, If you are in a hurry or you have only two or three products and you do not want or have time to sit at the queue you can use self service counter for a fast way to pay for products. 3) Environmental factors Environmental factors restore to ecological and environmental aspects such as weather and climate which can affect a company and may change the number of sales in a large company like Sainsburys.A company cannot change the environmental factors, but it d oes have fair amount of control over impact on its procedure. For example, if the number of rainy days will increase, maybe the number of raincoats and umbrellas will increase too. That is how environmental factors affect a company and can have good parts and bad parts. Sainsburys also adopt an ecological factor which can reduce pollution. Sainsburys Recycle offers customer the fortune to recycle every old agile phone, digital camera, MP3 or games consoles and finally the customer receives money. overly Sainsburys introduced some sort of facilities for customers to reduce the non-renewable materials (such as oil, coal, gas) and use renewable materials (such as forests). These facilities are * Home insulation a facility for your house to stop the warmness escaping from your house * Solar electricity Solar P vehementovoltaic (PV) panels allow you to generate your own electricity * Feed-in tariff The Feed-in Tariff is a Government opening that encourages and rewards people for generating their own low carbon energy through a renewable source. Ecogen Generate electricity with your boiler An Ecogen Micro Combined wake up and Power (CHP) system replaces your boiler, burning gas to create heat and hot water, and on average it generates about 30% of the electricity a mansion needs Sainsburys drew up a partnership with British Gas and they established their own gas stations. This partnership aims to help the customers to save energy (non-renewable materials like gas) and reduce the costs by introducing Nectar. With Nectar accumulator you can collect points on every day shopping and past you can spend points however you want.Microeconomic environment The general word in this part is the market research and the structure of Sainsburys market. These factors bias what sort of competition the organisation is facing and how does the organisation manipulate the 7Ps. We are going to look at the internal factors like Product and services, kind with customers, c harities and supplies. Product and Services To be successful, Sainsburys operates through an important market research. Their aim is to increase their sales and to do that they take into account the tetrad selling mix e. . product, price, place and promotion. Sainsburys is in the oligopoly category and as not many firms are in this important category they are always trying to gain market share. The product research is one of the key to achieve their goals. Sainsburys is well known for their quality and this is important to beat the competitors. They need to focus on what the customer wants before any other company does. In todays society everybody is attracted by a product with a good quality and Sainsburys is able to provide permanently high quality goods. During the year 2004 they have invested in their food ranges and have improved/ developed over 3200 products and Sainsburys have constant supply of fresh fruits and vegetables on shelves 24 hours. To be original that all the goods are fresh they have a special staff to make sure that the products are not expired. Sainsburys is one of the first market dealing with their own products for example soft drinks and glossaries. Furthermore, it is one of the first supermarkets in the UK to provide its services with a home delivery service.They provide this service to help the older people and to make their customer life easier. Moreover, to improve their sales and make a big growth they have specialised staff trying to take the customers comments and needs. Therefore they can improve the product with most negative comments and vice versa. In Sainsburys, the promotion is an important factor to introduce a new product on the market. It has to be advertised to be sure that the customer is aware of it. The concept is to create a message which is directly targeted to the people.To make sure that the new product is going to be very popular they make promotion on it for example during the first month. In addition they make different offers in every period of the year. During the summer it is going to be on the fruits and frozen products while during Christmas they make discounts on every product to influence the customer to buy more. All these advantages allow them to be well differentiated from their competitors. Finally, Sainsburys have different types of stores which are providing different types of services.When customers want to buy a small amount of goods they can go to the local Sainsburys which providing less goods. For larger amount of foods, the customers can go to the large stores. They have more products and more services around e. g. public transports and car park facilities. alliance with customers The relationship with the customer is very important and it is a factor creating more popularity for the firm. In every pipeline the customer is seen as the most important key for the company to work well. If the customer is not overflowing fulfil the company will loose its popularit y.For Sainsburys, it is very important to keep a close relationship with their customers by providing good quality food but at a fair price. The Human Resources department involves the management of people and them different key areas. integrity of the most important one is the customer service assistance. Employees are trained to give a great service to the customer. For instance in Sainsburys there are the cashiers but customer may also see some employees who help the customers with the pickax of goods and packaging.One more key attribute about Sainsburys is that they provide good relationship to their customers and have an lucre- based services which have deliver high-octane home delivery and 93% of UK households are currently using their internet services. Furthermore, after a survey in 2004/05 were they mention capitalist from the sacrifices made by J Sainsburys to continue good relationship with their customers. In 2004/05 also reduces prices on 7. 000 products and the typ ical weeks shopping cost 1. 6 % less than a year ago.Moreover, J Sainsburys were named organic fertilizer supermarket for the third time in 2004/05 period time. And supported Taste of success in a link which promotes Food education and cooking in Schools and for this activity have participated more than 250. 000 children. Moreover, customers are attracted by a product not only for the price and the quality but also by the package. Even if they dont think it pass through their pass when they buy the product, the package is one of the most important things and the sales are going to be higher with a coloured and attractive package.Finally, the chief(prenominal) aim is to have customers who are dependent on the supermarket. Therefore, Sainsburys try to keep regular opening hours and they make sure that the queuing propagation are not excessive. Moreover, they make sure that the products are always available because when you have to deal with an accustomed customer, you cant say to him that the product is out of stock because there is a chance that this customer is just coming for one product only. To reduce the cost, Sainsburys is always equipped with a store manager.His job is to ensure that the actions are fast with good quality. If all the operations are done effectively then, the costs will be low. Charity J Sainsburys is one of the big companies which strongly believed that success is not only how to increase the profits of the business and also a different section that works on how to help people that have any kind of capers. For example J Sainsburys in 2004/05 supported several national charities and donating food and equipment. Moreover in 2005 J Sainsburys customers were using coins machines in their stores.The machines take a 7% commission which raised the following sums in 2004/05 Children in Need gave ? 15. 233 also for British Red Cross gave ? 17. 881. Moreover, gave ? 18. 015 for crabby person Research and ? 9. 361 for Unicef. Furthermore, J Sainsburys gave for British Heart Foundation ? 9. 627 and ? 5. 533 for WWF and for Red schnozzle Day 05 gave ? 3. 300. In addition, J Sainsburys have donated 150. 000 thousand pounds to Children Society in support to encourage young people to eat healthy. Also, all J Sainsburys stores have charity boxes where customers can donate their change to local charity.However, J Sainsburys after all these benefits which helped a lot of people is still continuing to provide help to people with needs. In 2004 J Sainsburys collected a total of ? 1. 7 million from collogues throughout the company and from customers at various stores which then donated it to the affected populations of the Tsunami in Thailand. Also J Sainsburys for one more time revealed their sensitivity for people who need financial support. Last May colleagues have raised ? 3. 000 for charity which helps children in need with shortened life expectancy .Children with illnesses require high-ticket(prenominal) equipment and J S ainsburys brand raised the money and the charity is able to provide some of this equipment. According to the aforementioned, the humanitarian efforts from people that work in J Sainsburys give pleasure and happiness in people with needs. Phillip Wardman , online groceries manager at J Sainsburys York store dedicates his leisure time to support the Yorkshire Air Ambulance which relies solely on donations from the public. This year he form a 24- hour bike ride from Edinburg to York covering 210 miles.Moreover, Phillip Wardman said he wanted to do something different for the charity and this certain(prenominal)ly was challenge. However, he had been named local anesthetic Hero by the York store and he was also awarded by their point Executive, Justin King. In my opinion the success for all the kind of businesses is not only to find profit and loss the end of the season and perform history procedures . Of course it is essential for all the businesses to find out how well the sales w ent the previous year but it is also important to think how you can help people who are unable to have the same benefits and the chances as the others.Services J Sainsburys brand aim in every day basis is to provide an easy portal to customers. At present J Sainsburys are experimenting new approaches which can reduce queuing times at checkouts. Moreover, in 34 stores customers can use a handheld scanner to scan theirs items while they shop at Sainsburys. Also, they have introduced self services checkouts in 58 stores nationwide. J Sainsburys have been reported to have 600 drivers operating more than 400 vans providing services in 2005/2006 and were circumstances 38. 000 customers per week.In addition, J Sainsburys was the first chain store to sing up to the guide dogs for blind people street charter in 2005. This aims to provide the right support for blind or partially comprehend customers. SWOT of Sainsburys SWOT synopsis is a strategic management method used to assess the stre ngths, weaknesses, opportunities, as well as threats associated with a project or a business venture. It involves laying down primary(prenominal) purposes of a business project in addition to identifying the favorable and invidious internal and orthogonal factors that may affect the achievement of a given objective.It also helps in identifying suitable areas for development. Identification of SWOTs is essential because subsequent steps in the planning process for achievement of the objective may be derived from it. First, the decision makers, using SWOTs, ought to determine whether the objective is achievable. In the event that the objective is not achievable, the process is repeated after selecting a different objective. The aim of any SWOT analysis is to establish the key internal and foreign factors affecting the achievement of an objective.The internal factors are strengths and weaknesses, which are dynamics from at heart an organization while opportunities and threats ar e forces from outside of an organization are the external factors. These come from within the companys unique value chain. Sainsburys is an internationally accept chain of supermarkets based in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are rigid in London which is a strategic place due to ease of accessibility. It owns J Sainsburys plc. This is the main company of Sainsburys Supermarkets Ltd. The main competitors of Sainsburys are Tesco and ASDA who overtook it as market leaders.Their other investments are in banking sectors and spot management. In 2004, Sainsburys performance improved and this has been attributed to Justin King, its current CEO. In our analysis of Sainsburys, we focus on their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Strengths Strengths are features of a business that are used as a basis for developing competitive advantage. Sainsburys has been in market for a substantially long period of time. This is enough to make it popular among its loyal customers, th erefore is has used marketing and unique mark techniques to capitalize on the U. K market.Differentiation of products and services offered has been determining factor to Sainsburys success because it states what the company stands for. Not only does it serve United Kingdom customers but it also has other chains stores, self selection stores and supermarket across major European countries. The companies logo was designed with a prominently orange color, which is a key factor in its identity. With its current headland Executive Officer, Sainsburys has seen total transformation symbolized by its growth rate, a high stock turnover and huge profit margins after tax and dividend deductions.Justin King has managed to employ and upraise his current staff and this has been a major step towards facing competition posed by ASDA and Tesco. Furthermore Sainsburys has been have-to doe with in community initiated architectural plans. As a company it appreciates its place in society and it is o bliged to give back to the community through social responsibility. This has won the company not only customers approval but also favors from environmental activists who portray it as having a good brand. Another factor that has seen Sainsburys through the hard hit times to become strengths is use of advertisements.Advertisement is an art, which should be done skillfully to create a enduring impression in the eyes of customers. Keeping this in mind, Sainsburys chain of supermarkets has used celebrities to advertise specific product groups boosting sales. Embracing online advertisement has been a major factor in promoting its products both locally and internationally where interest customers then transact through e-commerce. In summary, the main strengths portrayed in Sainsburys SWOT analysis include reputable management, skilled labor force, advertisement, loyal customers and a strong brand name. WeaknessesWeaknesses are characteristics that place a business at a disadvantage rela tive to others. The absence of certain strengths may be viewed as a weakness. For example a weak brand name, high cost structure, lack of patent protection, poor reputation among customers, lack of access to key distribution channels and lack of access to natural resources. In some cases, a weakness may be the flip side of strength. Sainsburys has failed to protect its markets against threats and potential new entrants. organism better placed with high competitive advantage, it ought to have utilized the opportunity as the first chain of supermarkets in the U.K to remain a market leader. To implement this it could consider being a price leader of the entire market enjoying economies of scale to the disadvantage of its competitors. By so doing Tesco and ASDA could have found the market too harsh for them to compete therefore minify their activities. Lack of brand visibility has been a lacking factor in the success of Sainsburys. For products to sale they have to be organized and pro perly staged on the supermarkets shelves for customers to see and select. Therefore supermarket shelves need to be spacious enough to accommodate oods and allow ease of access incase a customer picks on a given product. In trying to fix the problem of inventory display and shelf space, the results were even more disastrous. The new musical arrangement format was more confusing to customers. Opportunities Opportunities are external chances to improve performance in a business environment. The external environmental analysis may reveal certain new opportunities for profit and growth. Examples of opportunities include use of new technology, loosening of government regulations, removal of tariffs and trade barriers. Sainsburys has great opportunities, which could see it back to the top.They have a great opportunity to win back the trust of their target customers through better customer service. Loyalty program is another great way of safeguarding repeat sales and committed customers. The company also has shares in financial services sector, though there might be new business opportunities to explore. Alternatively, Sainsburys could use its chain of supermarkets and other business investments to secure its financial future just incase of economic recession or as a prospect for investment. Threats Threats are external elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the business.Changes in the external environmental also may present threats to the firm. Examples of threats include a change in consumer tastes in favor of competitors products, presence of substitute goods in the market and stringent barriers to trade. Sainsburys needs to invest in more environmental programs despite cunning that it will not directly benefit its stakeholders. Economic meltdowns are beyond an organizations control, therefore the shaking world economy is a threat to Sainsburys group of businesses. REFERENCES 1. Brassington F. and Petit S. , 2006. Principles of Marketing, 4th e d. 2. Prentice Hall Pearson Education. 3. Kotler P. nd Armstrong G. , (2008), Principles of Marketing twelfth Edition 4. Brassington F. and Petit S. , (2009), Principles of Marketing Fourth Edition 5. Katameni,2010. Macro environment and The marketing mix used by Sainsburys online visible(prenominal) at < uniform resource locatorhttp//katamaneni12. blogspot. com/2010/09/macro-environment-and-marketing-mix. hypertext markup language> Accessed 19 November 2011 6. User ukstudent , 2008. SWOT, PESTEL and Porters 5 Forces analyses of Sainsburys online. Available at<universal resource locatorhttp//www. swot-pest-porter. co. uk/index. php? action=vthread&forum=1&topic=5>Accessed 20 November 2011 7. Mark Tran, 2006.Sainsburys introduces compostable packaging online. Available atURLhttp//www. guardian. co. uk/environment/2006/sep/08/supermarkets. businessAccessed 20 November 2011 8. Anonymous, 2011. Products and servicesonline. Available at URLhttp//www. sainsburysenergy. com /products-and-services. html? bghlinkid=HP1016 Accessed 22 November 2011 9. Anonymous, 2011. Save Createonline. Available at URLhttp//www. sainsburysenergy. com/save-and-create. html Accessed 22 November 2011 10. Frances B, Stephen P (2006) Principles of Marketing, 4th Edition, Pearson Education Limited Publisher 11.Sainsburys (2011) Retrieved from (online) at http//www. sainsburys. co. uk/home. htm Accessed on19/11/2011 12. Sainsburys(2011)142 years of history,online Available at http//www. j-sainsbury. co. uk/about-us/sainsburys-story/ Accessed 18th Nov 2011. 13. Race to the top(2011)Sainsburys results,online Available at http//www. racetothetop. org/results/result6/page_1. htm Accessed 17th Nov 2011. 14. Wikipedia(2011)Sainsburys results,online Available at http//en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Sainsburys Accessed 16th Nov 2011.

Effectiveness Of Leadership At Mcdonalds Management Essay Essay

I had the opportunity of hold outing at a McDonalds chain of restaurants after completion of my undergraduate studies. I was commensurate to observe the role played by members of a police squad up, their squad treat and attractions of the Manager of the restaurant. I would like to analyse the leadinghip bearings practiced, judge the effectiveness of leadership at McDonalds restaurant and wee out recommendations indicating how leadership and squad work advise go contact in hand to improve the performance of the institution. The first McDonalds opened its doors to customers in the UK in 1974.Currently, over 2. 5 million people in the UK place their avow in McDonald, expecting that the multinational would provide them with diet of a higher(prenominal) standard, strong service and value for money. specimens and theories that will be discussed in the later portions of this test ar Adairs leadershiphip Model and Maslows theory of hierarchy which will be applied to McDonalds. leadershiphip styles such as autocratic, classless and cogent ar too discussed to find out which of the three is the holy person model for McDonalds.A police squad up up up is a collection of individuals who atomic number 18 interdependent in their tasks, who deal out right for outcomes, who see themselves and who ar seen by others as an intact social entity embedded in one or much larger social systems (for ex vitamin Ale, business unit or the corporation), and who manage their kins crossways organisational boundaries (Susan Cohen and Diane Bailey, 1997). A team is defined as a small number of people, with a set of performance goals, who stimulate a commitment to a common purpose and an approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable (Katzenbach & Smith 1993).There are several factors that influence the success of a team. Team members moldiness buzz off the required skills and attitudes and must overturn way an standard atmos phere in which e rattlingone substructure work with devotion. There should be transparency at heart the team which is possible if at that place is effective system of chat in the midst of all members. All members of the team must have set responsibilities and must be aware of what is expected from them. In this way all members of the team will be accountable.All members must have harmonising skills and must unionise among themselves to eliminate both un accreditedties or reservations. Members of a team must authentically appreciate the efforts of fellow members. An effective leader is one who does the right things. leaders can effectively develop and lead teams if they have the ability to create and expire a vision what the organization should be. They should have the ability to communicate with and gain the provide of all team members.They should have the perseverance to transmit in the desired direction under bad conditions and create the satisfactory culture to obtain the needed results. Levine, R. (2000) is of the opinion that leaders need to instruction on moving people and organisations forward by increasing the efficiency of staff and the co-operation of teams in order to improve the organisation. Leadership is related to motivation, interpersonal behaviour and the process of communication. Leadership is important in attempting to reduce employee dissatisfaction (Crow M. 995).The responsibilities of the restaurant Manager or the team leader at McDonalds are to set targets, plan budgets, observe and manoeuvre stock, recruit, train and motivate a team, create and drive marketing campaigns and build and foster customer relations. Leaders ate McDonalds restaurants do non lay d stimulate either fixed rules on how quickly individuals of a team can progress. Opportunities are given to team members to become animal trainers if they perform well. For this to happen, the crowd member must contribute to the success of the team.The management s tyle adopted by team leaders at McDonalds is to create outlets which are fun places to work. This is called team-building. Leaders at McDonalds foster accountability and understand the social responsibility culture and incorporate these activities into their businesses. In fact the team leaders have all the characteristics that were used by Stogdill (1950) to define leadership.The characteristic accommodate traits, behaviour, influence, interaction patterns, role relationships and occupation of an administrative position articulating visions (e. g. Bill Gates), embodying values and creating environment for the things that can be accomplished entities that perform one or more acts of leading the ability to affect human behaviour so as to accomplish a mission and Influencing a group of people to crusade towards its goal setting or goal achievement. (Stogdill, 1950) The McDonalds Model is that of Adairs Model which is called action-centred leadership. This is a constructive mo del match to which the leader inspires others by their own enthusiasm, commitment and the ability to communicate enthusiasm to people (Adair, 1993).Teams were developed by team leaders so that a common task could be accomplished. Adair (1993) identifies three different approaches to leadership which can be called leadership functions (1) accomplishing the task, (2) maintaining the team and (3) face-off the individual needs of the team members. Adair believes that leaders are not born but emerge from situations. The leader who emerges can adopt both style of leadership that warrants the situation.According to Adair a leader is one who has certain innate characteristics which are required to perform his/her role. A leader according to him must have personality and character. Adair quotes Harold Macmillian, that a man who trusts nobody is disposed(p) to be the kind of man that nobody trusts. His leader must have integrity, a wholeness and a moral sense. According to Adair, the three functions of meeting the demands of the task, maintaining the team and meeting the needs of individual team members must be kept in balance and none of them should be neglected.The team leader areas of responsibility must include qualities and competencies such as (a) to behave with the highest aim of authenticity and integrity by building a trusting relationship with all team members (b) to be committed extensivey to the development of the team (c) to be open and communicate, but must practice good audience skills (d) be willing to share perceptions, assumptions and views openly with team members and (e) to allow team members to work independently but in a self-organised manner.Team leaders must take time required to do the work and defy teams efforts and also reflect on its actions. They must maintain and practice accountability and at the same time have a good on the job(p) relationship with the team members. They should always be urinate to monitor and evaluate how the te am functions. They should clearly state the purpose of work without being ambiguous or complex. They must try to experiment and share experiences without blame. They should also provide coaching and mentoring support to the team (Barry Stevenson, 2004).The organizational complex body part of McDonalds Corporation is centralised but that of its sell outlets is different. In McDonalds outlets the employees work as a team to ensure that customers requirements are taken portion out of in a short period of time. Besides the manager the rest are all attendants who take orders and deliver as disruptive as they can. There is division of labour among members of the organisation, and the co-ordination of their activities are directed towards the goals and objectives of the organisation. structure is the pattern of relationships among positions in the organisation and among members of the organisation. Structure makes possible the application of the process of management and creates a fra mework of order and command through which the activities of the organisation can be planned, organised, directed and controlled. Structure defines tasks and responsibilities, work roles and relationships, and channels of communication (Mullins and Laurie. J, 2008). At McDonalds the interbreed of control of the manager is narrow.The span of control refers to the number of subordinates working under the supervisor. So if there are basketball team subordinates working under the supervisor or manager, the span of control is v. If the span of control is narrow there are certain advantages (Jenkins and Tessa, 2000). One of the merits is that there is tight control over subordinates and the manager is able to closely finagle the daily operations resulting in better co-ordination. Managers have time to deal and plan and they are not burdened with too many problems.A narrow span of control reduces delegation and managers are able to do more work. On the contrary, a flat organisation imp lies a colossal span of control. Theorists are of the opinion that tall organisation structures are inefficient, despite the advantage of a narrow span of control (Robbins, Stephen P, 2007). One can learn to use leadership approaches to develop high-performing teams and individuals at McDonalds. Team leaders were aware of the importance of team building and used suitable tools and techniques to avail teams go by their full potential.McDonalds bunch Members are responsible for customer service, food preparation and cleanliness and hygiene. Crew members will be asked to work in any of these areas depending on the individuals preferences. I worked as a guest Service Crew member and my job entailed taking orders and delivering meals to customers at the counter. I learnt to be courteous and polite as I was responsible for maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction. The responsibility of the Food Preparation Crew Members was to prepare and touch on McDonalds menu.The teams ar e self managed and all team or work party member works with team spirit. There is a sense of assess for each other. all the same it can be said that most conspiracy members do not understand the organisation strategy as they do not have access to this information. The communication between crew members is daily which enables every individual to maintain good harmony within retail outlets. The crew members at McDonalds are committed because their needs are met by the team leadership. The leadership has developed an ideal and committed team which can be easily motivated.A committed and motivated team is always successful. Larson and LaFasto (1989) studied to understand the characteristics of successful teams and found that all the passing effective teams always had the characteristics such as a clear, elevating goal, a result-driven structure, competent team members, unified commitment, a collaborative climate, standards of excellence external support and recognition as well a s principled leadership (Larson and LaFasto, 1989). From this determination it is evident that effective teamwork has a strong relationship with motivation.According to Maslows theory the hierarchy of human needs are classified into five levels. This theory advocates that the higher level needs of an individual will become cause factors only when the lower level ones are satisfied. The five levels starting line from the lowest hierarchy to the highest level, are Physiological At McDonalds the motivating factors of the crew members are salary, over time, daily lunch/meal and transport facilities. Safety The next important factor is safety which includes elements such as job security, medical insurance and sick leave.Social There is very good interaction among crew members and customers. This has resulted in excellent teamwork. Self-esteem Crew members are motivated as the team leader/manager has full confidence in their abilities. They have reputation because of the McDonalds brand equity. They are recognised and appreciated by fellow colleagues, subordinates, and supervisors. Self-actualization The crew member reach their full potential when all his needs are taken care off (Maslow, 1987). The disadvantage that I observed was that subordinates are unable to make any decision.They have to always obey and listen to the orders of the manager. However the crew members (team members) had flexible schedules. There were team members from various parts of the world working together. They had different backgrounds and different interests and all worked together to make an ideal work force. In fact there was diversity. I would like to now give a detailed account of my observations on leadership styles and its impact on teamwork in McDonalds restaurants. The leadership style practised in McDonalds restaurants is autocratic and therefore crew members are not involved in any decision qualification.It is also a fact that suggestions from crew members are not welco med as most of them are new. Crew members are three-year-old and work in these restaurants during summer vacations and therefore cannot offer ideas to the leader. Crew members are young and therefore motivated if they are paid wages on time and given extra benefits such as lunch and transportation. This motivates the crew to work in spite of the autocratic leadership. Autocratic style of leadership doesnt fulfil the self esteem requirements reflected in Maslows hierarchy.However at McDonalds crew members get self respect and also respect each other. McDonalds will not adopt another(prenominal) style of leadership as the management fears that a persuasive or democratic style will not deliver the goods, viz. , delivering type food on time to its customers. I would like to compare persuasive and democratic styles of leadership with that of autocratic leadership before arriving at a conclusion which one of the three styles will ideally suit McDonalds and at the same time have an impac t on team work.Persuasion is one of the requisites of all leaders by which act they can move people toward a new situation. Persuasion does not include rational arguments. A leader can use persuasion as a tactic to gain the support of diverse groups of people exploitation basic human emotions. It is normal that persuasive strategies may provoke team members and some of them may oppose ideas or suggestions. The democratic leadership style or participative style encourages employees to be a part of the decision making allowing more participation of teams in the decision making process.

Blaine Kitchenware

rP os t 4040 OCTOBER 8, 2009 TIMOTHY LUEHRMAN JOEL HEILPRIN op yo Blaine Kitchenware, Inc. groovy social organization On April 27, 2007, skipper Dubinski, CEO of Blaine Kitchenware, Inc. (BKI), sat in his office reflecting on a meeting he had had with an investment banker earlier in the week. The banker, whom Dubinski had cognize for geezerhood, asked for the meeting aft(prenominal) a group of private fair-mindedness investors make discreet inquiries about(predicate) a possible acquisition of Blaine. Although Blaine was a macrocosm friendship, a mass of its distributes were controlled by family members descended from the firms founders together with conf utilise family trusts.Family interests were strongly represented on the board of directors as well. Dubinski k new the family had no accredited interest in sellingon the contrary, Blaine was interested in getting other companies in the kitchen thingmajigs spaceso this overture, like a a couple of(prenominal) others before it, would be politely rebuffed. No tC Neverthe little, Dubinski was struck by the bankers assertion that a private blondness buyer could unlock value inherent in Blaines strong operations and oddment sheet. Using cash in on Blaines proportion sheet and new borrowings, a rivate equity firm could purchase all of Blaines superior partakes at a cost higher than $16. 25 per share, its current song price. It would then repay the debt over time using the clubs proximo earnings. When the banker pointed out that BKI itself could do the corresponding thingborrow coin to buy back its own sharesDubinski had asked, But why would we do that? The bankers response was blunt Beca work youre over-liquid and under-levered. Your shareholders are paying a price for that. In the days since the meeting, Dubinskis thoughts kept returning to a share repurchase.How many shares could be bought? At what price? Would it sap Blaines monetary strength? Or prevent it from making future acquis itions? Blaine Kitchenwares phone stress Do Blaine Kitchenware was a mid-sized producer of branded small appliances primarily employ in residential kitchens. Originally founded as The Blaine Electrical Apparatus lodge in 1927, it produced then-novel electric home appliances, much(prenominal) as irons, vacuum cleaners, flicker irons, and cream separators, which were touted as modern, clean, and easier to practice session than counterparts fueled by oil, coal, gas, or by hand.By 2006, the keep attach tos products consisted of a wide range of small kitchen appliances exampled for food and beverage preparation and for cooking, including several branded lines of deep fryers, griddles, flitter irons, toasters, small ovens, blenders, mixers, pressure cookers, steamers, slow cookers, shredders and slicers, and coffee makers. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ HBS Professor Timothy A. Luehrman and Illino is initiate of Technology Adjunct Finance Professor Joel L.Heilprin prepared this case save as a basis for class discussion and non as an endorsement, a source of primary data, or an illustration of effective or ineffective management. This case, though based on real events, is fictionalized, and any resemblance to actual persons or entities is coincidental. There are occasional references to actual companies in the narration. Copyright 2009 President and Fellows of Harvard College. To order copies or request consent to disgorge materials, call 1-800-545-7685, write Harvard Business Publishing, Boston, MA 02163, or go to http//www. bsp. harvard. edu. This payoff may not be digitized, photocopied, or otherwise reproduced, stick on, or transmitted, without the permission of Harvard Business School. This enter is pass for use precisely by Atul Singh at JRE Group of Institutions until June 2013. write or mailing is an trespass of copyright. email&160protected harvard. ed u or 617. 783. 7860. rP os t 4040 Blaine Kitchenware, Inc. Capital Structure Blaine had fair under 10% of the $2. 3 billion U. S. commercialise for small kitchen appliances.For the period 20032006 the perseverance posted modest yearbook unit gross gross sales growth of 2% despite positive foodstuff conditions including a strong housing grocery store, growth in affluent mansioners, and product innovations. Competition from inexpensive imports and aggressive pricing by mass merchandisers limited industry dollar volume growth to just 3. 5% annually over that same period. Historically, the industry had been fragmented, but it had of late experienced roughly consolidation that many participants expected to continue. In recent years, Blaine had been expanding into foreign markets.Nevertheless in 2006, 65% of its receipts was gene yardd from shipments to U. S. wholesalers and retailers, with the balance coming from sales to Canada, Europe, and Central and South America. The company shipped approximately 14 million units a year. op yo There were three major segments in the small kitchen appliance industry food preparation appliances, cooking appliances, and beverage-making appliances. Blaine produced product for all three, but the majority of its revenues came from cooking appliances and food preparation appliances.Its market share of beverage-making appliances was only if 2%. Most of BKIs appliances retailed at medium price points, at or just below products offered by the best-known national brands. BKIs market research consistently showed that the Blaine brand was well-known and well-regarded by consumers. It was associated roughlywhat with nostalgia and the inception of familiar, wholesome dishes. tC Recently, Blaine had introduced some goods with smart technology features and sleeker styling, identifying higher-end consumers and intended to deal at higher price points.This scheme was in response to increase competition from Asian imports and private label product. The majority of BKIs products were distributed via a network of wholesalers, which supplied mass merchandisers and department stores, but its upper-tier products were sold directly to curio retailers and catalogue companies. Regardless of the distribution channel, BKI offered consumers standard warranty terms of 90 days to one year, depending on the appliance. No Blaines monthly sales reached a seasonal peak during October and November as retailers increased stock in anticipation of the holiday season.A smaller peak occurred in May and June, co-occur with Mothers Day, a summer surge in weddings, and the seasonal peak in home purchases. Historically, sales of Blaine appliances had been cyclical as well, lean to track overall macroeconomic activity. This also was the case for the industry as a whole in particular, changes in appliance sales were correlated with changes in housing sales and in home renovation and household formation. BKI owned and operated a small factory in Minnesota that produced suck iron parts with specialty coatings for certain of its cookware offerings. separatewise, however, Blaine, like about companies in the appliance industry, outsourced its ware. In 2006 BKI had suppliers and contract manufacturers in China, Vietnam, Canada, and Mexico. Do Victor Dubinski was a great-grandson of one of the founders. An engineer by training, Dubinski served in the U. S. Navy after graduating from college in 1970. After his discharge, he worked for a rangy aerospace and defense contractor until joining the family business in 1981 as head of operations. He was take to the board of directors in 1988 and became Blaines CEO in 1992, succeeding his uncle.Under Dubinskis leadership, Blaine operated often as it always had, with three notable exceptions. First, the company undefiled an IPO in 1994. This provided a measure of liquidity for certain of the founders posterity who, collectively, owned 62% of the outstanding shares 2 BRIEFCASES HARVARD commerce SCHOOL This document is authorized for use only by Atul Singh at JRE Group of Institutions until June 2013. Copying or posting is an onset of copyright. email&160protected harvard. edu or 617. 783. 7860. rP os t Blaine Kitchenware, Inc. Capital Structure 4040 ollowing the IPO. Second, beginning in the 1990s, Blaine gradually moved its production abroad. The company began by taking advantage of NAFTA, engaging suppliers and performing some manufacturing in Mexico. By 2003, BKI also had established relationships with several Asian manufacturers, and the large majority of its production took place outside the United States. Finally, BKI had undertaken a strategy focused on rounding out and complementing its product offerings by acquiring small independent manufacturers or the kitchen appliance product lines of large diversify manufacturers.The company carefully followed changes in customer purchasing behavior and market trends. Victor Dubinski and the board were eager to continue what they believed had been a fruitful strategy. The company was particularly keen to increase its presence in the beverage appliance segment, which demonstrated the strongest growth and where BKI was weakest. Thus far, all acquisitions had been for cash or BKI stock. op yo financial Performance During the year ended December 31, 2006, Blaine earned net income of $53. 6 million on revenue of $342 million.Exhibits 1 and 2 present the companys recent financial statements. Approximately 85% of Blaines revenue and 80% of its operate income came from the sale of mid-tier products, with the line of higher-end goods accounting for the remainder. The companys 2006 EBITDA margin of nearly 22% was among the strongest within the peer group shown in Exhibit 3. Despite its recent shift toward higher-end product lines, Blaines operating margins had decreased slightly over the last three years. mouldings declined due to consolidation costs and inventory write-down s associated with recent acquisitions.Now that integration activities were completed, BKI executives expected the firm to win operating margins at least as high as its historic margins. tC The U. S. industry as a whole faced vast pressure from imports and private label products, as well as a shift in consumer purchasing preferences favoring larger, big box retailers. In response, some of Blaines more(prenominal) aggressive rivals were cutting prices to maintain sales growth. Blaine had not followed suit and its organic revenue growth had suffered in recent years, as some of its core products lost market share.Growth in Blaines line of longitude line was attributable almost exclusively to acquisitions. No Despite the companys profitability, returns to shareholders had been somewhat below average. Blaines return on equity ( roe), shown below, was significantly below that of its publicly traded peers. 1 Moreover, its earnings per share had locomote significantly since 2004, partly due to dilutive acquisitions. Companies 2006 ROE Do Home &038 home Design AutoTech Appliances XQL Corp. Bunkerhill Incorporated EasyLiving Systems Mean 11. 3% 43. 1% 19. 5% 41. 7% 13. 9% 25. 9%Median 19. 5% Blaine 11. 0% 1 ROE is computed here as net income divided by end-of-period book equity. HARVARD agate line SCHOOL BRIEFCASES This document is authorized for use only by Atul Singh at JRE Group of Institutions until June 2013. Copying or posting is an intrusion of copyright. email&160protected harvard. edu or 617. 783. 7860. 3 rP os t 4040 Blaine Kitchenware, Inc. Capital Structure During 20042006, intensify annual returns for BKI shareholders, including dividends and stock price appreciation, were approximately 11% per year.This was higher than the S&038P 500, which returned approximately 10% per year. However, it was well below the 16% annual compounded return earned by shareholders of Blaines peer group during the same period. Financial Policies op yo Blaines financial posture was conservative and very much in keeping with BKIs long-standing practice and, indeed, with its management style generally. scarce twice in its history had the company borrowed beyond seasonal works capital needs. The freshman time was during World War II, when it borrowed from the U. S. government to reorganise several factories for war production.The second time was during the first oil profane of the 1970s. On both occasions the debt was repaid as quickly as possible. At the end of 2006, Blaines balance sheet was the strongest in the industry. Not only was it debtfree, but the company also held $231 million in cash and securities at the end of 2006, down from $286 million two years earlier. Given much(prenominal) substantial liquidity, Blaine had terminated in 2002 a revolving credit agreement knowing to provide standby credit for seasonal needs the CFO argued that the fees were a waste of money and Dubinski agreed.In recent years the companys largest uses of cash had been common dividends and cash consideration paid in various acquisitions. Dividends per share had risen only modestly during 20042006 however, as the company issued new shares in connection with some of its acquisitions, the number of shares outstanding climbed, and the payout ratio rose significantly, to more than 50% in 2006. tC 2004 $ 53,112 $ 18,589 41,309 $ 1. 29 $ 0. 45 35. 0% 2005 $ 52,435 $ 22,871 48,970 $ 1. 07 $ 0. 47 43. 6% 2006 $ 53,630 $ 28,345 59,052 $ 0. 91 $ 0. 48 52. 9% No bread income Dividends comely shares outstanding Earnings per shareDividend per share Payout ratio Do The next largest use of funds was capital expenditures, which were modest due to Blaines extensive outsourcing of its manufacturing. bonnie capital expenditures during the past three years were just over $10 million per year. While they were expected to remain modest, future expenditures would be operate in part by the extent and nature of Blaines future acquisitions. In recent years, aft er-tax cash generated from operations had been more than four propagation average capital expenditures and rising, as shown in the table below. 4 2004 EBITDA slight imposees After-Tax operational Cash Flow 2005 69,370 24,989 44,380 $ 68,895 24,303 44,592 2006 $ 73,860 23,821 50,039 AVG. 46,337 BRIEFCASES HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL This document is authorized for use only by Atul Singh at JRE Group of Institutions until June 2013. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. email&160protected harvard. edu or 617. 783. 7860. Reassessing Financial Policies in 2007 rP os t Blaine Kitchenware, Inc. Capital Structure 4040 In 2007 Blaine planned to continue its constitution of holding prices firm in the face of competitive pressures. Consequently, its managers were expecting top line growth of only 3% for fiscal year 2007.However, this growth rate assumed no acquisitions would be made in 2007, unlike the antecedent two years. While the board remained receptive to opportunitie s, Dubinski and his team had no target in mind as yet at the end of April. op yo As he reflected on the possibility of repurchasing stock, Dubinski understood that he could consider such a move only in conjunction with all of BKIs financial policies its liquidity, capital structure, dividend policy, ownership structure, and acquisition plans. In addition, he wondered about timing. Blaines stock price was not far off its all-time high, yet its performance clearly lagged that of its peers.A summary of contemporaneous financial market information is provided in Exhibit 4. Dubinski had begun to suspect that family members on the board would have some of the possible effects of a large share repurchase. presume that family members held on to their shares, their percentage ownership of Blaine would rise, reversing a downward trend date from BKIs IPO. It also would give the board more flexibility in setting future dividends per share. Both Dubinski and the board knew that the recent tre nd in BKIs payout ratio was unsustainable and that this concerned some family members.Do No tC On the other hand, a large repurchase might be unpopular if it forced Blaine to give up its war chest and/or disclose its acquisition activity. Perhaps even more unsettling, it would cause Blaine to borrow money. The company would be paying significant interest expense for only the tercet time in its history. As Dubinski turned his chair to face the window, he glanced at the framed photo behind his desk of his great grandfather, Marcus Blaine, demonstrating the companys first cream separatorits best-selling product during Blaines first decade.A real Blaine Electrical Cream Separator sat in a glass case in the corner the last one had been fabricate in 1949. HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL BRIEFCASES This document is authorized for use only by Atul Singh at JRE Group of Institutions until June 2013. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. email&160protected harvard. edu or 617. 783. 7860. 5 Exhibit 1 rP os t 4040 Blaine Kitchenware, Inc. Capital Structure Blaine Kitchenware, Inc. , Income Statements, years ended December 31, ($ in Thousands) in operation(p) Results 2004 2005 2006 $291,940 204,265 Net Income Dividends 63,946 9,914 68,895 73,860 60,682 16,057 63,946 3,506 78,101 24,989 76,738 24,303 77,451 23,821 52,435 $ 22,871 53,630 $ 28,345 5. 5% 11. 1% op yo Earnings Before Tax less(prenominal) Taxes 60,682 8,213 53,112 $ 18,589 EBIT Plus Other Income (expense) 92,458 28,512 62,383 15,719 EBITDA 87,731 27,049 69,370 Operating Income Plus Depreciation &038 Amortization $342,251 249,794 62,383 6,987 double-dyed(a) Profit Less Selling, General &038 Administrative $307,964 220,234 87,676 25,293 tax revenue Less greet of Goods Sold Margins Revenue Growth 3. 2% Gross Margin 30. 0% 28. 5% 27. 0% 21. 4% 19. 7% 18. 7% 23. 8% 22. 4% 21. 6% 32. 0% 31. 7% 30. 8% Net Income Margin 18. 2% 17. 0% 15. 7% Dividend payout ratio 5. 0% 43. 6% 52. 9% EBIT Margin EBITDA Mar gin Blaines future tax rate was expected to rise to the statutory rate of 40%. Do No a. tC Effective Tax Ratea 6 BRIEFCASES HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL This document is authorized for use only by Atul Singh at JRE Group of Institutions until June 2013. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. email&160protected harvard. edu or 617. 783. 7860. Exhibit 2 rP os t Blaine Kitchenware, Inc. Capital Structure 4040 Blaine Kitchenware, Inc. Balance Sheets, December 31, ($ in Thousands) Assets 2004 Cash &038 Cash Equivalents 2005 2006 $ 67,391 grace of God Other Assets Total Assets p yo Property, Plant &038 Equipment 48,780 49,728 54,874 3,871 5,157 376,351 Total Current Assets 43,235 2,586 Other Current Assets 164,309 47,262 Inventory $ 66,557 196,763 40,709 Accounts Receivable $ 70,853 218,403 martable Securities 364,449 339,678 99,402 138,546 174,321 8,134 20,439 38,281 13,331 27,394 39,973 $497,217 $550,829 $592,253 $ 26,106 $ 28,589 $ 31,936 22,605 24,921 27,761 14,225 17,196 16,884 62,935 70,705 76,581 1,794 3,151 4,814 15,111 18,434 22,495 79,840 92,290 103,890 Liabilities &038 Shareholders virtue Accounts Payable accumulated Liabilities Taxes Payable Total Current Liabilities Other liabilitiesDeferred Taxes tC Total Liabilities Shareholders Equity Total Liabilities &038 Shareholders Equity 458,538 488,363 $550,829 $592,253 Many items in BKIs historical balance sheets (e. g. , Property, Plant &038 Equipment) have been affected by the firms acquisitions. Do No Note 417,377 $497,217 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL BRIEFCASES This document is authorized for use only by Atul Singh at JRE Group of Institutions until June 2013. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. email&160protected harvard. edu or 617. 783. 7860. 7 This document is authorized for use only by Atul Singh at JRE Group of Institutions until June 2013.Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. email&160protected harvard. edu or 617. 783. 7860. 45. 18% 31. 12% Net Debt/Equity N et Debt/Enterprise Value b. Net debt is total long-term and short-term debt less excess cash. a. Net working capital excludes cash and securities. 1. 91x 10. 56x 9. 46x 1. 63x 1. 03 776,427 $1,127,226 $ 350,798 372,293 475,377 LTM duty Multiples MVIC/Revenue MVIC/EBIT MVIC/EBITDA Market/Book equity Equity beta Market capitalization Enterprise value (MVIC) Net debtb Total debt Book equity $ 21,495 54,316 900,803 $ 976,613 31. 74% 24. 10% 1. 02x 7. 35x 6. 03x 4. 26x 1. 24 17. 97% 15. 23% 1. 5x 8. 65x 7. 84x 2. 51x 0. 96 5,290,145 $6,240,947 $ 950,802 972,227 2,109,400 $ 21,425 353,691 3,322,837 $3,697,952 $4,313,300 721,297 796,497 $ 412,307 XQL Corp. -15. 47% -18. 31% 1. 87x 18. 05x 15. 15x 4. 41x 0. 67 418,749 $ 353,949 $ (64,800) 177,302 94,919 $ 242,102 21,220 68,788 $ 332,110 $ 188,955 19,613 23,356 $ 13,173 EasyLiving Systems 4040 -8- -24. 06% -31. 68% 2. 13x 11. 40x 9. 87x 1. 96x 0. 56 959,596 $ 728,730 $(230,866) 488,363 $ 230,866 32,231 174,321 $ 592,253 $ 342,251 63,946 73, 860 $ 53,630 Blaine Kitchenware rP os t 6. 01% 5. 67% 1. 14x 7. 42x 6. 88x 4. 93x 0. 92 3,962,780 $4,200,836 $ 238,056 391,736 04,400 $ 153,680 334,804 815,304 $1,303,788 $3,671,100 566,099 610,399 $ 335,073 Bunkerhill, Inc. op yo 13,978,375 $18,415,689 $4,437,314 4,973,413 3,283,000 $ 536,099 1,247,520 7,463,564 $9,247,183 $18,080,000 2,505,200 3,055,200 $1,416,012 AutoTech Appliances tC No $ 589,747 106,763 119,190 $ 53,698 Home &038 Hearth Design Selected Operating and Financial Data for Public Kitchenware Producers, 12 months ended December 31, 2006, ($ in Thousands) Cash &038 securities Net working capitala Net fixed assets Total assets Revenue EBIT EBITDA Net income Exhibit 3 Do Exhibit 4 rP os t Blaine Kitchenware, Inc. Capital Structure 4040Contemporaneous Capital Market Data (April 21, 2007) Yields on U. S. Treasury Securities Maturity 30 days 60 days 90 days 1 year 5 years 10 years 20 years 30 years op yo 4. 55% 4. 73% 4. 91% 4. 90% 4. 91% 5. 02% 5. 26% 5. 10% Default sp read 0. 86% 1. 02% 1. 33% 1. 70% 2. 86% 3. 92% Do No tC Seasoned corporate bond yields Moodys Aaa 5. 88% Aa 6. 04% A 6. 35% Baa 6. 72% Ba 7. 88% B 8. 94% HARVARD BUSINESS PUBLISHING BRIEFCASES This document is authorized for use only by Atul Singh at JRE Group of Institutions until June 2013. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. email&160protected harvard. edu or 617. 783. 7860. 9