Issues in Strategic Management Strategic Audit Exercise Essay

Issues in Strategic Management Strategic Audit Exercise - Essay Example Apple experienced good success during the late 1980s but after that there were testing times during the 90s. John Sculley, previously the CEO joined Apple in 1983. Sculley came to Apple with the valuable experience of the 'Cola-War' between Coke and Pepsi. Steven Jobs, more of technology oriented initially found this approach little weird, but later gave Sculley a free hand. Gradually, over the years, Apple has succeeded in regaining the lost glory to a great extent. Feb 27 edition of Business Journal (2007) points out that the ipod helped in this transformation process with the sale of over 90 million ipods since its launch in 2001. After this successful parade of its ipod, Apple has now taken up another ambitious product called 'iphone'. This gadget is an integration of an iPod, a mobile phone, a portable computing machine and a digital camera. With touch controls and an internet communication device the iphone is an innovative product from the armory of Apple. Slated for a full-fl edged launch in June 2007, iphone also has the Wi-Fi connectivity and Bluetooth features and it is based on quad-band GSM + EDGE technology. Now it is to be seen how Apple can mobilize its resources to convert this venture into another success story. Over the years Apple has also established a dependable value chain with strong links with its suppliers and distributors, but the spat with its arch rival Microsoft will not allow Apple to take things lying down, it'll have to be on the path of innovation with regular inputs from market. Though the iphone promises to be a cult item that may influence the industry to follow suit, yet there are certain finer edges which need to be smoothened before Apple expects an ipod like revolution. For example ipod became such a craze owing to its compatibility with the most popular music format-MP3, and the most popular operating system-Windows. But it at the moment industry analysts are keenly watching the verbal dual between Apple and Microsoft. O n the one hand Apple has issued a warning about MS Vista being a security threat to the ipods while on the other hand Microsoft chief Bill Gates underlined the importance of the 'software part' when asked for his views on Apple iphone. He sought to downplay the technological advancement and innovative features that Apple has put in it. This dual promises more fireworks in near future. Resources Audit Such an audit is done to identify different types of resources available to the company. Some of the resources that Apple Inc. could mobilize for carrying out its business are; Financial resources: The Company has been able to post a record revenue billion and record net quarterly profit of $1.0 billion, or $1.14 per diluted share for its fiscal 2007 first quarter ended December 30, 2006 (Apple, 2007). During the operations Gross margin was 31.2 percent, up from 27.2 percent in the year-ago quarter. What is the source of strength is that the International sales accounting for 42 percent of the quarter's revenue. The very fact that the company has been able to sustain the onslaught of Microsoft and IBM provides an insight into the strength of its financial resources. Company's consistent track record of dividend indicates that Apple values its

Microeconomics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 11

Microeconomics - Essay Example In other words, the firm should produce at a point whereby if it spends a dollar on a unit of labour, this should give us most output as a dollar it spends on extra capital. The above graph shows the point at which the firm minimizes the cost of production. In other words, the iso-cost line is in tangency with the isoquant. This is at the point whereby the last dollar spent on labour yields as must output as the dollar that the firm spends on capital. This is as the below function explains. The slope of the isoquant is the marginal rate of substitution of labour and Capital (MRTSKL). This should be equal to the slope of the iso-cost line (w/r). From the function, the last dollar spent on labour yields MPL/w that is equivalent to the output of the last dollar that the firm spends on capital MPX/r. At this point, the level of production is optimal. In other words, the firm minimizes the cost of production (Quirk, 2012). For a monopolistic firm that is facing a demand curve that is linear, it must produce at a point whereby the demand curve is elastic. In other words, the firm must produce at a point whereby there is a high demand elasticity of price change. This is because for the firm to increase its revenue, it has to sell additional units of output. In addition, for the firm to sell the additional units of output, it has to reduce its prizes per unit. This happens at the point where the demand curve is elastic. At this point, the sale for an extra unit yields more revenue since the percentage decrease of the price is lower than the percentage increase in the quantity demanded (Nicholson, 2008). At any other point other than the elastic point, decrease in price would not result to increase in the revenue. For example, at the inelastic point, the reduction in price would result in a reduction in revenue. This is because the percentage drop-off in price is higher in comparison with the

Evaluation of Starbucks Strategic Position In the Market Essay

Evaluation of Starbucks Strategic Position In the Market - Essay Example ?s customers are mainly coffee lovers from all walks of life and it can be noted that it has been pursuing a differentiation strategy by Porter (1985). Starbucks’ cornerstone value is to â€Å"build a company with a soul† and its broad mission is â€Å"To inspire and nurture the human spirit—one person, one cup, and one neighbourhood at a time.† The organisation broadly aims to be â€Å"a purveyor of fine coffees in the world while maintaining uncompromising principles.† Its intent has been to do the right thing and conducting its business in ways that earned the trust and respect of the customers, partners/employees, suppliers and the general public. The stakeholders include Howard Schultz, employees, customers, community members and the shareholders. 2.0 External analysis of Starbucks This section of the report seeks to analyse the external factors affecting the operations of the organisation. Two models namely PESTEL analysis and Porter’s five forces model are going to be utilised in carrying an analysis of the external factors impacting on the operations of Starbucks. Critical success factors will also be analysed in this section of the report. 2.1 PESTEL analysis A close analysis of Starbuck’s case study shows that there are various external forces obtaining in the macro-environment in which the organisation is operating and these have an impact on its operations. As such, a PESTEL analysis is going to be used to evaluate the external factors affecting the operations of Starbucks. Basically, PESTEL is an acronym for political, economic, social, technological, environmental as well as legal factors impacting on the operations of the organisation (McCarthy & Perreault, 1996). The table below outlines the analysis in detail. Table 1: PESTEL analysis for... This report seeks to analyse the external factors affecting the operations of the Starbuck’s organisation. Two models namely PESTEL analysis and Porter’s five forces model are going to be utilised in carrying an analysis of the external factors impacting on the operations of Starbucks. Critical success factors will also be analysed in this section of the report. A close analysis of Starbuck’s case study shows that there are various external forces obtaining in the macro-environment in which the organisation is operating and these have an impact on its operations. As such, a PESTEL analysis is going to be used to evaluate the external factors affecting the operations of Starbucks. Basically, PESTEL is an acronym for political, economic, social, technological, environmental as well as legal factors impacting on the operations of the organisation. In evaluating the strategic capabilities of the company, the following factors will be discussed in detail as they cons titute the internal environment of the company. Strydom posits to the effect that a key strategy should utilise the strengths of the organisation in order to gain a competitive advantage. These include human, physical and financial resources as they have a direct bearing on the performance of the company. The company’s value chain will also be discussed in this section. Since the period Howard Schultz assumed the CEO position of the company in 1987, it can be noted that it has harnessed on a number of strategic capabilities as going to be explained in brief below.

U.S. Government Shutdown Negotations (Past and Present) Research Paper

U.S. Government Shutdown Negotations (Past and Present) - Research Paper Example It is the absence of a consensus on the budget and the consequent inability to pass the appropriations bill before the October 1 deadline that creates an impasse and leads to a government shutdown (Kosar, 2004, p.2). When the government is forced to shutdown as a result of this, only the essential government services are allowed to operate (Kosar, 2004, p.2). Even the employees of these essential services will be sometimes forced to work without pay. The overall result of a shutdown will be that almost all governmental functioning will come to a standstill and the government employees will be left in wild, frustrated without pay. As the opposition party most often causes a shutdown, as against the budget plans of the ruling President, the opposition party will be held in the public eye as responsible for a shutdown. But the public will also criticize the unwillingness of the President to accept the reasonable suggestions made by the opposition, on certain occasions. So a shutdown can dim the electoral prospects of both the ruling party and the opposition and above all make the lives of the people miserable. In order to avert such consequences, negotiations get underway before and after shutdowns. These negotiations are good examples to the application of major negotiation theories, understanding which; the efficiency of such negotiations can be qualitatively enhanced in the future. Negotiation theories Though there are different strategies based on different theories regarding negotiation, the negotiation practitioners usually are found to use a mix of more than one theory (Adams, 2003, p.55). Broadly negotiation theories can be categorized as â€Å"cooperative or competitive† (Adams, 2003, p.55). Usually the tactics adopted could be a negotiation process beginning with a problem-solving interest-based approach and concluding with the competitive positional approach (Adams, 2003, p.55). This is what is called an integrative approach (Adams, 2003, p.55). The advantage of this approach is that in the beginning of negotiations, an amicable atmosphere for the very process of negotiation is created through the cooperative interventions included in the problem-solving interest-based approach. Once the trust of both parties has been acquired in this manner, then the negotiator can easily move on to a more competitive attitude (Adams, 2003, p.55). This is particularly helpful in dealing with negotiations between continuous relationships (Adams, 2003, p.55). Competitive positional negotiation In competitive positional negotiation, the negotiator makes the party to believe that he/she is â€Å"working vigorously on their behalf† (Adams, 2003, p.37). By this strategy, the negotiator wins the trust of the party and this trust is what helps the negotiator in a later stage to convince the party that a cooperative approach has to be adopted (Adams, 2003, p.37). But as far as the competitive positional negotiation is going on there is no sc ope for accepting the other party’s viewpoints or demands. This is because, the party already takes a position and he/she also believes that one is competitive enough to win that position. Hence the party does not feel a need for cooperation. Problem-solving interest-based negotiation. The problem-solving interest-based negotiation is more flexible and with a commitment to resolve the problem and protect the interests of both parties as far as possible. The most important aspect

Discussion board forum Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Discussion board forum - Assignment Example Concurrently, it is domineering that ethical issues are considered during the formulation of the evaluation plan; likewise, the most common and essential considerations during the process include: informed consent, voluntary participation, do no harm (Beneficence), respect for confidentiality and anonymity, respect for privacy and assessment of only the relevant components. Informed consent is considered to be the most major ethical issue in conducting research and most of the experienced researchers give it the definition of a person expressively, willingly and logically, and in a clear and manifest way gives his consent (Deborah 2003). Basically, it is one of the most outright ways that a person’s autonomy is protected as it circles around that particular person being fully informed about the evaluation being conducted. The informed consent ethic seeks to integrate the rights of self-governing participants through autonomy and also prevent assaults on the integrity of the patient and protect personal freedom and genuineness (Johnstone 2009). Any additional information should also be provided in any event that the participant becomes distressed in any way since the main purpose of informed consent is that the participant is able to make informed decision as to whether they will participate in the evaluation or not. Normally, voluntary participation goes hand in hand with the informed consent ethic and means that the people participate in the evaluation free from intimidation and they are free to withdraw their participation at any time without negatively impacting on their involvement in future services or the current program and relationships with any of the researchers or research bodies involved (Deborah 2003). Sometimes there can be a lot of challenges especially in situations where one has the task of encouraging high risk youth to become engaged in a program hence making the situation difficult mostly when the

Innocence and experience Essay Example for Free

Innocence and experience Essay When the theme of innocence and experience is being discussed you can distinguish the correlation between them, ho they both tie into one another. People view childhood as a time of innocence, growth, and freedom from the responsibilities of maturity, whereas adulthood is a time of experience. This coming of age is actually a time where we re-evaluate our identity as adolescences. It is the time in our lives where we continue to find our true selves and explore who we are by experiencing rough circumstances in life-even if it becomes a painful process-while being subjected to an awakening of a bigger picture of life outside our small world. In Araby by James Joyce, we can visualize the transition from fantasy to reality. The narrator thinks of an entire event in the form of an epic quest. He puts Mangan’s sister up on a pedestal and makes himself think he is a knight going after the princess. After hearing the conversation at the bazaar, the narrator reaches an epiphany but not a positive one. Instead of reaffirming his love for Mangan’s sister, he gives up. The boy has his epiphany, but we never find out what happens to his plans or ambitions after the epiphany. Araby focuses on the sudden transition from the illusions of childhood to the insight of maturity. He also leaves out the character’s names to show they haven’t developed a mature identity yet. The boy in Araby experiences the disillusionment in his ideas. At some point in our lives we experience something that begins to diminish what is left of our innocence. But this loss of innocence is what helps us move to a greater wisdom about ourselves and the world around us.

Critical Appreciation Of To His Coy Mistress English Literature Essay

Critical Appreciation Of To His Coy Mistress English Literature Essay The poem is written in iambic tetrameters because there are four feet in each line; and each foot consists of two syllables; and in each foot the first syllable is light or unstressed but the second is stressed. There are also some variations, say the first foot of the first line has a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one; so it is trochaic; but it is natural to iambic, too. These variations have been written on purpose. In line 4, there are three successive stressed syllables in the words long loves days in order to emphasize the length of the time which is stated in the words. Of course, some of them are written only for variety like lines 3, 5, 6, and so on. There is a spondaic foot in line 12 in Vaster probably to add significance to the word. A pyrrhic begins line 18; in this line, the next foot is spondaic in last age for the emphasis which is concerning the period stated by the words. In line 22, hurrying has three successive light syllables which increase its sense. It is true of the word echoing in line 27, that is, since they are related to movement, a light thing can move fast; so they enhance their senses. The poem has a clear as bb cc rhyme scheme. Sometimes, it is not exact, i.e., in the words would and Flood. But in conjunction with the regular meter, it gives the poem a controlled and reflective tone. The rhyme and meter give it a pleasant musical effect. The imagery has superficially unremarkable, i.e., the distance between the Ganges river and the Humber river which has the sense of humor. The dominant images of the second stanza are concerning death and time; but death has not been used in the first stanza at all. The images of the third stanza are concerning youth and enjoying it. In this poem there are also some allusions to Greek mythology, courtly love, and the Bible. Then, there is no complicated tone; it is playful and urbane. No one can consider it as a kind of love poem. For the speaker establishes a courtly love which is particularly traditional. He wants to make his beloved a virtually inaccessible one who can be like goddess. In addition, she can be considered as a cruel lady who withholds her love from the speaker. So the lover sits by the Humber tide and complains of her cruelty. And he has served her by praise and adoration since the tie of Noahs Flood in 4000 B.C. and will also serve till the conversion of the Jews to Christianity. This is a humor because the time is to much. He says it for making the lady smile and be ready to hear a courtly love or divinity of the lady for the fact that the poet says her to sport them, to roll all their strength and sweetness up into one ball, and to tear their pleasures with rough strife. Some traditional meta phors are also used in the poem which represent the passing of times winged chariot. As we read the poem, we find out the fact that the male speaker enforces his mistress or girl friend to cease being coy or reluctant. There are several key words which should be cared by the reader. They consist of time, long loves day, the Flood, the slow growth of vast empires, a hundred years, two hundred years, thirty thousand years, an age, the last age, lower rate, times winged chariot, deserts of vast eternity, now, at once, our time, the iron gates of life, and the movement of the sun all of which suggest the passing of time, brevity of youth and time, and the urgency of experiencing all the delights of young love. The speaker also worries about them. There are also some rhetorical features. The first twenty lines represents a series of conditions, like if the things were somehow or if or if they were different from what they are. Therefore, it can be concluded the poet wants to say the fact that if they were not imprisoned by time. Tenses of Verbs If we divide the poem to three section notice that the first section, to do with if is written exclusively in the conditional tense: were, we would, you should. The conditional tense is about unreality; its abut things that do not exist. The conditional tense goes with if, and it is always connected with what is not, or what might happen if. The detailed descriptions of the lengths to which he would go if they had the time serve to prove to his mistress that he acknowledges she deserves such wooing, but is unable to honor her in this way simply because time is against them. In the second section o this poem, the But part (line 21) suddenly the conditional tense disappears an is replaced by the far more definite and immediate present tense: But at my back I always hear. A combination of the present tense and the adverb always creates a sense of certainty. It is as if the long, meandering lines of conditional wooing of the first stanza are sharply interrupted by a very present obstacle time. In the third section, the therefore part (line 33), notice that the whole segment is written in the present tense and now appears three times. The combinations of the present tense and now saturates the verse with a sense of urgency. It is also worth nothing that some of the verbs are in the imperative form that is, they are commands let us sport us while we may (line 37); let us roll all our strength (line 41). The imperative form, the present tense and now all work together to create a feeling of immediacy and a need to seize the day. Subjects and verbs In the last section, if we consider the final couplet, the doubt and suggestion of failure present in though we cannot make our sun/stand still, is quickly and thoroughly erased by the use of the emphatic we will as opposed to the plain future tense we shall. To explain clearly, the plain future form of the verb to be is as follows: I shall be, you/he/she/it will be, we shall be, you/they will be. This form gives us a sense of merely what will happen in time to come. For example, if it is cold tomorrow, we shall be staying at home. This is really a prediction: if this is the case, then that will happen. To make this into an emphatic form you need to change it thus: I will be, you/he/she/it shall be, we will be, you/they shall be. Therefore the emphatic form of a verb changes the sense considerably. Literary devices Literary devices are important for Formalists. Three important devices in the poem are allusions, ironies, exaggerations, imageries and rhythms. Allusions are discussed above, now we will discuss about ironies, exaggerations, imageries and rhythms. There are many overstatements in the poem, i.e., the distance between the Ganges river in India and the Humber river in England, the extension of the love from before the Flood to the conversion of the Jews, growing their loves as slowly as empires, praising her eyes and gaze during years, adoring her breast during 200 years, praising the rest of her body during 30,000 year, celebrating heart during the last age. These exaggerations come to an end with the following two lines: For, lady, you deserve this state Nor, would I love at lower rate. The poem is more than the simple confrontation with a coy lady. It is a comic argument which represents the brevity of youth and life, for the lover always looks toward the inevitable and that is death. It can be induced from the following lines: But at my back I always hear Times winged chariot hurrying near: And yonder all before us lie Deserts of vast eternity. Therefore, it is an overlapping context which has a new dimension, too. It is a kind of ironic defense against human beings limitation. The poem begins with flattering statements, expressed by the lover, as lady. Then, the argument shows their ideal relationship. He also achieves a fine sublimation by saying that she deserves this state; and he wants to persuade the lady to accept the proposition. In the second stanza, the tone of the poem is shifted because the speaker reveals all the disadvantages of this refusal by love. He also dares to state the result of the refusal by saying that will not be beautiful, and her quaint honor turn to dust. In the final stanza, the poet stops the ironical use of language, wanting the reluctant lady to seize the moment the imagery is brilliant and a sexual one, too. The image of fire which smolders in the first stanza and turns to ashes in the second, explodes into passion in the third stanza. The speaker, in the last four lines influences the lady by an orgiastic force formed by rhythmic spondees like thus, though, and stand, still and by suggestive puns like make our sun, and make him run. The poem moves towards unity and vitality with heavy emphasis on pleasure and a sense of cheating time by winning the battle against it. So the positive tone of the final stanza overrides the slowness of the first, and the harsh, violent coldness of the second. This is indeed the tactic of the narrator as he tries to convince his love to surrender to him. Using logic in such an emotive situation would seem inappropriate, but the passion with which he argues is indeed persuasive, and the reader reaches the final line with a sense of triumph an determination to let love rule, which we can only assume is also conveyed to his silent, cold coy mistress.