Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Taking Business Abroad Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Taking Business Abroad - Essay Example , between 2012 and 2013, seen basically flat sales (221M in 2013 and 222M in 2014), which is a problem for achieving growth for this High Street firm. The company was, however, able to raise its net income from  £3.1 million to  £5.3 million between 2013 and 2014 as a result of reduced selling, general and administrative costs in its operational model (Bloomberg). In 2011 and 2012, the company reported no profitability. Thornton’s, as a High Street company, provides gourmet chocolate products under a premium pricing structure to cater to the higher resource consumer in the United Kingdom. It is positioned in its market against quality, attempting to build a premium brand identity to gain interest from its more affluent target customer segments. The firm’s recent advertising strategies included The Art of the Chocolatier and Chocolate Heaven since 1911 as a means of using traditionalism and quality/sophistication to gain interest in markets that lean toward premium products. Fortunately, Thornton’s does not operate in a highly saturated competitive environment, competing against such brands as Cadbury which are not targeted at the high resource consumer. After 103 years of operations, Thornton’s has managed to create a brand that stands out among lower cost, less quality chocolate products and has a reputation for superiority with many UK consumers. Thornton’s, with flat sales volumes, requires a strategy to achieve growth in a market where consumption levels are not growing sufficiently. In the UK, Thornton’s is in its maturity stage which makes it difficult to achieve revenue growth without altering its existing business model and seeking new markets. This report identifies opportunities for Thornton’s PLC to enter the Chinese market as a means of enhancing sales growth and improving the financial position of the firm. The company’s most significant competitor is Cadbury, a company that produces chocolate products targeted at mass markets, but

Monday, October 28, 2019

Website Evaluation Essay Example for Free

Website Evaluation Essay The creator of the website http://www. nationalmssociety. org/index. aspx is the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS). NMSS was started in order to provide research and resources to those living with multiple sclerosis. Their philosophy is to create a movement inclusive of people with multiple sclerosis in an effort to move toward a world free of multiple sclerosis (NMSS, 2008). NMSS is a credible organization that has been in existence for many years. Since its creation, NMSS has been diligently working towards developing new research to find a cure for multiple sclerosis as well as enabling people with this disease to find quality of life. Proof of NMSS credibility is shown in the constant updating of the website. News releases are posted regularly to update visitors about new progress being made. Additionally, the website includes up to date information about where those living with multiple sclerosis can find services to help them. Finally, NMSS can be considered credible because they include the sources of their information in their news releases. In their multimedia library section of the website they offer additional resources and information about these is provided (NMSS, 2008). The main stated goal of NMSS is to enable those with multiple sclerosis to find quality of life and to continue to work towards a cure. In order to accomplish these two goals, NMSS is committed to excellent service, leadership and teamwork. These noble goals are listed on the website under the core values section and provide visitors with important information about their mission. Unstated goals include details about the importance of research as it is assumed that most people would agree this is important. There doesn’t appear to be any biases or hidden agendas since NMSS isn’t in existence to make money. Instead, they are dedicated to finding a cure for multiple sclerosis and helping people live with the disease. The information presented on the website is useful to students living with multiple sclerosis. The resources provided can give students important tools to enable them to be successful in school despite the presence of a debilitating disease. The content of the website is current as news related to multiple sclerosis is updated often. This information is based on scholarly research so it can be considered accurate. In addition, the resources presented to viewers are based on studies done by experts in the field so it can also be considered accurate. Additionally, the resources available to viewers are appropriate as it includes people of all ages, races, genders and ethnicities. Multiple sclerosis doesn’t discriminate and neither does this website. These resources are presented in an easy to understand way. There is a link on the website to the multimedia library where viewers can research books, journal articles and pod casts. There is also a link to news where viewers can read the latest news about multiple sclerosis as well as search previous news stories. These important issues are presented through additional resources and news stories in a realistic manner that allows all types of viewers easy access to help materials (NMSS, 2008). The website is presented in English but can be translated into Spanish as well. While this doesn’t enable other languages to read the website it does include a large number of additional Spanish speaking viewers access to important information about how to live with multiple sclerosis. To this end, the readability of the website is appropriate for all viewers regardless of language. The links are easy to find and the website is easy to navigate in order to find what one is looking for. The content included is organized among these links in order to make it simple to find necessary information. If a viewer is looking for the latest news they can visit the news link or if they are interested in finding local services they can visit the find a chapter link (NMSS, 2008). The home page is welcoming because it is organized and a viewer can quickly find necessary links. It includes a slideshow of the latest news with encouraging pictures of people living with multiple sclerosis. These scrolling news stories are meant to motivate viewers to find out more about NMSS, either for themselves or for others. It also includes easy to find links for joining the NMSS movement as well as resources for those newly diagnosed, those currently living with the disease as well as information for friends and family of those living with multiple sclerosis. These links motivate all people touched by multiple sclerosis to learn more about finding a cure and creating high quality of life for those living with this disease. To this end, the links are well organized and easy to find and navigate. There are enough links that desired information is easy to find. Finally, NMSS includes a search link to increase the ability of viewers to find what they are looking for (NMSS, 2008). The graphics on the home page are included with the latest news stories so they can be considered accurate. The website doesn’t rely on many graphic but the ones they include are relevant to the different topics being discussed on the different pages. There are many links designed to motivate people to get involved and learn more about NMSS, including stories of those suffering from the disease, â€Å"Walk for MS,† â€Å"Bike for MS† and an MS fact of the day. These activities are designed to provide additional information that can contribute to quality of life as well as educate people about finding a cure (NMSS, 2008). This website is easy to use for anyone, including disabled people. NMSS doesn’t pity those suffering from multiple sclerosis. The entire mission of NMSS is to help people with the disease live a normal life. It is sensitive to the different needs of people with multiple sclerosis but it certainly doesn’t portray any type of pity. In fact, it works to promote independence and dignity for those living with the disease. It offers a wide variety of resources designed to show those with multiple sclerosis how to live normal lives. Different experiences from different people living with the disease are included in the Online Community. This is a place to post and read individual and personal stories of other people living with multiple sclerosis. These real life examples show others how similar these people really are. Individuals with multiple sclerosis can live relatively normal lives for many years before the disease progresses to the point of disabling a person. If a person with multiple sclerosis didn’t tell others that he or she had the disease it would remain a secret, often for a very long time. In this way, people with multiple sclerosis are very similar to everyone else. The education sections of the website provide further information to show students how similar people with multiple sclerosis are but also to educate them about the differences and what they mean (NMSS, 2008). One suggestion for the website would be to increase the personal stories included. There are only a few posted currently and offering more real life experiences would further the motivation of people living with multiple sclerosis. Additional learning activities geared specifically towards students would go a long way towards helping people understand multiple sclerosis and how it affects friends and family members. The current layout is very easy to navigate so change wouldn’t be necessary. In fact, adding more links would contribute to more confusion while navigating the site. There is so much information currently available on the website and it is condensed into a few links so that viewers don’t have to spend so much time trying to find what they are looking for. Additional links are included in each major link to further narrow the focus of a search. This type of layout makes information easily accessible. A final suggestion would be to include translation into more languages as NMSS promotes diversity and providing important information to more people would only further their mission towards finding a cure. NMSS. (2008). National Multiple Sclerosis Society. † Retrieved on December 13, 2008 from http://www. nationalmssociety. org/index. aspx.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Lazzaro Spallanzani :: essays research papers

Lazzaro Spallanzani Lazzaro Spallanzai, was the Italian physiologist who was one of the founders of experimental biology. Born in Scandiano, a small town in the providence of Emilia on Jan. 12, 1729 , Spallanzani was among the many dedicated philosophersof the eighteeth century (Lazzaro...1). His main scientific interests were biological and was a master at mircoscopy,but he also looked into problems of physics,chemistry, geology, and meteorology, and volcanology (Gillispie,1). After attending a local school, Spallazani went at afe fifteen to a Jesuit seminary in Reggio Emilia where he dominated in rhetoric, philosophy, and languages. He left Reggio Emilia in 1749 to study jurisprudence at the ancient University of Bologna, where he expanded is education in mathematics, chemistry, natural history, and aquired a knowledge of French (Asimov,1). For three years he worked toward his docterine in law. In 1753 or 1754 he became a doctor of philosophy. Then, he recieved instructions in metaphysics and theology and took minor orders. Within a few years he became a priest and added himself to two congregations in Modena (Gillispie,2). Spallanzani, in hundreds of experiments tested various rituals for rendering infusions permanently barren and finally found that they remained free of microorganisms when put into flasks that were sealed and the contents boiled for one hour (Lazzaro...1).The entrance of air into the flask through a slight crack in its neck was Patel 2 followed infusoria. He reported no spontaneous generation in strongly heated infusions protected from aerial contamination. In 1765, after cutting up thousands of earthworms and exploiting the ability of the aquatic salamander to regrow its tail, he resolved to investigate reproductive phenomena in animals ans plants(Gillispie,3). He proved this by cuting theworms the area that affected the segmental regenerative response. Amputation of the tailwas followed by vascularization of the transparent growing stump. He also established the general law that in susceptible species inverse ratio obtains between the regenerativecapacity and age of the animal. Lazzaro launched countless experiments relating to infusion animalcules and "spermatic worms," with result that soon made chimera of thevegetatice force and undermined the docterine of organic molecules; but these ideasdemanded more attention so they were postponed (Asimove,2). He also found that complex infusoriaare more susceptible to heat and cold than the "infinitely minute" germ of lower class,whose relative resistance he ascribed to their eggs. In 1777 he publicly demonstrated the great force exerted by the gizzards of fowls and ducks in

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Contrasts in the Great Gatsby

Tyler Simms Great Gatsby Essay Accelerated English 11 Mrs. Cameron F. Scott Fitzgerald constructed his novel, The Great Gatsby, by sculpting numerous situation and character contrasts together through out the novel to create and deliver a magnificent work of art. Although Fitzgerald contrasted numerous characters and situations through out the novel, there are three that are very pungent; the characters Tom Buchanan and George Wilson and Daisy Buchanan and Myrtle Wilson. Not only were there Character contrasts, there were also situations that Fitzgerald contrasted against each other. One of them was the contrasting of the concept of the Old Money life style and the New Money life style. Tom and George not only have physical contrast, they also have contrasting lifestyles as well. Among other things, Daisy is very statuesque and â€Å"up-in-the-air† where as Myrtle s pragmatic and â€Å"down-to-earth. † Fitzgerald uses the concept of Old and New Money to contrast lifestyles and characters in the novel. Tom is Old Money, which means he inherited all of his riches from at least two generations into his family and does not flaunt his money. George, on the other hand, is very low class and has to work to provide for himself and his wife, Myrtle, who is committing an affair with Tom. Aside from the money aspect, Tom is â€Å"†¦ a sturdy, straw haired man of thirty with a rather hard mouth and a supercilious manner† (Fitzgerald 11). It is also made clear by Fitzgerald that Tom beats his wife and Myrtle, giving him the element of being robust and controlling. George is a pushover from the time he is introduced until he makes a decision that ruins everything for some, and revised for others. Tom deceived George into believing that he is going to sell him a car, with no intention of doing so, but with every intension of seeing Myrtle. Not only is he a pushover, he is very gaunt with not even half the audacity of Tom. Tom's audacity and ill temper hurt the people around him, particularly Daisy and Myrtle. Their personalities are very much apart from each other. Myrtle is a very forward-looking person who knows {text:soft-page-break} what she wants in life, she is endowed with a strong character and vitality which distinguishes her from Daisy. Daisy's superficiality extends to her personality. She is fragile, unstable and a confused character. While talking to Nick she said: â€Å"†¦ I woke up with an abandoned felling and asked the nurse right away if it was a boy or a girl. She told me it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and wept. ‘Alright,' I said, ‘I'm glad it's a girl. And I hope she'll be a fool-that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful fool† (Fitzgerald 21). They also married their husbands for different reasons. Myrtle says she married George because she thought he was a gentleman. She also thought he knew about good â€Å"breeding. † On the other hand, Daisy married Tom because rich girls had to marry into money and good social status. Marrying Tom, Daisy married into the Old Money life style. The people who live by the Old Money lifestyle inherited all of their riches from at least two generations back in the family. They also don't flaunt their money with buying and having extravagant cars, houses, parties etc. Fitzgerald differentiates Old Money and New Money by placing them on separate sides of Manhattan. Old Money on East Egg and New Money on West Egg. Tom and Daisy live on East Egg and prefer small get-togethers. Tom and Daisy had a party and the only people who were invited were Nick and Jordan. Whereas Gatsby, who lives in West Egg and is New Money, has very extravagant parties every weekend. By seven o'clock the orchestra has arrived-no thin five piece affair but a whole pit of oboes and trombones ad saxophones and violas and cornets and piccolos and low and high drums† (Fitzgerald 44). The contrast of the two lifestyles along with the characters brings the novel to a whole new level of interest. It also makes the story more interesting. Any novel that contrast any two or more subjects from with in itself, such as two or more characters or different life styles, is indeed a work of art. {text:soft-page-break} Works Cited Page Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Simon and Schuster Inc. , 1953.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Water Refilling Station Business Guide Essay

One of the fast expanding business in Manila, and in most Metro cities nationwide, is the water refilling station. It’s mushrooming on every street corner, because a lot of people in urban areas prefer to get their drinking water from these water stations, it’s simply clean and safe to drink. Over the years, as the demand for cleaner water becomes higher, the price of household water purifiers and bottled water has become prohibitive. Water refilling stations managed by private entrepreneurs offer a cheaper and more convenient solution to the public’s drinking water needs than bottled water or the use of household filters. Water Refilling Station THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE Introduction Purified water is water from any source that is physically processed to remove its impurities. Distilled water and de-ionized water has been the most common forms of purified water. Water can also be purified by other processes like reverse osmosis, carbon filtration, microfiltration, ultra filtration, ultraviolet oxidation, electro dialysis and/or etc. Mineral water is water containing minerals or other dissolved substances that alter its taste or give it therapeutic value, generally obtained from a naturally occurring mineral spring or source. Dissolved substances in the water may include various salts and sulfur compounds. The more minerals in drinking water, the harder it is said to be; water with few minerals is described as being soft. Distilled water is water that has many of its impurities removed through distillation. Distillation involves boiling the water and then condensing the steam into a clean container. A few years ago, there were only a few water refilling plants her e in Cagayan De Oro City. Those are of which are still famous to the public like Nature Spring and Wilkins. Wilkins was one of those who didn’t do a good job on capitalizing on their market superiority. Unlike Nature Spring who seems like un-formidable in the market today holding big investments in large companies. The Cagay-anons realized  the need for this necessity, entrepreneurs invested on it seeking to get a modest share of the market and looking for different kinds of cracks and niches in the market. This was the start of a very competitive and very aggressive marketing and business war, which one could relate to it as a never ending dog battle. As more people entered the market, the more competitive it has begun. Currently, according to the only jug supplier here in Cagayan De Oro, there are already more than 100 water refilling companies here in Cagayan De Oro alone. One of the early people who ventures in this great†¦ Basic Feasibility Study A. Capital Investment 1. Water Refilling Machine – P 250,000.00 2. Renovation or new store at least 20sqm size – 75,000.00 3. Delivery vehicle (motorcycle with carrier or multi-cab) – 75,000.00 4. Business permit & other legal docs (DTI, Mayor’s permit, Water testing, etc.) – 10,000.00 5. Initial Supplies /miscellaneous – 31,750.00 a) 150 Bottles slim – 18,750.00 b) 50 Bottles round – 7,500.00 c) heat gun- 2,500.00 d) Stickers – 3,000.00 6. Others – 8,250.00 Total = P 450,000.00 Note: Actual investment may increased or decreased depends on your actual resources, example: a.) less amount for the delivery vehicle if you already have existing or you can buy 2nd unit. b.) less amount for the store building if you have existing. c.) increase or decrease amount on refilling equipment, depends on what type of water product you wants to sell ( e.g. Mineral is only P150,000.00 etc.) B. Sales Income Check market price per 5 gal. container. Price may vary depends on the area what type of water product you want to sell: Mineral Water – P20 ~ P25 per container Purified Water – P30 ~ P35 per container Alkaline Water – P45 ~ P50 per container PI Water – P200 ~ P250 per container B1. Monthly Sales – P39,000.00 1ST 2 Months: Target is at least 50 containers /day (50 containers x P30.00 selling price x 26days) B2. Monthly Expenses – P15,600.00 1. Manpower/salaries – P 500/ day or P 9,100.00 /mo. 1 driver – P200 /day 1 re-filler – P150 /day 2. Electric bill – P3,500.00 3. Phone bill – 500.00 4. Transportation / gas allowance – 1,500.00 5. Consumables and others – 1,000.00 B3. Net Profit- P23,400.00 (Gross Sales – Gross expenses = Net Profit) Note: You cannot compute your monthly sales based from your machine capacity (GPD Gallon Per Day) like other vendor’s computation, simply because you cannot sold 200 bottles a day in the first 2 months operation of your business unless you’re already operating for a year and you already established your customers in your area. Executive Summary This study covers the proposed system of Best Blue Water Refilling Station. Since the company started, the proponents noticed that the company is using manual based operation towards their inventory and point of sale. Mainly pertaining to the untimely processing of their data and information reliability which is a concern when it comes to the processing of their existing system. POS and Inventory system of Best Blue Water Refilling Station was designed by the proponents to solve some issues of day to transaction by using the old  way or the manual system. Like to avoid redundancy, damage of saved documents when some liquid spills on it, and some other problems brought by human error. It would be easy for the personnel to keep and retrieve data in times of adding some detail to the customer’s account or when needed. Manual searching and scanning of documents will no longer necessary for it will only cause delay in transaction and delay in coming in of sales every day sales. The proponents have provided tables, figures and diagram for formal understanding and proper explanation about the proposed system. It will guide the owner and the other readers about the flow of the said system. It also shows how big profit the owner would get. Chapter I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Project Contex The Best Blue water refilling station will experience a new way of recording their sales, easy to use and accurate. They will just encode their sales, in this way the company will improve and it will not make them spend more time in searching and recording files. The information is retrievable anytime and the owner and employees will benefit from it. 1.2 Purpose & Description The proposed system focuses on how to lessen the computing time, removethe manual process and avoid computational mistakes. Search the customer’s record by encoding the complete name (last name, first name).