Impact of Ebusiness on an Organisation

Impact of Ebusiness on an Organisation 1.1 Introduction: The purpose of this project is to provide research findings of the impact of e-business on a particular organisation. The research carried out in this project was based on the performance of Ocado an online grocery company and being online business how this company differentiate itself from other companies in the same industry and get advantages of e-business in this modern era of technology. 1.2 Why e-business: Businesses that are run on the internet or uses information and communication technology to improve efficiency and profitability are known as e-businesses. The impact of e-business on an organisation is seems to me different and logical topic. It is different because it changes the living styles of people and effects the social lives of people. Going through research on this topic I can learn a lot of new things on the infrastructure of e-business and way of doing e-business. Due to technological boom e-business is the future of businesses. It would let me figure out the competitive advantage of e-business on traditional one and potential of change in social behaviour of people. The choice of this topic helps me to apply my academic knowledge and improve my communication and analytical skills and helps me to improve professional career. This topic not only provide me impact on one organisation but will also tell me how global businesses change due to technological revolutions. 1.3 Company Profile: Ocado is a British online retailer specialising groceries. Ocado is partly owned by John Lewis partnership pension fund. Ocado is a limited company was founded in 2002 by Jonathan Faiman, Jason Gissing and Tim Steiner, former Goldman Sachs merchant bankers. Ocado has a number of own brand products from Waitrose supermarket chain and also name brand groceries and items like toys, flowers and magazines. Since 2002 Ocado has been making losses even though it has won customer service awards in the UK. Ocado was listed on London Stock Exchange on July 2010 and is member of FTSE 250 Index. The company is operating on a warehouse model deprived of physical stores and operating as an online business. Ocado operates in Englands South East, South Coast, Midlands, North West and most of the Yorkshire. (http://www.ocadogroup.com/about-us/history.aspx) To revolutionise the way people shop forever, by giving them a uniquely innovative and greener alternative to traditional grocery shopping. (http://www.ocadogroup.com/en/about-us/mission-statement.aspx) Ocado is an online business; it has also launched iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Android device applications which are most convenient way to shop for groceries. People do not require desktop PCs or laptops to shop online; they can use their phones to shop for groceries. Ocado allows its customers to price match with other main grocery stores in the UK. Ocado has launched online price match with its competitor store Tesco. Ocado is one of the rapidly growing online businesses in the UK with delivery area expanded to cover over 10m households. 1.4 Industry Profile: Online grocery retailing remains in its infancy with both demand and the proposition often limited in many countries. In the UK, online represents just 2.6% of the total UK grocery market. Nevertheless, with increasing broadband penetration and shopper lifestyles continuing to change, the internet looks set to become more important as a grocery retail channel in 2010. (http://www.igd.com/index.asp?id=1fid=1sid=8tid=30cid=1499) The value of the UK online grocery market to have grown by 85% from  £2bn in 2006 to  £3.7bn in 2009. Online is set to play a greater role in future grocery shopping patterns. We predict that the value of the online grocery market will nearly double in size to  £7.2bn by 2014, with a forecast annual growth rate more than three times faster than that of the wider grocery sector. Many online shoppers pick from a shortlist of favourites although more than nine in ten can be swayed to try something new. More than six in ten (62%) online shoppers mentioned that they would try something new if they could select a free sample. Other preferred tactics include better or more offers listed at the top of the page, offers on linked products and more prominent displays and descriptions of new products. However, although shopping online for groceries has become increasingly popular over the last few years, this section of shoppers represents less than one in four of those who buy goods and services online. This means there is a significant opportunity for grocery retailers to expand their online sales. (http://www.igd.com/index.asp?id=1fid=6sid=25tid=90cid=1409) 1.5 Aims and Objectives of the Report: To analyse the impact of e-business on Ocado and how the online business approach change the behaviour and motivation of people. One of the main aims of this report is to evaluate and compare the growth and financial performance of Ocado with other traditional grocery shopping organisations. Following are objectives of this report: To understand how Ocados online business approach progresses in order to achieve the revenue and market share. To analyse the financial performance of the Ocado and compare it with other supermarket retail industry. What are the potentials and limitations to the future growth of the online shopping businesses? Part 2: Information gathering and accounting/business techniques Sources Used: Primary data is original data that has been collected by a researcher by whatever means appropriate in the answer of a specific research question. i.e. it has been collected specifically for the Research Report.  Examples of primary data include questionnaires, interviews, e-mail contacts and surveys. (http://www.accaglobal.com/students/bsc/rap/gathering) Due to immediate surge in information technology industry, there is sufficient amount of secondary data available which has been used in this report. This data suffices all aspects of this report. Therefore most of my research is based on secondary data. Secondary data is data which has been collected by other people or organisations for their own purposes and researcher has used this data for different purposes. My secondary data consists of two main sources of collection: Library research: I went to local and college library and searched for several types of books and extract my project related material and used it in my report. BPPs Success in your research and analysis project provided the platform to sketch out broad counters of this research. The study text materials of ACCA (published by both BPP and Kaplan) has helped me to apply analytical techniques and also taught me how to evaluate my research findings. I also used articles published in ACCA student accountant relating my project which also helped me in meeting the goals of the project. Online research: Major parts of my research are based on material available online. This also shows impact of online on our research and daily use of communication. I find it quite credible to find online research material for a web based company. Following are the websites and search engines used to collect the information; Ocado limited website; this site provide the useful and more reliable information necessary for my project. This site provide me the audited annual reports of the company, company profile, history, investor information and other important information required. Competitors websites used for same purposes as mentioned above. ACCA website provide the help to find out the relative articles which I used to analyse the information. The food and grocery experts igd.com provides the statistical data about industry, surveys about trends in industry and its future. London Stock Exchange and NASDAQ websites provide the news about the industry, historic share performance competitors and surveys. Google, Yahoo and Bing are search engines used to find information about Ocado, retail industry and e-business techniques. Other websites used to find the news about Ocado , online grocery businesses, surveys and competitors are: Financial Times The Guardian BBC news 2.2 Methods of Analysis: To emphasize the impact of e-business on Ocado and to make comparison of its results in all business and financial aspects, results of Waitrose plc will be used. The objectives of the project are based on Ocados business approach and what make in it differentiate from other businesses, thus the report is based on the following aspects: Porters Generic Strategies. Consisting of three types of strategies to maintained and achieved competitive advantage by the businesses. Two strategies lie in the strategic strength, is a supply side dimension and focus on product differentiation and product cost. Third strategy lies in the strategic scope in the demand side dimension concentrate on the particular size and composition of the market. SWOT Analysis. It is strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats involved in an organisation. It analyse the external and internal factors of the organization that are favourable or unfavourable to achieve that organizations objectives. PEST Analysis. It is tool of environmental analysis, especially concentrates on macro environment which includes Political, Economic, Social culture and Technological factors. Trend Analysis. Using the past data to predict the future outcomes in the industry. B2C and B2B. Business 2 Customer includes customer service and interface design while Business 2 Business includes channel partner and system integration. Sales Growth. This will analysis the trend of sale over the past years and comparison with competitors. Profitability. The comparison of the profitability to past years and competitors and ability to generate profits. ROCE (Return on Capital Employed). Use to analysis the organization return on long term investment. Gross/Net Profit Margin. These ratios analyse the organizations operational efficiency, its costing policy and ability to control cost. Capital Gearing Ratios. Analyse the capital structure of the organization and reveal how much an organization relies on debt financing. Investor outlook. The return to shareholders compare with other organizations. Earnings per Share. This ratio shows the profit attributable to each individual share. 2.3 Limitations of Analysis: In order to analyse impact of e-business on an organisation, it is critical to make sure the sustainability of information technology remains constant in the industry. In todays environment as every organisation and governments are dependent on information technology, it is inevitable to some human error. From internet perspective selling online is quite new business as it only has 2.6% share in the whole retail industry. This information could change as new competitors introduce new business techniques which could impact this particular organisation. Some of the information taken from surveys has limitations as buying online grocery is quite newly introduced phenomena for British people and the information is not quite mature. Financial information use in this analysis has inherent limitations which include estimates and figures that are highly influenced by personal decisions. Financial statements are prejudiced by the choice of accounting policy e.g. a company seeking to improve its ROCE may choose not to revalue its assets. Financial statements have past data; it is not feasible to predict future on the basis of this data. In SWOT analysis there is problem for companies to identify the elements of their own organization e.g. strengths appears to one person can have different meaning for other. Ratios we used in our analysis also have inherent limitations. Firstly ratios are derived from financial statements that also have several limitations. Ratios are only useful when compared with the past results of the business and judge the performance of the business but the future forecast may not correct because several other factors also involved like market condition, etc. also the ratios have to be interpreted and different people may interpret differently. 2.4 Methodology used: Data collection is an important part of the project that should be planned and carried out and is completed in a well way for consideration. We have access to a lot of reliable and relevant information both online with easy access to internet and offline. Planning is completed and appropriate extraction of data provides help to develop good content of the reports. The method of search used is the Google search engine. By writing some key words in the search bar and clicking the entre it provides me the so many links of the websites that match with the key words. Most of the links are relevant to my search and contains a lot of information but some links are irrelevant to my research. However I am able to extract the relevant information suitable in the preparation of my project. Offline search include reading the books and journals and see if some information suitable for my report, make a note of it and use it later in my report. I done research thoroughly in advanced and bookmarks the relevant articles and websites using the web browsers because it could be needed to me for the citation of information if chosen to be quoted in my report. Using the study text materials (both Kaplan and BPP) to calculate the financial ratios and in their interpretation. Financial Statements of Ocado and Waitrose are downloaded from their respective websites. MS Excel was used for the graphical explanation of the ratio and trend analysis. Part 3: Analysis and Presentation 3.1 SWOT Analysis: Strengths: Broad range of products Contract with Waitrose Customer proposition Weaknesses: Dependence on UK market Loss making Opportunities: UK online retail industry Non food Threats: Future acquisitions Competitors Fraud STRENGHTS Broad range of products: In addition to its current area of strategic focus, the company intends to investigate growth opportunities by improving the customer offering continually through maintaining and improving the customer experience; increasing its core product range; and continuing to offer value to customers (Annual Report 2009, Ocado limited). Ocado sells more than 20,000 different products, the vast majority of which are sourced through Waitrose, a leading high quality UK supermarket. Approximately 4,300 of the products sold by Ocado are Waitrose-branded products. Ocados product range includes a small but expanding range of Ocado branded products (Ocadogroup.com, Strategic Overview). Choices of the different range of products enable the customers to buy the products that match their lifestyles and are within their budget. Also the availability of every type of product on one channel increases the chances of sale because customer did not want to go elsewhere if he find everything on one place. It helped consumers to spend less without compromising on choice or quality. Contract with Waitrose: The Companys reputation is based at least in part on its relationship with Waitrose and its ability to supply Waitrose branded products. If Waitrose ceased to supply the Company with products or if Waitrose were to suffer reputational damage which impacted on the Waitrose brand there could be an adverse effect on the Companys financial position and future prospects. The Company has a successful symbiotic relationship evolved over 10 years and has recently agreed a new branding and sourcing agreement until 2020. The Company is not dependant on the Waitrose supply chain as 85% of items sold are now sourced directly from suppliers. In May 2010, a new 10 years deal was signed with Waitrose (Annual Report 2009, Ocado Ltd). There were some rumours about Ocado and its 10 years contract with Waitrose. Previous contract signed for 10 years were with Waitrose was about to end and if this contract will not renewed it can cause big problems for Ocado because in 2010 Ocado is going to listed on London Stock Exchange. But in May 2010 deal with Waitrose was signed for 10 years in which there is a non-competition agreement with Waitrose and with Waitrose likely to extend its delivery services to highly lucrative M25 region. Customer proposition: Ocado offers delivery of grocery products to customers centrally picked from a single, state-of-the-art, highly automated warehouse (the customer fulfilment centre or CFC) (Ocadogroup.com, Strategic Overview). Customer satisfaction is part of every business, Ocado uses its unique strategy the customer fulfilment centre (CFC) in which Ocado make sure the availability of products, freshness of products and wide range of products. Sanford C. Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference Europe 2010 Presentation, Ocado Ltd, shows; 99.4% fulfilment accuracy and product availability given structural advantages. 97.6% of orders delivered on time or early. Structural advantages allow Ocado to guarantee freshness and use-by dates. WEAKNESSES Dependence on UK market: Although Ocado is still expanding its business to the other parts of the country and it is probable that Ocado will make profit in near future. But the company is fully reliant on the UK retail industry, any changes in the UK retail industry or changes in UK economic conditions like recessions can affect the Ocados growth. Increased competition also affects the sale growth of the company. Loss making: Ocado is making losses since it was corporate. However, the last three year results shows that it is improving towards profits like in 2007 Ocado incurred the loss of  £40m, in 2008  £33m and in 2009 Ocado incurred the loss of  £23m, the reason for this losses is the expansion of Ocados operations around the UK. Due to large investment in expansion of operations, Ocado loses the confidence of investors and its share price decreases dramatically. The company and its advisers have been promoting the impression that the company will be valued at around  £1 billion after raising some  £200 million in the planned float, but many analysts, of course not those closely involved with the offer, are highly critical of this valuation (http://www.moneyobserver.com/news/10-07-01/ocado-and-fairfield-energy-ipos-under-spotlight). OPPORTUNITIES UK Online retail industry: UK grocery retail industry is largest industry with the sales revenue of  £146bn, while the online grocery business has only 2% of the total sales revenue. UK Online grocery sales (2007-14),  £bn (Sanford C. Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference Europe 2010 Presentation, Ocado Ltd) These figures show the opportunities for Ocado in online retail industry to grab the sales because online retail industry looks highly opportunistic. Non-food: Extended the business in non-grocery products are part of the Ocados future developments. The potential of growth in non-grocery products is much more than grocery items, so there is an opportunity for Ocado to increase its sales revenue by extending the business in non-grocery items. As Ocado is online grocery business, only 2% of total retail shopping comprises of grocery, while 98% consist of other non-grocery items. THREATS Future acquisition: Ocado plans to expand its business all over the UK. It has many opportunities for the business but along this it also has the threats to business. Ocado is making losses since it is incorporate this is because of its acquisition strategy but if it still applied same strategy, Ocado will be in great trouble. It loses investors confidence due to high level of borrowings. If Ocado uses same strategy, it will be run out of cash for their operations. Competitors: The retail grocery industry is highly competitive and the online market place is no different. Ocado has an established business model and superior customer proposition. The proprietary IP and experience gives Ocado a competitive advantage. A clear strategy is in place to widen the customer base by improving online experience, customer service, product range and pricing, and reducing environmental impact (Annual Report 2009, Ocado Ltd). Ocado operates in a highly competitive retail market. With other supermarkets struggling for position in the UK retail market, Ocado invested in price cuts and discount promotions in order to stay competitive. This will affect the Ocados sales revenue and profits. Especially in recession, when customers are looking for low price products, price cuts could result in the decline of industry profitability. Price cuts also have an adverse effect on the perception of customers for the quality of products; this can damage the brand image of Ocado. Fraud: The risk of fraud from staff is less due to the nature of the business; IT procedures are in place to reduce this risk to further. Whatever the precautions are put in place to avoid the fraud but the we cannot reduce it to zero. There are potential threats of security breakdowns on their websites for online businesses. For Ocado major threat is the loss of sales due to credit card frauds. 3.2 PEST Analysis: Political: Ocado operate in United Kingdom, it provide it the stable political environment. Ocado can make long term decisions and this also guarantees Ocado a large range of economic actions. Political stability and strong economy provides the Ocado to get customer confidence and improve its operations. Economic: Economy plays a vital part in the operations of the Ocado. Economic conditions of the country influence the supply, demand, costs, prices and profits of the company. Due to recession in the world, UK along with other countries face the unemployment, this affects the demand and profit levels of the company. Sales growth decreases due to global recession, especially the sales of non food items are highly affected by this recession as people avoid the purchase of non essential items. Social: The social influence on the business of Ocado has been more important over the past few years. This is because the behaviour of people is changing towards grocery shopping. Due to lack of time and busy life, customers prefer to purchases in bulks and on one shop. Trend of online shopping has also been increased and this is beneficial for the Ocado. Ocado has different timing slots for deliveries suitable for customers according to their routine. Technological: Due to the nature of the business, technological factors have significantly influenced the Ocado. Recent technological advancements has revolutionised the organisations and changes the way of doing businesses. Online shopping saves the time of the busy people. Through introduction of technology it eliminates the need for paperwork and reduces the cost of administration work. 3.3 Porters Generic Strategies: Ocado aims to have a market leading customer proposition. Ocado introduced branded product to lower the prices of own label products sold (customer proposition, Ocado Ltd). Porter identified three generic strategies to take the advantage of competitive forces like cost leadership, differentiation and focus strategies. According to porters generic strategies Ocado comes under the cost leadership, where it is trying to compete with the market by lowering the cost. It launches Tesco price match for customers to compare prices with Tesco before purchase. However Ocado is not wholly dependent on one strategy because customer often seeks more than price satisfaction. They look for product quality, style and timely deliveries. Ocado competed his competitors by providing the customers high quality of products, availability of products and delivering the products to customers on time. We use smart thinking and cutting-edge technology to keep honing our uniquely efficient delivery model. This helps us to drive down prices and guarantee exceptional value for money. We have a passion for delivering quality groceries in perfect condition and on time, while treating our customers with care and honesty. This helps us to share our vision of a different way of shopping: a better, greener and more convenient one (Mission Statement, Ocado Ltd). PIMS (Profit impact of marketing strategy) data and other surveys show, that the intermediary positions are indeed profitable and therefore successfully exploited by many firms. (Michael Cronshaw, Evan Davis and John Kay (1994), pp. 19-33) 3.4 B2B and B2C: Both terms are used with reference to the internet technology and commonly applied in e-businesses. Business 2 Business largely concern itself with supply chain management and allows the business to directly contact with the suppliers and distributors. While business 2 consumer concern the relationship between the customer and the supplier. It primarily concern to sell goods to end consumers. All such businesses are online businesses and Ocado is the best example for such type of relationships. In business 2 business Ocado use the internet for searching products catalogues, ordering from suppliers, making invoices and making online payments. In business 2 consumer Ocado uses its website to offer customers a wide range of products, providing information about prices of the products, delivery timing and everything they want to know about the products, offers and Ocado. 3.5 Trend Analysis: [The entire figures used below are taken from the annual reports of Ocado Ltd, Tesco and Waitrose (johnlewis partnership) 2007-2009 unless otherwise stated.] Purchase frequency: The online market is dominated by those buying on a relatively infrequent basis. On average online grocery shoppers use the channel twice per month Three in ten (30%) only shopped online on a very occasional basis e.g. in an emergency or for special occasions such as Christmas Only one in six (15%) online grocery shoppers had a heavy reliance on online and shopped once a week or more frequently Most online shoppers fall into the regular/top-up group A third (34%) buy food and groceries online every 3-4 weeks One in five (21%) purchased slightly more frequently, once every 1-2 weeks (Online grocery shopping, igd.com) Key Financial Performance Indicators: Average order size ( £): The average size of the order was increased in 2008 from  £112.17 to  £116.3 which indicated the attraction of consumers toward the online shopping. In 2009 the average order size is slightly low than the previous years but this did not mean the reduction of people trends towards online shopping because if order size decreases in this year on one hand on the other side the sales growth increases by 25% in this year. Average number of orders/week: The increase in number of orders in 2008 is 12% higher than the previous one while in 2009 the increase is 25% per week. This shows the sales of the Ocado increases and Ocado has the potential the to expand his business in the growing market of online shopping business. Average % product wastage: The average percentage of product wastage of Ocado decreases continuously from 2007 to 2009. This is because of the increased efficiency of the operations of the Ocado and handling its products more effectively. Another reason for low wastage is the usage of the new technologies and less involvement of manual handlings. CO2 Emission: Ocado has taken actions to lower its carbon footprint and reduce its environmental impact include: closed-loop grocery bag recycling, whereby when making a delivery, drivers offer to collect used bags from customers which are recycled within the UK to make new Ocado grocery bags; wasting significantly less food as a percentage of gross sales than any of its competitors; and signing up to the Climate Change Agreement (with the Carbon Trust), which places certain obligations on management to monitor and lower carbon usage. Ocado has co-developed two prototype electric powered vans, which are currently completing testing before being introduced into Ocados delivery fleet. (Environmental awareness, Ocado Ltd) CFC Efficiency: The customers fulfilment centre (CFC) efficiency increases over the period of time. This efficiency has been achieved by the introduction of highly automated warehouses and less involvement of manual work. The company is willing to expand the CFC capacity by building the second CFC and the spoke network in the near future. Green business: Being green is part of Ocados business model. This has been recognised in various awards.Ocado was voted Green Retailer of the Year 2009 in The Grocer Gold Awards, Large Retailer of the Year 2008 in the Online Green Awards and won Ethical/Green Practice 2009 at the IMRG E-Commerce Awards for Excellence. A traditional supermarket requires deliveries first to be made to a regional distribution centre and then to the supermarket itself. Customers then often drive to the supermarket in order to shop, and the supermarkets themselves require energy to be lit and heated and tend to have open fridges and freezers in an otherwise ambient environment.   Ocado delivers straight from the CFC to a customers kitchen, which eliminates much of the carbon emissions generated by traditional supermarkets and their stores, and also reduces the number of cars on the road. Each Ocado delivery van replaces a significant number of car journeys every day. (Environmental awareness, Ocado Ltd) 3.6 Ratio Analysis: Sales Growth: The sales revenue of the Ocado has been increasing since 2007. The sales revenue in 2007 was  £273m while in 2008 it was  £321m an increase of 15% was being recorded. Not only this also in 2009 the sales revenue of Ocado was  £402m with an increase of 25% than the previous one. When we compare the sales growth of Ocado with its competitor Waitrose, the sales growth is 7% and 5% in 2008 and 2009 respectively. Waitrose sales growth percentage is not even half of the Ocados percentage and we can analyse that people purchase the same products online rather than going to stores for it. The increase in the sales revenue of Ocado has been seen since it was incorporate this is because the behaviour of people towards the online shopping is being changed with the passage of time and as the grocery industry hides in itself a lot of potential to make profit. Ocado achieved this by using its long term strategies and by introducing customer fulfilment centre in which Ocado emphases on the ne eds of the customers. (Annual reports 2007-2009,Ocado Ltd) Gross profit margin: The gross profits of Ocado seem to be remaining same over the past few years although the sales revenue of the company increases over the period. This is because the company keep its prices same to keep its customers to pay less in the period of recession. In 2009 the gross profit margin of the Ocado decreases from 32% to the 30.6%, the reason for this is further decrease in the selling price without any decrease in costs of the products. It happened because Ocado launches its price match campaign with Tesco and Sainsbury. It is also due to the reason

Service Desk :: Personal Narrative Writing

Service Desk I find myself working at the Service Desk about noon on a Sunday afternoon. The  ³Church Rush ² has begun. People with their three piece suits and Sunday dresses on all come to shop. Then this gentleman and his daughter come in and the dreaded happens. They have a video game, that is opened, with a receipt. One of the toughest situations to deal with. The account, in extreme cases, goes like this:  ³Hi, ² I say.  ³Hello, I ¹d like to return this. Here is the receipt, ² the guest replies. I see that it is  ³Mario Party ² for the Nintendo 64 and it is opened.  ³Okay, I can exchange this for another copy of Å’Mario Party ¹, ² I say.  ³I don ¹t want another copy. It was to difficult for my kid, ² the guest says.  ³Well, due to copyright law issued by the Federal government I cannot refund your money or issue an exchange except for an exact copy of this game, ² I explain.  ³I never have had a problem with returns before at this store, ² the guest tells you.  ³One moment, ² I say as I go get the return policy pamphlet. I then point out the phrase which applies to the situation.  ³Well this says I can return electronics with a receipt, ² says the guest as they point to a different section of the return policy.  ³In certain instances it is that easy, but in this case I can issue you another copy of Å’Mario Party ¹ due to copyright, ² I say.  ³Well, I shop here every week. I buy stuff for home, the office, and gifts. I ¹ve never had a problem before. Are you telling me I just threw away $55?!? ² retorts the guest in an angry manner.  ³I ¹m sorry, would you like to speak with the manager? ² I ask. That phrase is one of my favorite questions in a situation such as this.  ³Yes, I do! ² exclaims the guest. I turn around and pick up the walkie-talkie and call for the Lead on Duty.  ³LOD can you come to the service desk? ² I speak in to the walkie.  ³Be there in a minute, ² the walkie says back with Brian ¹s voice. As I stand there the gentleman ¹s little daughter says in the cutest little voice,  ³If we buy something here and have the receipt we can return it. ² I just look at her then at her father a give a brief smile. The time it takes the LOD to arrive at the service desk seems like an eternity.

Management on Middle Adulthood

Middle adulthood begins at the age of 40 – 60. This is a time when you can†t believe where the time went. It seems like just yesterday you were graduating from college, got married, and had children. Your children are now approaching young adulthood, pushing you into the next stage of life, middle adulthood. You look in the mirror and all the signs of middle age are starting to set in. You notice wrinkles, gray hair, flabby skin and you†re having trouble reading the menu. You begin to reassess you life. Are you happy with what you have accomplished in life so far? Do you have good family relationships? Is your career on track? Are you happy with yourself? There are many conflicts with both men and women during this period of life. One conflict very important to both men and women is the bodily issue. Our body weight starts to change. Fat seems to be redistributed to the hips, stomach and trunk; our complexions become drier and wrinkles start to appear. Our skin doesn†t seem to be as resilient as it was in our 20†³s and 30†³s. In women there is a drop in bone mass, due to the slow depletion of estrogen. Menopause is fast approaching, followed up with all the negative health complications that follow this phase. This is the beginning of a slowness of our psychomotor performance. Our reaction time to specific situations is not as quick, and our physical stamina is not as strong as it used to be. All these developments affect how men and women feel about themselves. Particularly women, begin to interpret these changes in a negative way. Some view themselves as sexually unattractive. Men, on the other hand, don†t seem to be as concerned about their physical appearance, since society has placed much of the physical importance on the women. This is a time where we need to accept these failings and move towards more important issues. This is also a time when men and women become more health conscious. We all know of the major diseases that cause premature deaths during middle adulthood, such as cancer and heart disease. When you†re a young adult, you don†t think about these health issues as you would during middle adulthood. There is more of a concern to take better care of our health, such as heathy diets, cardiovascular activity, resistance training, and not smoking. We might be better prepared for later adulthood, if we lead a healthy lifestyle. We start to realize our mortality. As most people live to be about 85, we realize that at 40, we†re almost half-way there. During this time, there may be turmoil in the family, marital distress, and general dissatisfaction with our lives. Many people during this time go through what we call the â€Å"mid-life crisis†. A mid-life crisis may be caused by many different issues. During the early 30†³s, the woman†s primary duty is child rearing and may also be pursuing a career. Most men focus on their job careers. Sometimes these two people are heading in the same direction, but may be on two different parallel roads. Men may realize their mortality and may express their turmoil and self doubts by reverting to adolescent type behavior. Some men may accept new relations with younger women as a way of dealing with their conflicts. Some women may also suffer from self doubt and their inevitable mortality during their 40†³s, but various studies have indicated that women can manifest a mid-life crisis during their early 30†³s, 40†³s and 60†³s. This is also a time when men and women assess their careers by questioning whether or not they still enjoy their career choices and their achievement in the chosen field. If not, maybe it†s time to make improvements, such as furthering your education, improving intellectually, which will make an individual more marketable. When women go through a mid-life crisis, their crisis evolves around interpersonal relationships in the family rather than aging. Men seem to be more involved with the aging factor. Women may go through the 'empty nest† syndrome. Their children are becoming young adults and leaving the ‘nest†. For some women, that have devoted most of their time to child rearing with a small amount devoted to career, this may be a very difficult time. This leaves just you and your husband. A time for reacquaintance and renewal of your relationship. As we progress into the 40†³s. we also see an emergence of more feminine/masculine aspects of self. Women start to take on a more masculine qualities, such as assertiveness and independence; while men tend to move towards a more calm, intimate status. I have touched upon some of the major conflicts of middle adulthood. For most people this can be a smooth transition and for others there may be difficulties. I believe that the 40†³s – 60†³s is a time to reassess your life, to check and balance, and to go forward to one†s later adulthood.

Back for Christmas Essay

Interpretation The story â€Å"Back for Christmas† was written by a highly skilled modern English writer John Collier (3 May 1901 – 6 April 1980). His stories may be broadly classified as fantasies, but are really sui generis. They feature an acerbic wit and are usually ironic or dark in tone. His distinction is a grotesque with a twist in the end. This author can stands a picture vivid before the eyes of the reader. The title of the story under analysis is short but it excites many associations. On the one hand the text can be connected with a beautiful family holiday, but on the other hand the title sounds mysterious – why BACK for Christmas; in this case anyhow the word â€Å"Christmas† itself already presupposes the idea of cold winter or something bad. The text under the analysis belongs to the psychological type as it is concerned mainly with the mental and emotional lives of the characters. It makes me think of the described problem not once. The subject-matter of the story is a cold-blooded murder committed by a provincial doctor who ironically fails to get rid of his bossy wife. The author tries to show the reader different approaches of men and women to the idea of life. The story describes a difficult period in the relations between husband and wife. The problem, which is touched upon in the text, is the dominance of one of the spouses in the family. The author creates a well-plotted story which is true to life and a realistic representation of spouses’ relations. Compositionally the text falls into the following parts: exposition, narration, denouement, climax, ending. Exposition is revealed that Doctor Carpenter is invited to deliver a course of lectures in the US. At their farewell party Mrs.Carpenter promises the guests to bring her husband back for Christmas ignoring his slight doubt about that. The author makes it quite clear that Hermione Carpenter has always been exceedingly responsible for all arrangements in her husband’s life and career as well as the trip. Narration describes the murder carefully executed by the Doctor, who preten ds to have found a gold chain in the drain, which he uses as a decoy. After hitting his wife with a lead pipe and making sure she is dead, he goes on to dispose of the body. Denouement takes place when the first obstacle to the Doctor’s plan arises when he finds out that the water has already been turned off by  Mrs. Carpenter, which causes him to go to the cellar. Then there is a knock on the door, which scares him and brings about despair in the success of the affair. But receiving no response, the neighbours decide to come by later and leave. Climax is when Mr. Carpenter’s endeavours to hide the body in the hole dug beforehand in the cellar, which his wife believed to be a preparation for a new wine bin. The story ends with the Doctor arriving in America to find a letter waiting for him, which turns out to be a receipt for repairs of the wine bin and will inevitably lead to the discovery of his wife’s body. The idea of the text can be formulated like this to show the dominance of one of the spouses and what it can lead. In my opinion this theme is actual, but a little exaggerated. The story is presented from the point of view of a first-person observer. The author presents the characters directly and indirectly. The main character is Doctor Carpenter. According to direct method of characterization we learn that he was a clever, but very strange; it seems to me he is very secretive, and as we see further he is very cruel. The flat character of the story is doctor’s wife – Mrs. Carpenter. She plas dominating role in the family, she is very good housewife, carrying and coherent. She keeps always everything in perfect way. I feel most sympathy for her. The text â€Å"Back for Christmas† is written in a style of fiction. In the beginning of the text we can see the Carpenters; living room that was filled with the close friends who had come to say  «last-minute farewell » – the author used this epithet to show us that their friends would be missing him very much. On the contrary with his wife doctor Carpenter wasn’t sure he would come in time, he thought something could spoil his plans. But his wife à ‚ «beaming at them » said he would be back in England for Christmas. The metaphor is used to reassure everybody to make them believe in this. So, the farewells began. Mrs. Carpenter tried her best to make all the arrangements on the high level and to prove it the author used such epithet as:  «fluting of compliments » and  «marvelous arrangements ». Carpenters were going to drive to Southampton that evening and would embark the following day. They have chosen this kind of transport for more comfortable travelling without any bustle; and to emphasize it the author the used the repetition â€Å"No trains, no bustle, no last minute worries†. So doctor Carpenter has contracted for lecture only three months and certainly he would be a great success in America. His wife Hermione has just tagged a  long him to have some entertainments to see the big cities skyscrapers. Then the author uses repetitions  «No extensions. No wonderful post » that show us that his infirmary needs him. After the farewell dinner the maids washed up all the plat es, come in to say goodbye and were in time to catch the afternoon bus to Devizes. The given story produced a great impression on me. It is full of ironical and sad moments.

Essay: A Visit to the Zoo

A Visit to the Zoo Zoo is a place where all sorts of tame and wild animals are kept. There are birds and beasts which tell us about the flora and fauna of our country as well as foreign countries. It is in this respect a giver of knowledge and information. Delhi zoo is housed in the Purana Kila on the Mathura Road. It has a fine and rare collection of birds and animals from all parts of the world. The zoo is spread over several acres of land. The birds and animals are kept, as far as possible, in their natural surroundings. There is a moat encircling the enclosures of wild animals so that they might not escape.One day I went to the zoo in the company of some of my friends. We bought tickets at the gate, and entered the zoo. First we came upon the enclosure where water fowls were swimming in water. The ducks and drakes were swimming and picking up things thrown to them. We enjoyed their playful antics for some time and moved on. Next we came to the enclosure of the wild animals. There were lions, tigers, and leopards belonging to different countries. The Gir lion of India seemed to be most ferocious. The enclosures smelt of meat, provided to them everyday.In another enclosure were the monkeys. They too, were of several varieties. The ape with a black face seemed to be the most mischievous. He was all the time grinning at the onlookers. The visitors threw parched grams to the monkeys and they seemed to relish it. At a small distance we saw a peacock. It was dancing. I ran to that side. The peacock seemed td be unmindful of the presence of the crowd. Closeby was an enclosure for the deer. It covered a vast area and the deer were roaming about freely- Near to the enclosure we saw a buffalo-like animal.It was the rhino munching some maize plants. It looked dreadful with its sharp horn on the nose. The sight of the rhino at once reminded me of the adventure of Colonel White as given in our text-book of English. On our way back we saw some elephants. They were being u sed for a joy-ride on payment. Lastly, we saw the covered enclosures where birds were flying about. They were of different colours and shapes. Now it was getting dark. The bell rang and we came out. The visit to the zoo added a good deal to our knowledge of birds and beasts.

Political Issues in Emerging Economies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Political Issues in Emerging Economies - Essay Example The Brazilian economy has a strong domestic services sector, which accounts for about 67 percent of the country’s GDP. Major growth areas include insurance, financial intermediation, and retail sales. According to UK Trade and Investment (2012), about 35 million Brazilians moved from Classes D and E to Class C between 2002 and 2012. Consequently, has marked the major economic growth rates, which resulted in a reduction of economic inequalities. In effect, this had an effect of increasing demand from the middle class, an increasing tendency to spend, and provided a major economic opportunity for companies – local and foreign. Partly due to the emerging class of middle class consumers, the Brazilian economy grew by 2.7 percent in 2011, which is lower than the 7.5 percent realised during 2010. Due to these economic changes, there have been efforts that implement policies to contain the increasing inflation since unfavourable global economy has resulted in a retardation of the economy (UK Trade and Investment, 2012). On the other hand, the slowdown contributed to a reduction in basic interest rates in order to boost growth through passing the reductions to consumers and businesses. Importantly, the labour market conditions are relatively favourable, at 6 percent, which is very comparable to the economies lowest. However, local labour regulations are onerous and complex. Therefore, it is important for foreign market entrants to handle them carefully in order to evade costly liabilities. The exchange rate of Brazil was affected to a large extent by the uncertainty in the global economy/ In mid 2012, the Real Dollar slumped from a ratio of 1: 1.73 against the USD to a rate of USD 1: 2.02 (UK Trade and Investment, 2012). In the area of trade, Brazil has remained balanced, but a comparatively closed national economy. The total of trade flows stood at about 25 percent of the economy’s GDP. Brazil’s exports stood at USD 256 billion in 2011 with the major exports being fuel and oil, ores, soybean, transport produce, ethanol, meat, sugar and chemicals. In 2011, the economy’s major consumers were China and US with these two countries representing 17.3 and 10 percent of total exports respectively (UK Trade and Investment, 2012). Other principal consumers include Argentina at 9 percent; Japan at 3.7; and the Netherlands at 5.3 percent. Brazil’s imports stood at USD 226.2 billion for the year 2012. Major imports included chemical products, machinery, automotive parts, oil, electronics, transportation equipment and electrical appliances. The larger

Advertising and Globalization in India Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Advertising and Globalization in India - Essay Example This paper illustrates that every country or region presents unique opportunities and has strategic challenges to multinational businesses about the most effective advertising strategy. Advertising campaigns that work best in a country in Asia such as India may not necessarily have a  similar impact to that in the west such as the U.K. or the U.S. Furthermore, social, economic, and legal factors have a central role as determinant factors of advertisement. This concept forms the basis of a study conducted by Ciochetto in India. Ciochetto investigated the dynamics of advertising development in India in the wake of globalization trend and expanding operations of multinational companies and business. The study focuses on the development of television and satellite advertisement in India as used by multinational companies and businesses. Advertising in contemporary India has experienced notable advancements prompted by trends that emanate from the influence of globalization. Ciochetto e xplores contemporary trends in advertising as related to globalization, with reference to India. It is noteworthy that India has experienced massive developments in the advertising sector since the 1990s. Among the great developments is the expansion in satellite and television as the greatest media of advertising in India. Tabassum discusses the positive implications of the advent of satellite technology to globalization in India. Among the key importance highlighted are the advancements in advertisements through high technology. The advertising sector is subject to notable improvements in the use of technology. Ciochetto outlines the reforms in international advertising in India under the current trends of globalization. Advertising involves diverse aspects of idea presentation, mainly to the target market. Ciochetto also addresses the influence of reforms in the Indian society and culture. The study outlines various environmental factors that affect international advertising in I ndia. The factors include the economy and culture. In addition, the legal and political systems are also considerable factors that influence international advertising in India.