Internal Environmental Scan/ - 950 Words

Assignment 2: Internal Environmental Scan/Organizational Assessment This section provides the opportunity to develop your course project. Conducting an internal environmental scan or organizational assessment, provides the ability to put the strategic audit together. In this course so far you have conducted the following steps toward completing the capstone strategic audit: Identified the organization for your report Interviewed key mid-level and senior level managers Created a market position analysis Conducted an external environmental scan in preparation of your final report and presentation Prepared a preliminary strategic audit In this module you will conduct a comprehensive assessment of the internal environment at your†¦show more content†¦It includes direct examples of relationship to the business strategy. 12 Strategy Clarification: Assess the organization’s understanding of the business strategy through interviews with mid-level and senior managers. Assess their understanding and agreement of the business unit’s value proposition, market position, and competitive advantage (these are inputs from M5: Assignment 1). Assessment of the organization’s understanding of business strategy is clear, complete, and grounded in reason. Examples from the interviews with mid-level and senior managers are used to illustrate or expand ideas. Assessment of the understanding and agreement of the business unit is clear, complete, and grounded in reason. 12 Cultural Assessment: Explain the unwritten rules and shared values that govern behaviors in the organization. Do they act as enablers or blockers to the strategy? For example, is there a culture of information sharing and collaboration that enables the organization to respond quickly across structural boundaries to solve problems for customers? On the other hand, do groups not share important information through informal mechanisms, thus slowing response times? Unwritten rules and shared values in the organization are clearly identified and completely explained. How they influence the organization is described, and specific examples are used to support andShow MoreRelatedEnvironmental Scan Paper1535 Words   |  7 Pagesï » ¿ Environmental Scan Paper Christine Jennings MGT/498 Jacqueline Limonta November 17, 2014 Environmental Scan The concept of environmental scanning is important because of the short term and long term success of a company. This tool helps companies scan, monitor, evaluate, and forecast the internal and external parts of the company. In order to obtain an accurate assessment of the internal and external variables of a company, the business managers would have to use a SWOT analysis to developRead MoreMGT/498 Week Three Individual Environmental Scan Paper1199 Words   |  5 Pages Environmental Scan Paper Craig Clark University Of Phoenix MGT/498 March 9, 2013 Environmental Scan Paper The environment of any organization consists of internal and external factors. An organization should conduct a scan of its environment in order for it to determine development, and a forecast on the factors that may influence the success of the organization. Scanning the environment refers to the possession and utilization of the information that an organization hasRead MoreEnvironmental Scan1153 Words   |  5 Pages Environmental Scan Paper MGT/498 Environmental Scan Paper Environmental scans play a crucial role in the strategic planning process by helping organizations take a look at their competitive advantages and identify ways to sustain the advantages. Wheelen and Hunger (2010) describes environmental scanning as â€Å"the monitoring, evaluation, and dissemination of information from external and internal environments to key peopleRead MoreEnvironmental Scan Paper1539 Words   |  7 PagesEnvironmental Scan Paper MGT/498 July 22, 2015 Environmental Scan Paper The evaluating, monitoring, and disseminating of information from internal and external environments to key people within the corporation is called environmental scanning. (Wheelen and Hunger. 2010) Environmental scanning helps an organization identify relevant factors and use those factors to obtain a competitive advantage within the environment. The author will discuss how an organization creates value and sustainsRead MoreEnvironmental Scan Essay1306 Words   |  6 PagesEnvironmental Scan Dwayne A. Haynes MGT/498 August 12, 2013 Michael Medoro Environmental Scan Internal and external environmental scanning helps shape strategic management and planning. Companies use business strategies to create value and secure competitive advantages. Measurements verify the company’s strategic effectiveness. This essay is a brief overview of the internal and external environmental scans, competitive advantage, value, and measurements used at Wells FargoRead MoreEnvironmental Scan Essays952 Words   |  4 PagesEnvironmental Scan Nanette Guffey MGT/ 498 – Strategic Management Richard Haines September 17th, 2012 Environmental scanning is an organization’s strategic management and is actual important to the corporation. Environmental scanning is getting-together data for the external and the internal of the company.Read MoreAnalysis Of Smokin, Gators Property Management, Inc.871 Words   |  4 Pagesthat our business can be successful for generations only if we continue a Tradition of Trust†, Harney, E, 2015. Environmental Scan The environmental scan of the industry is based on the internal and external sections of the environment. The internal is what a business has influence over and controls that section of the environment. The external part is the opposite of the internal. The business does not have the influence over the section of that environment, nor does it have the ability to controlRead MoreEnvironmental Scan Paper1148 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿ Environmental Scan Paper Shalunda Lester MGT 498 May 2, 2015 Jerome Dausman Environmental Scan Paper Introduction The monitoring, evaluating, and disseminating of information from the external and internal environments is known as environmental scanning. This information goes to key people within the corporation to identify strategic factors and help determine the future of the corporation (Wheelen Hunger). SWOT analysis is the simplest way to conduct environmental scanning. TheRead MoreA Strategic Pl Vision And Mission Statements Essay1366 Words   |  6 Pagesoverall impact a strategic plan can have on a library, it is important to appreciate the various elements which go into making a cohesive plan. In this paper I will look at several elements of a strategic plan: vision and mission statements, environmental scanning, assessments, and discuss how they connect to each other to form a greater whole. When creating a strategic plan, a first step is the creation of a vision of the future for the library. A vision statement will focus on the positiveRead MoreKudler Fine Foods Strategic Plan1695 Words   |  7 Pagesforecasted Income statement and Balance sheet. The forecasted financials of the company pondered that its net revenues is showing tremendous growth. While analyzing this company, the environmental scan was necessarily researched to better realize the current critical situation of the company. This scanning shows internal (strength Weakness) and external environment (Opportunities threats), which reflects that despite of the number of threats faced by the company, Kudler efficiently asserts a

How to Make a Cloud in a Bottle

In the real world, clouds form when warm, moist air is cooled and condenses into tiny water droplets, which collectively make up clouds. You can mimic this process (on a much smaller scale, of course!) by using everyday items found in your home or school to put a cloud in a bottle. What Youll Need: A clear bottle, mason jar, or another see-through container with a lidA dark-colored piece of paperHot waterIceMatches Warning:  Due to the use of hot water, glass, and matches, young children are cautioned not to do this experiment without adult supervision. Getting Started First, rinse your glass to make sure it is clean. (Do not use soap and do not dry the inside.)Add hot water to the jar until it covers the bottom by 1 deep. Then swirl the water around so that it warms up the sides of the jar. (If you dont do this, condensation may immediately occur.) Youve just added one of the key ingredients for cloud formation: water.Take the lid, turn it upside-down (so that it acts as a small dish), and place several ice cubes in it. Place the lid on top of the jar. (After doing this, you may see some condensation, but notice theres no cloud yet.) The ice adds another ingredient needed for clouds to form: the cooling of warm, moist air. Carefully light a match and blow it out. Drop the smoking match into the jar and quickly replace the lid of ice. The smoke adds the final ingredient for cloud formation: condensation nuclei for the cooled water droplets to condense onto.Now look for wisps of cloud swirling inside! To see them better, hold up your dark colored pa per behind the jar.Congratulations, youve just made a cloud! After youve and named it, lift the lid and let it flow out so that you can touch it! Tips and Alternatives For younger children: If you prefer not to use matches, you can substitute air freshener spray in step # 4. Lift the lid of ice, spritz a small amount into the jar, then quickly replace the lid.Advanced: Use a bicycle pump to change the pressure and see even more clouds.  Going further: Try using other sizes of dust particles. Design an experiment to determine the best size of dust particles to use. You could also test different water temperatures. Now that youve learned some basic principles of how clouds form, its time to up your knowledge. Study these cloud photos to learn the ten basic types of clouds and what weather they forecast. Or explore what the many storm clouds look like and mean.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Updated by Tiffany Means

Cosmetic Surgery on Teenagers Essay - 902 Words

1. In the first two texts there are numerous views concerning adolescent cosmetic surgery. Among these views are, for example, Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Research Center for Women and Families, whom are mentioned in both texts. As she is quoted in the second text , Seeking Self-Esteem Through Surgery, an article by Camille Sweeney, posted on New York Times website, January 15 anno 2009, â€Å"They may not be any happier with their new look, then what?†. Said quote depicts quite well the general skepticism that Diana Zuckerman seems to hold in both texts. It generally seems that she is concerned that many teenagers, whom desire cosmetic surgery, may be somewhat rash in their decision to go to such lengths to acquire the modern†¦show more content†¦The fact that she says that she persuaded the surgery to look â€Å"normal† can also be put in context to parts of Diana Zuckerman’s argumentation. 2. The author of text 1, Valerie Ulene, does engage her reader in the subject of cosmetic surgery on several points. Among the mention worthy ways in which she accomplish to engage the reader, is the way she starts the article with a personal angle on the subject. By putting down her own experience with the subject she makes the reader interested in the subject ass well, as the concrete concern about imperfection in the physical appearance is very much common, more or less globally. Furthermore, the way she uses several authorities, for example as the presidents of the National Research Center for Woman and Families and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the text gains certain credibility, though the text is still very much subjective. Said credibility is neither hurt by the fact that Valerie Ulene is a specialist in preventive medicine in Los Angeles. The personal angle, that once again surface in the conclusion to the article is still quite clear succeed in emphasizing the tex ts subjectivity, and leaves a more or less open ending for the reader to form a somewhat personal opinion for them self. It is however still only a somewhat personal opinion, as the subjectivity of the text still is in play. 3. Text 3 concerns a case, where as an AustralianShow MoreRelatedCosmetic Surgery on Teenagers1077 Words   |  5 PagesTeenagers and Comsetic Surgery Joyce Jenkins Com 150 May 30, 2010 Angela Robles Teenagers and Cosmetic Surgery In our society today, what our bodies look like is a big money making thing. Therefore, being a teenager and have plenty of money brings us to having cosmetic surgery done to our beautiful bodies. The three factors that teens should consider when getting cosmetic surgery are peer pressure, the credentials and reputation of the doctor and finally the cost. The peer pressure thatRead MoreTeenagers and Cosmetic Surgery1573 Words   |  6 Pagesmany teenagers. As a result, teenagers from all around the world who are insecure concerning their appearances are more likely to have cosmetic surgery to blend in, to avoid peer harassments, and to stop further inner torments. Keep in mind that plastic surgery and cosmetic surgery are different even though both surgeries are used to fix someone’s physical body. Plastic surgery are used to mend looks that are ruined due to terrible accidents, and is pay by insurance, while cosmetic surgery are usedRead MoreTeenagers and Cosmetic Surgery2278 Words   |  10 PagesSince the year 2007, 1,339,229 cosmetic surgeries have been performed on the age group of 13-19. In a world where people are judged by their physical appearance, it is common for teenagers to be uncomfortable with their bodies. As a way of conforming to society’s image of physical perfection, more and more teenagers are tu rning to cosmetic surgery as a solution. The purpose for this paper is to make the problems of teenagers having cosmetic surgery, in order to physically change themselves toRead MoreCosmetic Surgery : Plastic Surgery And Teenagers2046 Words   |  9 PagesAccording to â€Å"Plastic Surgery Teenagers†, â€Å"teenagers who want to have plastic surgery usually have different motivations and goals than adults† (â€Å"Plastic Surgery For Teenagers Briefing Paper†). Thus, meaning that most young adults get cosmetic surgery, which is the reshaping of body parts to improve their physical characteristics. However, changing your physical appearance just because you want to or do not feel pretty enough should not be the case of spending all that money and time on a non-maturedRead MoreShould Teenagers Undergo Elective Cosmetic Surgery?1865 Words   |  8 Pagesâ€Å"Plastic surgery is an option for everyone, but it is never a necessity†. As confirmed by many su rgeons in the field of cosmetic based procedures, most of the patients seeking purely beauty care see enhancing their physical appearance as the only, or at least the best, fix for the destructive problems they face, such as harassment or personal insecurities. These thoughts are especially expected in minors, therefore the question is, should teenagers be allowed to undergo elective cosmetic surgery forRead MoreTeenagers Should Never Have Cosmetic Surgery Essay1555 Words   |  7 PagesTeenagers Should Never Have Cosmetic Surgery In 2012, over 236,000 teenagers from the ages of 13-19 years old, went under the syringe to have a cosmetic procedure done (Gilbert, Web). Teenagers should never be able to have cosmetic surgeries because of the harmful effects the procedures have. Teenage minds and bodies are not fully developed until they are in their early twenties. Therefore, doctors are unable to fully comprehend the risks these procedures will have on the teenagers, since theirRead MorePlastic Surgery Should Be Banned For Teenagers 18943 Words   |  4 Pagesreconstruct or repair body parts for cosmetic reasons in a procedure called plastic surgery. It was not long before teenagers 18 years of age and younger noticed the potential benefits of receiving these surgeries, such as fixing misconstrued facial features, or even taking away some unwanted fat. In 2012 there were 130,502 cosmetic procedures performed on teenagers below the age of 19 (Singh). There has been an increase of interest in teenagers for cosmet ic surgery and the most common procedures doneRead MoreAnalysis Of The Article Teens Under The Knife By Kaitlyn Ali And Tiffany Lam1351 Words   |  6 PagesIn the article entitled Teens Under the Knife written by Kaitlyn Ali and Tiffany Lam readers are informed on the possible risks that are exposed to teens who have cosmetic surgery. Ali and Lam state, There are many risks in plastic surgery, such as permanent numbness, infections, blood clots, and even death (par. 9). The developing bodies of teens are still changing which could lead to altering the effects or future displacement of the surgical procedure. The article states, Because teens Read MoreEffect Of Plastic Surgery On Teenagers1370 Words   |  6 Pagesregular routine of cosmetic surgery, as the procedure began, her body temperature started rocketing abnormally high and the heart rate went out of levels. Right then, having to take extra precautions, the clinic flew her out to a hospital, later pronouncing that she ha d fallen into coma and soon after, passed away (Rivero 1). This mistake had sparked an outrage all over the world, not only because an innocent human being had died but it was a source that started it all, plastic surgery. Therefore showingRead MoreTeenagers and the Plastic Surgery Epidemic Essay1090 Words   |  5 Pagesan overwhelming number of American teenagers choose to alter their body in order to fit the unrealistic standard of physical attractiveness created by our beauty-obsessed culture. Teens feel an immense amount of pressure to look â€Å"beautiful† from the media, peers and even parents. Teenagers are going to extreme lengths to reach this physical perfection, but when it comes down to it, just how far is too far? The numbers of teens going through with plastic surgery is startling and will continue to rise

The Dangers Of Youth Exposure At Risk Youth Of Cuyahoga...

. GOAL STATEMENT †¢ With great pride the concern of youth exposure to violence needs to be addressed. This strategic plan will identify at-risk youth who are severely troubled by their surrounding environments and make it a top priority to create services and housing for all at-risk youth of Cuyahoga County. Defending Childhood, Cuyahoga County. November 5, 2016. Strategic Plan. Retrieved from: http://ja.cuyahogacounty.us/pdf_ja/en-US/DefendingChildhood/StrategicPlan/StrategicPlan.pdf. 2. SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM 2A History of the problem †¢ The exposure to risk factors increased the development of violence for young people. Risk facts increases the probability that a person will suffer harm (General 2001). Risk factors increase the likelihood of children exposure to violence. Risk factors vary on many levels. They are individual, family, social and community risk factors. Each work together to increase the exposure to violence. †¢ Overtime violence interrupted youth’s ability to focus, trust, communicate, believe and consider a future for themselves. Children who are exposed to high levels of risk factors are more violent than youths who are not exposed to such factors. Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General. Rockville (MD): Office of the Surgeon General (US); 2001. Chapter 4 -- Risk Factors for Youth Violence. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK44293/ Injury Prevention Control: Division of Violence Prevention. November 5, 2016. Youth

Red Scarf Girl Essay Free Essays

Red Scarf Girl Essay The Cultural Revolution was a time of much confusion in china. The memoir Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang illustrates the chaos of that time. Ji-li’s experiences during this time period led to her point of view changing. We will write a custom essay sample on Red Scarf Girl Essay or any similar topic only for you Order Now Ji-li starts the Cultural Revolution full of progressive thoughts, but this quickly turns to confusion, and leads to an important choice, something that impacts the rest of her life. In the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, Ji-li is full of thoughts of moving forward, and helping Mao’s work to succeed. She believes that she can make a difference in the world. Ji-li helps with the â€Å"Destroy the Four Olds† campaign, and is nearby when a shop sign is smashed for having a name that does not concede with the communist principles. This gives her a feeling of kinship with everyone there. â€Å"Although what we had smashed was no more than a piece of wood, we felt like we had won a victory in a real battle. †(Pg. 24). But even as she was aiding the revolution, her thoughts soon turned to confusion and frustration with the policies of the Communist party. In short, Ji-li begins the revolution full of progressive thoughts but she soon becomes puzzled with the parties policies. As the glossiness of the revolution begins to fade, Ji-li becomes perturbed with the rules of the Communist party, as the Red guards constantly contradict them. The paper says that â€Å"a historic counterrevolutionary† had â€Å"confessed and had a positive attitude, he was pardoned†(Both on Pg. 176). However, this is opposite from how Uncle Zhu was treated after his confession, as he was pushed for more information to make Ji-li’s father confess. All this chaos led to Ji-li having to make a choice between her father, or Chairmen Mao, because the Red guards needed her to be a witness of her father’s antirevolutionary activates to convict her father, and if she did not she would be stuck with a bad class status. This demonstrates the immense confusion there was during that time. In summary, the instability during the Cultural Revolution led to Ji-li having to make an important choice. As the novel draws to an end, Ji-li has am important choice to make; She can support her family or support Mao and the revolution. Ji-li face great pressure from the red guards and also from the part of herself that wants to cure her black class status. However she chooses her family because â€Å"(it is) too precious to forget and too rare to replace†(Pg 263). However, this choice has consequences for her and her family. She was prevented from becoming an actress because of her class status, and her mother was forced to write self-critism reports because she would not break with her husband. In brief, Ji-li has a vital choice to make, and chose her family, but this choice had consequences. How does Ji-li’s point of view change during the Cultural Revolution? It shifts from believing that Mao was most important, to believing that her family and responsibilities are most important. â€Å"Once my life had been defined by my goals: to be a Da-dui-zhang, to participate in the exhibition, to be a Red guard. They seemed unimportant to me now. Now my life was defined by my responsibilities. I had promised to take care of my family, and I would renew that promise every day†(Pg. 263) This shows how her view point has shifted from herself and Mao, to her family. Ji-li had a lot courage to be able to do what she did, and I think that it is her courage that got her this far. How to cite Red Scarf Girl Essay, Essays

The Body Shop Free Essays

The Body Shop Table of contents Introduction  :2 Section A3 A comprehensive strategic analysis of the industry  :3 Question 13 1)The external strategic analysis of The Body Shop3 1. 1 ° Synopsis of the beauty industry: Macroenvironement and trends3 1. 2 ° The competition: immediate industry and competitive environment5 1. We will write a custom essay sample on The Body Shop or any similar topic only for you Order Now 3 °The key success factors of the beauty industry and The Body Shop7 1. 4) The SW(OT) analysis of The Body Shop8 Question 2:8 Applicability and effectiveness of new CEO Patrick Gournay’s strategies8 SECTION B10 Question 3:10 Vision and Mission10 Question 4:11 Financial and strategic objectives:11 Question 5:12 Corporate and business strategies12 Question 615 Balanced scorecard for The Body Shop15 References Introduction The cosmetic industry is one of the biggest industries in the world. The worldwide annual expenditures for cosmetics is estimated at U. S. $18 billion. There is a strong competition in this industry all over the world. To compete and obtain a competitive advantage, companies have to invest a lot. They always have to innovate, to invest in advertising campaign in order to be known and to be successful. The Body Shop decided to be different, their products are natural, it is an ethical organisation, associated with environmental friendliness. But how The Body Shop takes part in the cosmetic industry? What are their vision and mission and what strategic directions should be recommended to the Body Shop in order to perform successfully in this industry? Section A A comprehensive strategic analysis of the industry Question 1 The cosmetic industry is a very aggressive and challenging market, in order to be more competitive and to gain market shares and customer loyalty, companies as The Body Shop have to understand their environment. After analysing the external environment (major trends of the industry, competitors and driving forces), the key success factors as well as the strategic issues will be evaluate, in order to provide a SWOT analysis. 1) The external strategic analysis of The Body Shop 1. 1 ° Synopsis of the beauty industry: Macroenvironement and trends The PEST model in as interesting tool to understand and study all the components and trends that affect the beauty industry. This environment analysis permits us to understand the strategy of beauty brands as The Body Shop. To identify the importance of each components of the industry, it is necessary to quantify them. In the last column, O will represents â€Å"opportunity† however T will represent â€Å"threats†. Moreover, a number will be associated to see the impact of each element. PESTE model for the Body Shop |Importance of the regulations concerning the launching of new |T 5 | |Political environment (legislation and |products in the markets: (allergies†¦) | | |regulations) | | | | | | | | | | | | |Globalisation (driving force) |T8 | | | | | | |Strong local and foreign competition |T9 | | | | | | |Increase in prices | | | | |T6 | |Economic and international environments |Increase in the budget bound for beauty | | |(general economic conditions) | |O6 | | |Cosmetic industry: huge market | | | | | | |Alliance groups in the cosmetic industry to attract new customers |O8 | | |(driving force) | | | | |O7 | |Societal environement (societal values and |Growth of the free time: importance to take care of our body and |O6 | |lifestyles) |beauty | | | | | | | |Importance of well being | | | | |O8 | | |Importance of the beauty (driving force) | | | | |O8 | | |Be young and stay young | | | | |O8 | | |Ageing of the population (segmentation of products) (driving force) | | | | |O7 | | |New market for men (new products.. ) (driving force) | | | | | | | |Companies and customers have more and more social responsibility |O8 | | | | | | Different needs and preferences according to the countries and the | | | |skin differences |O7 | |Societal environement (societal values and | | | |lifestyles) |Important demand variations and fashion effects in terms of |O6 | | |cosmetics | | | | | | | |Growth of the worldwide market of cosmetics (driv ing force) | | | | |O6 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |T8 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |O7 | | | | | | |Use of internet to buy products (driving force) |O6 | | | | | | Rapid innovation (waterproof †¦) (driving force) | | | | |T7 | | |Need of strong technological capabilities | | |Technological environment | | | | |Strong marketing innovation (driving force) |T7 | | | | | | | | | | | |T8 | | | | | | |Respect the environment |O10 | | | | | |Environmental aspects |Sustainable development |O10 | | | | | | |Fair trade |O8 | | | | | | |Bio market and products (driving force) |O9 | | | | | |Environmental aspects |Ecology | | | | |O8 | After this analyse of the trends, components and driving forces of the industry, it is interesting to see the place of the competitors in the industry. 1. 2 ° the competition: immediate industry and competitive environment In order to understand the dynamism of The Body Shop, we have to understand the competitive structure of th e cosmetic industry. The â€Å"competitive structure† of this market and the â€Å"critical rules of the game set by the industry† can be explained by using the â€Å"Porter’s model of competitive forces† in the cosmetic market. The Porter’s model is composed by five forces, the nature and strengths of the competitive pressures associated with these five forces have to be examined force by force to identify the specific competitive pressure which each comprises and to decide whether these pressure constitute a strong or weak competitive force. (Hough, J et al: 2008:101). It permits us to establish how important the market is to current and potential competition. Porter ‘s model of competitive forces in the beauty market [pic] These forces are explicated in this table: |- High local and international competition | | | | | |- The Body Shop has to face the direct competition in the domestic and international markets | | | | | |- Face the numerous cheaper competit ors | | | |Rivalry competition |- Lots of competitors as: supermarket, beauty institutes, hair dresser, perfumery †¦ | | | | |HIGH |- Big brands with strong image: Dior, Yves St Laurent, Estee Lauder †¦ | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Rivalry competition | | | | | |HIGH | | | |- Too much brands | | | | | |- Too difficult to obtain a brand image and customer loyalty | |Threats of new entrants | | |LOW |- Numerous regulations | | |- There are not really substitutes products but there are lots of others brands.. | | | | | |- The substitutes products will be : | |Threat of substitute products | | |HIGH |- Cheaper products, no name brands | | | | |- Products tested on animals | | | | | |- Non natural products | | | | | |- Imitative products | | | | |Bargaining power of suppliers |Their impacts are not too big | |MEDIUM | | | |- High expectation in terms of quality and services | |Bargaining power of buyers | | |HIGH |- New generation with internet, buyers can c ompare prices | After this analysis, we can follow with the key success factors of The Body Shop. 1. 3 °the key success factors of the beauty industry and The Body Shop â€Å"Key success factors are the products attributes, competencies, competitive capabilities, and market achievements with the greatest impact on future competitive success in the marketplace. † (Hough, J et al: 2008: 97) In order to succeed and to be competitive, The Body Shop has to manage key success factors. So we can say that cosmetics brands have: – To be innovative and to propose new products – To obtain global distribution capabilities To have strong e-commerce capabilities (friendly website†¦) and the possibility to buy online products – To have an excellent and famous branding image: customers could identify them to the brand and its values. – To be different – To maintain high level of quality and services in order to improve customer satisfaction and loyal ty In the next part, we can realise a SWOT analysis to evaluate if The Body Shop meets these key success factors. 1. 4) The SW (OT) analysis of The Body Shop The SWOT analysis provides an overview of the firm’s situation and it is an essential component of crafting a strategy tightly matched to the company’s situation. (Hough, J et al: 2008: 138). The SWOT analysis is composed by the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. We have already done the opportunities and threats in the macroenvironment analysis that is why we just evaluate here the strengths and weaknesses of The Body Shop (internal environment). | | | |STRENGHTS |WEAKNESSES | | | | |Global business Lack of new products | | | | |Ethical business |To slow to get new market share | | | | |High social responsibility |Stores too old, need a new design | | | | |Respect of human rights |Unpopularity of the Body Shop in the city and in the business | | |community | |Present all over the world (in 47 countries) | | | |Lack of enthusiasm | |Anti animal testing practices | | | |Failure in different countries: ex France, USA.. |Good manufacturing and wholesale | | | |Big problems with franchises | |Reorganisation to the firm to a management group | | | |Lack of adaptation to the needs and preferences of overseas markets | |Importance of the environ mental friendliness |(ex: USA) | | | | |Strong corporate culture in the firm ( involvement of the staffs in |Not a strong retailer | |the campaigns) | | |Important financial losses | |Products naturally made | | | |Products and concepts easily imitated | |Uniqueness of the products in term of its packaging | | | |Too much importance in launching environmental projects and too less| |Strong identity |in running business | | | | |Different suppliers from different ethnics and groups |Followers in cutting prices | | | | |A. Roddick: ethical and strong leader |Prices more expensive than the other competitors | | | | |Importance of staff selection |Lack of advertising | Question 2 Applicability and effectiveness of new CEO Patrick Gournay’s strategies P. Gournay was a business man with experiences. He wanted to create a new strategy for The Body Shop in order to be a unique brand, different to the others. This strategy was focus on different point: – Be faster to launch new products (less than one year). – Redesign the stores to satisfy the customers and to improve the brand’ image. – Cut the number of products by 25%, to be focus on â€Å"heritage† products. – Acquisition with Cosmo Trading for ? 7 million to have more control on European operations – Restructuration New products with a strong Body Shop’ identity: Hemp, differentiated products – New leadership – Reclarify the mission and vision of the company: be a strong reta iler – Outsource manufacturing and find manufacturing partners in each region – Cut administration costs – Decentralization in 4 main regions – Focus on customer satisfaction Even if some problems were still present in UK and USA, and if some periods were more critical than the others as Christmas for example, the P. Gournay’s 2000 strategy was a new life for The Body Shop. After some mistakes due to bad choices and a lack of experience in the cosmetic industry P. Gournay planed a real revolution in The Body Shop organisation. In a result of this revolution, profits rose by ? 9 million to ? 271 million compared with the same period in 1999 and most of his objectives were achieved. These elements show a very good execution of his strategy. It is always easier to plan a strategy but the implementation of it relieve to strong efforts in leadership and management. The organisational changes that is to say the restructuration as well as the decentralization of the company were very good strategic changes. It permits to share the responsibilities and to involve more the employees in this new strategy. P. Gourmay is a strong leader, he had the capacity to believe in The Body Shop future and to be fast to react. It understood the needs of the markets in creating new products as well as new services as home selling. He also wanted to be more customer oriented, improving the brand image thanks to the redesign of the shops and developing marketing tools as customer loyalty program in UK. Even if his lack of experience in the beauty industry was claimed, he was able to refocus the company to be a strong retailer. The results of his strategy have been done by better profits, share value and sales. Gourmay looks to be a good communicant, he explained numerous times his choices and the aim of his strategy, this step is important to create a strategy-supportive culture. The applicability and effectiveness of his strategy have been recognized by analysts, by the business community but also by all the company. Section B Question 3 Vision and Mission †¢ A mission statement focuses on current business activities — â€Å"who we are and what we do† The Body Shop is a global business, based on ethics, his products are known and famous for their naturally and because they are not tested on animals. The Body Shop is an organization with strong values and identity. The Body Shop was one of the first organization focuses on social responsibility and fair trade. The Body Shop offers natural cosmetics and personal care products. They have services as home selling and massages in their shops. With ageing of population and the importance of well being nowadays, customers have strong expectations in terms of quality and excellence. The sustainable development is a recent value in our society and customers expect companies as The Body Shop to respect it. The Body Shop is a good retailer; it has manufacturing partners in each of his four region area. This organization has the capacity to create new 100% natural products and to be involved in social causes. †¢ A strategic vision concerns a firm’s future business path — â€Å"where we are going† The Body Shop should gain market share and extend his leadership position in the cosmetic industry worldwide. They should be more famous and extend their brand awareness all over the world. The Body Shop will follow with his ethical values and develop new products and services in order to be more competitive. In other words, The Body Shop has to create new opportunities to leverage their brand globally. To achieve these goals, The Body Shop has to pursue and to improve the broader corporate goals of profitable growth and continuous improvement. The Body Shop should: – Achieve world-class performance by attaining a strong competitive position in target markets. – Exceed customer expectations for quality and value. – Earn in excess of the cost of capital over a business cycle. These elements can be reaching thanks to: – The distinguished brand The heritage of integrity and teamwork. – The advanced skills – The special relationships that have long existed between the company and the employees, customers, dealers and other business partners around the world The Body Shop has to pursue his natural products based more on well being th an beauty. They have to follow their politics about ethics and fair trade and stay oriented by the environmental friendliness. The Body Shop has to be focus on customer satisfaction. The management has to be more profits oriented and be more aggressive in order to survive. †¢ Types of business , the body shop should be in: The Body Shop should open his shops to new customers. Nowadays there is a new market with men and old people. They should segment their products and adapt them to new consumers’ needs and expectations. They also should create and develop a friendly website where customers could see all of their range of products and buy them online. Question 4: Financial and strategic objectives: Financial objectives: Outcomes focused on improving financial performance ? Achieve revenue growth of 10% per year This objective is important and it is achievable. Indeed, thanks to P. Gourmay they have reached very good performances in term of profits and sales. This objective will be the consequences of the new strategy implementation. It also will be the results of a better customer satisfaction and brand awareness. This objective can be reach thanks to an internal growth as I said before but also thanks to an external growth. It will be interesting for The Body Shop to realize alliances with big actors of the cosmetic industry. ? Increase net profit margins from 2% to 4% As we can see in The Body Shop case, that during Christmas period they have interesting margins. This objective can be the results of scale economies, and costs reductions. Strategic objectives; Outcomes focused on improving long-term, competitive business position. Different strategic objectives could be developed: ? Have more attractive products than rivals Be more focus on customer satisfaction ? Gain customer loyalty ? be more innovative ? Gain recognition as a leader in natural products We are going to focus on 2 main objectives: ? be more focus on customer satisfaction This element is key point to ensure the future of the Body Shop, they ha ve to be more customer oriented, to understand their needs and expectations. If customers are satisfied and feel considered, they will be naturally more loyal. As we know, a loyal customer is cheaper than a new customer. Different tools will be developed in the new strategy in order to reach this objective. Moreover, The Body Shop will have a new strategy to obtain new customers. Gain recognition as a leader in natural products The core competency of The Body Shop is his capacity to create natural products. To gain market share, they should use this element and work on it in order to be recognize as a leader in the natural cosmetics industry. This element will give to the Body Shop an excellent and famous branding image. The Body Shop will have an image of â€Å"specific† companies, with strong skills and know-how. Question 5 Corporate and business strategies In order to reach the financial and strategic objectives gave above, The Body Shop has to realise some actions to be m ore and more competitive during the five next years: The Body Shop has to follow his strategy of differentiation by launching natural Products with elements from all over the world. â€Å"The essence of a broad differentiation strategy is to be unique in ways that are valuable to a wide range of customers. † (Hough, J et al: 2008: 152) To be very effective, The Body Shop has to study consumers ‘needs and behaviours to understand what they consider important, what they think has value and what they are willing to pay for. This buyers study will help them to create new products and services perfectly adapted to consumers’ expectations. It they follow this strategy and tried to be totally different, the consumers will accept to paid more and will be able to identify them to the brand. This strategy needs also to have a strong corporate culture based on innovation, the human resources have a strategic role, they have to recruit creative employees. The employees have also to be trained in order to be innovative and creative. – Have a bigger brand awareness is necessary for the Body Shop. That is why they have to invest more in marketing. They already have a strong identity but they have to diffuse it thanks to new media opportunities. The communication is an important element, more advertising campaign will add value and increase brand awareness. A powerful world advertising campaign will be interesting. As the Body Shop is a brand with strong values and politics, they should realise a different campaign as â€Å"Benetton† has done few years ago. In this campaign, they have to be different and to communicate about their natural products, that is to say their specific skills, their high quality and excellence. The campaign will be a â€Å"paper† campaign or a TV one, if the budget allows these expenditures. – As I said before, The Body Shop has to be customer oriented. They should realise a friendly website where customers will be able to see their range of products and services and where they would be able to buy online products. It will permit to customers to have good references and to be easily found on the world wide web. The website will permits to the organization to be more attractive and to attract a maximum of internet users. The organization should develop his customer loyalty programs all over the world. People like to be considerate as a specific customer and expect to have a â€Å"specific treatment†. The loyalty card encourages consumers to be loyal in order to receive presents and special o ffers. – They also could extend their services: Selling at home should be proposed in numerous countries. Customers love being the main interest of the companies. With this service they feel caring and have the feeling to have customized services. We have also seen that additional services as massages have increase the sales. People after having a nice moment want to buy the products used during this time. The Body Shop should propose services as sauna and hammam for example. – The Body Shop should not stay a niche market. The new trends and lifestyles give them big opportunities. They should realise a segmentation of their products that is to say they should have specific products for men and old people for example. They have to innovate and to adapt them to the changes. – The Body Shop is already a global company but they should be present in other market as India, an emerging market. The beauty is an important value on this country, and the Indian beauty is known all over the world thanks to L’Oreal’s muse. This new market can ensure new sales and market shares, it is a new opportunity. The Body Shop should adopt a more aggressive strategy; the competition should not be underestimating. The company has to be more profit oriented. To reach their objectives, they can realise some alliance with a big brand as L’Oreal. Indeed, this alliance will permit them to shares their resources and capabilities in technology and innovation for example. It will help them to realise new products. – The creation of new products will also be strategic elements in specific period as Christmas. The Body Shop should realise limited products to give exclusivity to some customers. With specific range of products for this specific period, The Body Shop will improve his differentiation. All these changes require strong involvement of the management and employees, The Body Shop has to be more reactive, and they have to adapt them of their environment: lifestyles etc. As Gourmay done, the company has to change its structure when it is not adapted in order to be profitable and to promote innovation in the company. The culture has to be supportive and be oriented on differentiation and creativity. The resources are necessary to invest on an advertising campaign for example, but these marketing tools can lead to an increase on sales, market share and profitability. The company has to think regionally and globally in order to be present in new market as emerging market. The control is an important step, it is important to evaluate the actions done and to learn from the mistakes. The evaluation permits to have a continuous improvement, The Body Shop should be more control oriented. Question 6 Balanced scorecard for The Body Shop |THE BODY SHOP | |HEAD OFFICE | |MAIN OBJECTIVE: | |Increase their market share all over the world, be a leader in natural products and have a better brand awareness | FINANCIAL |CUSTOMERS |INTERNAL |LEARNING AND GROWTH | | | | | | |- Refocus on retailing |- Increase their satisfaction |- Reinvention of The Body Shop |- Training of employees to be | | | |brand |more creative and innovative | |- New market shares: |- New products and services | | | |Selling in new market: India |(massages.. |- New structure |-Profiling the staff | | | | | | |- Revenue growth of 10% per year |- Better adaptation to each |- New strategy, plans and |- New staff: recruitment | | |countries’ needs and preferences |leadership | | | | | |- I nnovative culture | |- Increase of the share price |- Better communication |- Products line and distribution | | | | |channels rationalized | | |- Selling new products |- Customer retention | | | | | |- Decentralization of the | | |-Selling to new consumers |-Customer acquisition |management | | | | | | | |- Alliance with cosmetics |- Redesign the stores, better |- New values: quality and | | |companies: L’OREAL for example |brand image |excellence | | | | | | | | |- More customer information |- Regulatory control | | | | | | | | |- More prominently |- Be a good corporate citizen | | | | | | | | |- More loyalty programs | | | References – Hought, J. Arthur, A. Thompson, Jr. Strickland III, A. J Gambie, J. E. 2008. Crafting and Executing Strategy. McGraw Hill International Edition. – Piercy, N. The Body Shop. A case for burial or rising from the grave? – The Body Shop values report. 2007. How to cite The Body Shop, Essay examples

Redundant Storage-Data Manipulation & Networking and the Internet

Question: Describe about the Storage Redundancy,Data computation-"Moore's Law" and Transport Layer Protocol? Answers: Storage Redundancy Storage redundancy involves the duplicity in the storage of data. It is a condition that is created within a database in which the same is place in two separate spaces. Storage redundancy is commonly known as data redundancy. It can be two different fields in a single database, or in multiple software platforms. Whenever data is repeated, this is known as data redundancy. Storage redundancy may occur by accident, but sometime it is also done intentionally for backup and recovery purposes. In a general manner data redundancy has different classifications that are based on what is most appropriate in database management, and what is wasteful or excessive. Wasteful storage redundancy normally occurs when a given data need not to be repeated, but it ends up being duplicated because of coding inefficiency or process complexity. Cons and pros of Storage redundancy A positive approach of data redundancy works as a safeguard for data that promote consistency. Many web masters consider it acceptable to store data at multiple places. The key point is to have focused master space for this data to be stored, so that it gives a way to update all of the places wherever data redundancy occur, via that central access point. On the other hand, data redundancy will be a big problem if there is no central access point, with data inconsistency, where update in one does not automatically update another. As a result, the data that are supposed to be same end up with different values. So storage redundancy is not perfect, and has its pros and cons. Pros of storage redundancy: The most obvious virtue of storage redundancy is that it protects data in case of drive failure in real time. It means if the internal drives in a RAID fails, when you are working on a file but one of the storage device is working normally. It will indicate that one of your internal drives has encounter error or fails, and offers you to the chance to back up your important data and replace the drive. Then your device will blend the replaced drive itself to become part of the RAID. During that time, the storage device is still available. In short, storage redundancy gives you the facility of data protection and though internal part will fail another will be there to back up the data. Cons of redundancy: The first limitation of redundancy is the cost; you have to spend bugs on multiple drives. For example RAID 1 setup, basically requires spending just double on internal drives. Another disadvantage of storage redundancy is that it doesn't provide protection to data against physical disaster, like fire or flood. Storage Redundancy also doesn't offer facility of versioning, which include the data saving in different versions. Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disk RAID is a virtualization technology used to store data that combines the number of disk drives into a logical unit to improve the data redundancy and performance. RAID enables the information to access several disks. Many techniques such as striping (RAID Level 0), mirroring (RAID Level 1), and parity (RAID Level 5) are involved in RAID to achieve redundancy, increased bandwidth, lower latency, and maximized ability to recover. RAID distributes pieces of data across every drive in the array. Then RAID breaks down the data into chunks. Then each chunk is written to the hard drive in the RAID in accordance to the employed RAID level. When the data is read, the process will be reversed, showing illusion that the number of drives is actually one large drive. Below are several levels choices that are most commonly used. RAID 0 Striping RAID 0 level consists of striping, without parity or mirroring. The capacity of a RAID 0 is the sum of the disks capacities in the set. There is no additional data redundancy to handle disk failures, just as a spanned volume. Therefore, failure of one disk causes the entire RAID 0 volumes lost. It reduces the possibilities of recovery of data while compared to a broken volume. Data Striping distributes the files contents roughly among all disks, which makes concurrent write or read operations on the numbers of disks. The concurrent read or write operations make the profit of most write and read operations that is equal to the output of one disk multiplied by the multiple disks. Increased output is the big profit of RAID 0 i.e. Striping. RAID 1Mirroring RAID 1 is also known as mirroring, without striping or parity. In this approach, data is written to two or more drives, producing a "mirrored set". Any read request will be serviced by any drive in the mirrored set. If a request is broadcast to each drive in the given set, this request can be serviced by the drive which first accesses the data, improving the performance. Sustained read output, approaches the sum of outputs of each drive, just as for RAID 0. Actual throughput of most RAID 1 is slower than the fastest drive. RAID 2 RAID 2 includes a bit-level striping with Hamming-code parity. All the disk spindle rotation can be synchronized and the data is striped in such a way that each sequential bit is placed on a different drive. Hamming parity is evaluated across the corresponding bits and finally stored on one parity drive. RAID 3 RAID 3 includes the byte-level striping with concerned parity. Rotation of all disks spindle is synchronized and the piece of data is striped in such a way that each byte is on a different drive. The parity is evaluated across corresponding bytes and finally stored on a dedicated parity drive. RAID 4 RAID 4 includes the block-level striping with parity. This striping was previously used by Net App, but has now replaced by an implementation of RAID 4 with two parity disks. RAID 5 RAID 5 includes the block-level striping with dedicated parity. In this approach, parity information is divided among the distinct drives. It requires that all the disks drives but one to operate. On the failure of single drive, subsequent reads can be evaluated from the distributed parity in such a way that no data is lost. It requires at least three disks and seriously affected by trends and chance of failure during rebuild. RAID 6 RAID 6 includes the block-level striping with double parity. Double distributed parity gives fault tolerance for two failed drives. It makes larger RAID groups especially for high-availability systems. The large-capacity drives take longer to restore. In single drive failure reduce the performance of entire array. The larger the size of drive capacities and the larger the size of array results to choose RAID 6 instead of RAID 5. Data computationMoores law Moores Law is a computing term which came into existence in around 1970. The most simplified version of Moores law states that the overall processor speeds, or power for computers will be double in every two years. The technicians from different companies of computer prove that the Moores law is not very popular but the formula is still accepted. To divide the law even further, it is specifically said that the number of transistors that are embedded on an affordable CPU would get double in every two years but more transistors is more accurate. In fact, the next-generation of processors, have to contend with a memory bottleneck which is known as the bandwidth between the CPU and a computers memory channels or the instruction level parallelism (ILP) or the availability of discrete parallel instructions and the chips temperature and power consumption. The power wall now defines the limit of the speed of the modern CPU. As the processors have become more capable, the heat production as well as energy consumption has grown rapidly. Due to this problem, chip manufacturers have been forced to create systems on a chip smaller, specialized processors. What is Interrupt Request? An interrupt request is a signal that is sent from a device to a processor. It indicates that attention is required in order to process a request. A hardware interrupt request is induced by hardware peripheral while a software interrupt request is induced by software instruction. The result of both IRQ in processor status savings, and revert IRQ serving use an interrupt handler routine. Interrupts are used for computing multitasking and eliminate the requirement for the processor to sample the lines when waiting for external events. An interrupt request is made to the processor by using programmable interrupt controllers (PICs) that manage the interrupts. It can be level-triggered interrupt or edge-triggered interrupt. Level-triggered indicate that the line is held via the device at active level, interrupt triggering until it is served. Edge-triggered indicate that the device interrupt the line from level 1 to 0. Interrupt request levels are assigned to devices so that it indicate their identities. IRQ can be categorized into the following types: Maskable interrupt (IRQ): A maskable interrupt is a hardware interrupt that can be ignored through setting bit in an interrupt mask register's (IMR). Non-maskable interrupts (NMI): It is hardware interrupt that deficient an associated bit-mask. Non Maskable Interrupts are used for the maximum priority tasks like timers. Inter-processor interrupts (IPI): It is a special interrupt case that is generated by one processor to another processor in multiprocessor system. Software interrupt: It is an interrupt that is generated within a processor by instruction. Software interrupts are used for system implementation because they give subroutine call with a CPU. Spurious interrupt: It is an unwanted hardware interrupt that are typically generated by conditions of system like electrical interference through incorrectly designed hardware. Processors have an internal interrupt mask that allows software to ignore external hardware interrupts. Setting this mask can be faster than interrupt mask register (IMR) access in a PIC. It also disables interrupts in the device itself. Interrupts disabling and enabling act as a memory barrier that may actually be slower. An interrupt which leaves the well defined machine is called a precise interrupt. These interrupt has four properties: The Program Counter (PC) is saved in a known place. The instruction pointed to execution state by the PC is known. No more than one pointed instruction has been executed by the PC. All instructions by the PC have fully executed. Internet and computer networking errors Data transferred on internet sometimes become changed between the receiver and senders time. This may be occurs for a various reasons, but modern network protocols now support "error checking and correction. The numeric values of all the data bytes in the packet are added up, the output is then used to know whether the received packet was correct or not. This process is known as checksum. If receiving node detects wrong packet means if the received checksum doesn't match the sum of received bytes , the request message is sent for the another copy of packet. Transport layer protocol The TCP/IP Transport Layer suite has many protocols that operate at the Transport level. Transport Layer is responsible for establishing the connection. It manages connection oriented streams, reliable transport, flow control and multiplexing. Following are the two most important protocols for the transport layer. Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) It handles the transmission of the data packets from the Application Layer. If a large file needs to be received, TCP manages the IP packets from the below layer. TCP arrange the packets into sequential order. It also takes smaller IP packets and merges them into the originally sent file. If a data packet is not received, TCP send an acknowledgment message for packet retransmission. User Datagram Protocol (UDP) UDP is similar to TCP, but there is no guarantee of delivery in this protocol. UDP has a minimum overhead as it does not send the acknowledgments of packet receipt or order of receiving or retransmission of data. If the packets are out of order or lost, then theses packets are skipped. What is the difference between Client-Server and Peer to Peer Network in distributed computer system? Peer-to-peer (P2P) network is a decentralized communications model in which either party can initiate a communication session. The client/server model is a centralized communication model in which the client makes a request and the server will fulfills their request. The main difference between peer to peer and client-server systems is that in the client-server model, there are clients that request for services and the servers provide services to the clients, but in peer to peer systems, peers act as both consumer as well as service providers. Further, client-server systems has a central file server and its implementation is expensive than peer to peer model. While in the client-server model, a dedicated file server provides an access level to the clients, by providing better security. But in peer to peer systems, the security is handled by end users. Moreover, peer to peer networks also suffer in performance as the nodes increases, but client-server systems are stable than P2P and could be scaled as per the need. Therefore, selecting one is dependent on the environment that of implementation. References 1. Jacobson, Michael B., et al (1995). "Memory systems with data storage redundancy management." U.S. Patent No. 5,392,244. 21 Feb. 1995. 2. Kimmel, Jeffrey S., Sunitha S. Sankar, and Tomislav Grcanac (2009). "Lost write detection in a storage redundancy layer of a storage server."S. Patent No. 7,549,089. 3. Vachuka, J., and M. VoboÃ…â„ ¢il (1971). "Kinetic data computation from non-isothermal thermogravimetric curves of non-uniform heating rate." Thermochimica Acta 2.5: 379-392. 4. Yan, Zhixian, et al (2013). "Semantic trajectories: Mobility data computation and annotation." ACM Transactions on Intelligent Systems and Technology (TIST) 4.3: 49. 5 Singh, Hartej, et al (2000). "MorphoSys: an integrated reconfigurable system for data-parallel and computation-intensive applications." Computers, IEEE Transactions on 49.5: 465-481. 6. Comer, Douglas E (2000). The Internet book: everything you need to know about computer networking and how the Internet works. Prentice-Hall, Inc. 7. Perkins, Charles E (1998). "Mobile networking in the Internet." Mobile Networks and Applications4: 319-334. 8. Goleniewski, Lillian (2002). Telecommunications essentials: the complete global source for communications fundamentals, data networking and the Internet, and next-generation networks. Addison-Wesley Professional.