Employees contribution in customer satisfaction, customer retention Dissertation

Employees contribution in customer satisfaction, customer retention and customer loyalty in SME retail organization like SUPERVA - Dissertation Example The peripheral economies have not been able to restructure their economies and introduce reforms to enhance productivity and competitiveness of their economies. 1.1.2 The Irish Economy The Irish economy has been one of the most successful in the world but it has also been among the hardest hit during the economic recession (European Commission, 2012). Up to 2007 Ireland experienced strong economic growth and the living standards in Ireland caught up with the world standards. This occurred as more number of workers entered the labor market. Additionally, higher levels of education resulted in better productivity. EU being declared as a single market made Ireland an attractive destination for inward investments. Between 2002 and 2007 the economy experienced high growth rates but this was at the cost of the Irish households building up personal debts. The real estate sector surged forward to due to increase in bank lending. Due to this, the balance sheets of banks grew disproportionatel y large compared to the size of the economy. In addition to the deposit base, the introduction of the Euro encouraged short-term borrowing from overseas. Risky lending practices by the banks proved to be damaging for the economy and this was evident when the property bubble burst (European Commission, 2012). Because of these anomalies the Irish banks were vulnerable to the global recession in 2007. The collapse of Lehman Brothers, investment bankers of US, led to severe tension in the global financial markets which led to deposit outflows at the Irish banks. 1.1.3 SME Retail sector in Ireland The retail sector in Ireland comprises of over 20,000 food and non-food retailers, mostly SMEs, being both Irish and International in origin (IBEC, 2012). The retail sector employs over 240,000 employees. Retailing offers people career in their own locality. The retail SMEs have invested heavily in the sector in the last decade. As a result of recession, the retail market has shrunk by over one -fifth in the terms of value. The retailers were forced to reduce prices, which in turn impacts the overall profits. However, the operating costs have not been affected due to inflexible rents, hourly pay rates, local authority charges and property service charges. The shrinking of the retail market compelled the retailers to seek help from the government. To enhance consumer spending, focus on employees has been considered a valuable agenda. This is based on the recommendation of Irish Business & Employers Confederation in its election manifesto ‘Delivering the Jobs Agenda’ (IBEC, 2012). 1.2 Competitive advantage through people Human resources are now considered valuable assets as there has been a rise in the status of knowledge workers (Sheehan, 2005). Based on the resource-based view of the firm, human capital has become the source of competitive advantage as Koch and McGrath (1996) contend that a highly productive workforce possess attributes that make it a highly v aluable strategic asset. This has led to the recognition of and commitment to human capital development; this has also caused the shift from traditional personnel management to refined HR practices. Competitive advantage can also be gained by recruiting people from diverse backgrounds regardless of ethnicity, age, gender and other individual characteristics (D’Netto and Sohal, 1999). 1.3 Motivation for Research Retailing is intensely competitive in Ireland as anyone can open a store. This has brought in many new

Dis Post Poll 211 7 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Dis Post Poll 211 7 - Essay Example Modern societies also exhibit social structural differentiation with distinct definitions of political and national institutions. Modern societies also have a differentiated political structure and secularized political culture. Many modern societies are in a position to advance the political system of a society (Crain 67). Promoters of the modernization theory highlight that modernization occurs in phases. The five phases include the existence of a traditional society, the emergence of preconditions for takeoff, the real takeoff process, the drive to maturity, and finally the emergence of a high content consumption society. Modernization theorists reveal that the process began in Europe and America. The modernization process is highly transformative. The modernization process has been moving to the traditional societies in other continents. However, the completion of the process will take a long time. Other theories such as the theory of dependency and the theory of world systems do not explain the existence of income gaps effectively. For example, the theory of dependency cannot explain why countries such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China have the highest level of economic growth, yet they do not appear in the list of the developed countries (He 34). In addition, the theory of globalization does not explain why there is increasing income inequality in both developed and developing

Agile Development And Variation In SCRUM Sprint Information Technology Essay

Agile Development And Variation In SCRUM Sprint Information Technology Essay In Agile development SCRUM is highly acceptable approach. And main body of SCRUM is driven by the sprint. Activities in the SCRUM sprint are sprint meeting, sprint review, sprint backlog, development, acceptance testing, scrum meeting, sprint retrospective, and final shippable work product. it is observed that there are still missing activities that can be accommodated to improve the sprint. The research suggests some more activities that can be accommodated from other agile methodologies such XP, DSDM, and RUP/EUP. The new approach will enhance the sprint capability. KEYWORDS: Agile development, SCRUM, Extreme Programming, Rational Unified Process, Dynamic Systems Development Method INTRODUCTION Agile development is a group of methodologies where requirements and solutions develop through collaboration between self-organizing, cross-functional, cohesive teams. The main focus is on creating working software that could be handed over to the customer quickly rather than spending a lot of time writing specifications up front. Agile focuses on rapid iteration, with continuous customer input throughout the development lifecycle. In this paper we introduce a development process, in this process we have identified the missing activities in the SCRUM and collaborated the activities that are available in other Agile methodologies such as XP, DSM and RUP RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The methodology selected for this research is based on the qualitative analysis of the agile frameworks available in the industry. AGILE Agile has evolved as a light weight software development methodology against the legendary heavy weight software development methodologies such as waterfall, spiral, rapid prototyping, incremental. Agile methodology is based on iterative and incremental development that break tasks into small increments with nominal planning called iteration. Iterations are short time frames that typically last from one to four weeks. Each iteration involves a team working through a full software development cycle. AGILE ALLIANCE In spring of 2001, 17 software developers met at UTAH to see whether there was anything in common between the various light methodologies such asAdaptive Software Development, XP, Scrum, Crystal, Feature driven Development, Dynamic System Development Method (DSDM). AGILE MANIFESTO We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value: Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan [Martin C. Robert , Agile Principles, Patterns, and Practices in C#, Martin Micah, 2006] SCRUM Scrum is an incremental iterative process. In Scrum, product development is done in iterative cycles called Sprints. Sprints are typically 1-4 weeks in length, and the time box is not extendable, i.e. the backlog items that could not be completed in one sprint are catered in the next sprint. Once a sprint date is committed it is never extended. At the start of a Sprint, there is a sprint meeting in which priority items of product backlog are selected and team calculates the efforts and commits to complete them in the Sprint. Every day there is a daily standup meeting in which team reports the progress to each other and update simple visual representations of work remaining in sprint burn down chart. [The Scrum Papers: Nuts, Bolts, and Origins of an Agile Process Jeff Sutherland, Ph.D. Ken Schwaber Co-Creators of Scrum, 2007] [Deemer.P and Benefield.G, SCRUM PRIMER, 2006] EXTREME PROGRAMMING Extreme Programming is an agile development methodology that focuses on the critical activities required to build software. Like other agile methodologies it also supports the development in little iterations after a work product is available to be released. Unlike traditional SDLC, extreme programming does not support different phases of requirement gathering , analysis, design and development rather it advocates a environment where the client is the part of the team and all the phases of SDLC are executed simultaneously in iterative incremental order. DSDM Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM) is a software development method originally based on the methodology for rapid application development. DSDM is an incremental and iterative methodology that focuses on continuous user collaboration. Its goal is to deliver software systems on schedule and according to the financial plans while adjusting for requirement changes along with the development process. Among all agile methodologies DSDM is a fundamental methodology of Agile Alliance. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSDM ] RUP The Rational Unified Process (RUP) is an iterative software development process framework created by the Rational Software Corporation, a division of IBM since 2003[http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/IBM-Acquires-Rational/]. The RUP is a four-phase (inception, elaboration, construction, transition), prescriptive process whose scope is software development. The EUP extends the RUP to make it a full-fledged IT process. The EUP adds two phases, production and retirement. Not only do you need to develop systems, you also need to run them in production and potentially even remove them from production at some point. [The Object Primer, Third Edition,Scott W. Ambler 2004] COMPARISON Although there are many other agile methodologies such as Feature Driven Development, ICONIX, PRINCE2, Lean Software Development and Crysatal but for the comparison of the activities we have selected four most used agile methodologies which include Extreme Programming, SCRUM, DSDM and RUP. eXtreme Programming is a revolutionary methodology which focuses on the cross functional software development process and addressing the core software engineering practices such as analysis, development and testing. It makes XP a substantial difference to the quality of the end product. SCRUM is also an agile framework, which focuses mainly on how to manage tasks within a cross functional team environment. Before AGILE there was a light weight methodology called DSDM. When Agile was devised many of the DSDM principles were integrated in the agile development methodology [http://www.agile-software-development.com/2007/02/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-agile.html] Planning And Requirement Gathering In extreme programming, in order to plan a project, we must know something about the requirements, but we dont need to know very much. For planning purposes, we need to know only enough about a requirement to estimate it. In SCRUM same is being handled by Product Owner And Team mutually agreeing on the development of the planning of the items based on the product backlog. In DSDM there is a separate Elaboration phase to gather the requirement and plan the phases accordingly. RUP has an Inception Phase, Business process re-engineering is a very complex endeavor, and the RUP only provides techniques for business modeling, not for the supporting process. If, however, the business process is simple or well understood, its possible that work on it may be undertaken in the inception phase. If this is the case, a more complex inception phase will be required. [www.scribd.com/doc/41162/Planning-a-project-with-RUP] Specification Artifacts The test cases and code evolve together in extreme programming, with the test cases leading the code by a very small fraction as a result; a very complete body of test cases grows along with the code. These tests allow the programmers to check whether the program works. Major artifacts in SCRUM are Sprint backlog, Product Backlog, Sprint Burn down Charts. Product backlog contains [Deemer.P and Benefield.G, SCRUM PRIMER, 2006] features (enable all users to place book in shopping cart), development requirements (rework the transaction processing module to make it scalable), exploratory work (investigate solutions for speeding up credit card validation), and known bugs (diagnose and fix the order processing script errors). DSDM has a number of artifacts that are created and evolves with the project. These artifacts include Feasibility Reports, Non-Functional Requirements, Business requirements, Review meeting records, Systems Architecture Definition, Development Plan, Functional Model, Implementation Plan, Test records, User documentation, Project Review Document. In RUP Use case model, Supplementary requirements, Use case (Describes a service provided by the system), User interface prototype (Simulates the user interface, as defined and testable by users) Functional test (Tests the functionality needed to meet a particular requirement), Development environment (Sets up the development environment and manages changes to this environment) Progress To measure the team progress in extreme programming there is a steering team, record progress chart is used. SCRUM meeting, burn down chart in SCRUM, Big visible charts in DSDM and in RUP defined sources for project indicators. Defined thresholds for the project indicators. coding In extreme programming Code is written by pairs of programmers working together at the same workstation. One member of each pair drives the keyboard and types the code. The roles change frequently. In SCRUM same is done according to the willingness And Commitment Of Team. In DSDM initially a Design Prototype is created which is tested by the customer after the validation of Design the tested System is handed over to the next phase. In RUP Coding is done on the bases of the available use cases, lengthy use cases may be divided in to several iterations [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSDM#Stage_3:_Design_and_Build_Iteration http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RUP] Testing As discussed earlier in extreme programming All production code is written in order to make a failing unit test pass. Write the code that makes that test pass. For SCRUM Acceptance testing is done at the end of each SPRINT. In DSDM, throughout project life-cycle Testing is done regressively. And same goes for RUP. Review The details about the user stories are captured in the form of acceptance tests specified by the customer. The acceptance tests for a story are written immediately preceding, or even concurrently with, the implementation of that story. The review meeting in SCRUM is called Sprint Retrospectives. In DSDM test records are developed according to the user documentation and checks the correctness of the designed system. For review purpose testing and reviewing are the main techniques used. Reviews are not available in RUP Iterations In XP iteration is usually 2 weeks in length and represents a minor delivery that may or may not be put into production. The iteration plan is a collection of user stories selected by the customer according to a budget established by the developers. In Scrum it is called Sprint Cycle which is usually of the length of 4-6 weeks and does not vary. In DSDM there is only one iteration in which complete build is developed. In RUP iterations are not time oriented rather there are use cases that help in determining the timeframes of iteration. Release Management XP teams often create a release plan that maps out the next six or so iterations. That plan is known as a release plan. A release is usually three months worth of work. In SCRUM 2 -3 sprints and as decided by product owner. In DSDM there is a single release concept that is sent to the customer in the entire project as it is adept in SDLC. DSDM is also unique in that it categorizes time boxes depending on their function: Investigate, Refine, Consolidate. The activities of RUP include Release handover, training the end users and to facilitate in User acceptance testing of the system. Customer Collaboration In XP customer is the part of the team. Customer is virtually present in the vicinity and he is always present to facilitate or elicitation of the requirements. [Kent Beck, Extreme Programming Explained, First Edition September 29, 1999 ]. In SCRUM product Owner can be Customer, in DSDM Executive Sponsor is called the Project Champion. It is a vital position from the user organization since it has the responsibility to facilitate all the requirements in the requirements elicitation. In RUP Customer collaboration is done throughout the project phase Project Management In XP Project management is done through Inter team coordination, A pair has the right to check out any module and improve it. No programmers are individually responsible for any one particular module or technology. Everybody works on the graphical user interface. In SCRUM Product Owner and Scrum Master are the facilitators. In DSDM there is a project Manager who can be a in-house IT Staff or a client. In RUP the Project manager plans the phases of the entire project along with the iteration plan which describe the iterations. Deployment: In RUP the purpose of deployment is successful delivery of the working software to its end users. It includes packaging, distributing and producing external releases of the software,. Support In RUP: Software release installations and technical support to the client or end user Architecture DSDM makes an architecture phase compulsory. In Business Study RUP make it able to agree on development priorities and a SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE DEFINITION are developed ACTIVITIES BENCHMARK Following is the benchmark of all the above discussed agile development project lifecycle activities PRACTICES XP SCRUM DSDM RUP PLANNING/REQUIREMENTS User stories product owner Product Backlog Elaboration Phase and feasibility studies Inception Phase and Business modelling ARTIFACTS Test case Archives Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, burndown charts Feasibility Report, Outline Plan, Business Area Definition Use case model, User interface prototype, Functional test PROGRESS steering team, record progress scrum meeting, burn down chart Big visible charts Defined thresholds for the project indicators. CODING Pair Programming commitment of team Prototype designing and evolution commitment of team TESTING write the code that makes that test pass. Acceptance Testing Throughout the project life-cycle. Testing occurs throughout the project REVIEW acceptance tests for a User story sprint restrospective correctness of the designed system by review and testing Not Available ITERATION 2 weeks in length 4 -6 Weeks in length Single Iteration Iterations are not time based RELEASE Release consists of 6 Iterations 2 -3 sprints and as decided by product owner Single release Single release CUSTOMER COLLABORATION Part of the team Product Owner can be a customer Executive sponsor; This role has an ultimate power to make decisions collaboration throughout the project phase PROJECT MANAGEMENT Project manager is Big Boss Product Owner Could be client or any one from the staff Phase plan by the team DEPLOYMENT Not Available Not Available Not Available Software Packaging and Distribution SUPPORT Not Available Not Available Not Available Software release installations and technical support to the client or end user ARCHITECTURE Not Available Not Available Architecture phase compulsory In Business Study architecture is defined ACTIVITIES COVERED IN SPRINT Sprint is a complete cycle of activities. This activity is time boxed, which means that the time allocated for a sprint cannot be varied and team has to provide a tested and working work product at the end of the sprint. The sprint backlog items that could not be completed in the sprint are catered in the next sprint. The activities in SPRINT are as follows Sprint burn down chart Design Development Testing Daily stand up meeting WHAT COULD BE ACCOMODATED IN SPRINT Things that could be added in sprint could be more customer collaboration, focus on the system architecture

an american story :: essays research papers

On November 25, 1986 at five minutes past noon, President Ronald Reagan marched into the White House briefing room to announce that Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North had been relieved of his duties on the National Security Council staff for supplying arms to the Iranians. By Stephan Perry It began in 1961 when Oliver North joined the Marine Corps, never knowing what he was in store for. Combat-decorated Marine, best selling author, founder of a small business, host of a nationally heard radio show, inventor with three U.S. patents and former candidate for the U.S. Senate, Oliver North is returning to newspapers with his hard-hitting column. â€Å"Ollie†, as he prefers to be called, was born in San Antonio, Texas and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis and served 22 years as a U.S. Marine. His awards for service in combat are the silver star, the bronze star for valor and two purple hearts for the wounds he received in action. Assigned to the National Security Council staff in the Reagan administration, North was involved in planning the rescue of 804 students on the Island of Grenada and played a major role in the daring capture of the hijackers of the cruise ship Achille Lauro. After helping to plan the U.S. raid on Maummar Qaddaffis, terrorist based in Libya, he was targeted by Abu Nidal, the world’s deadliest assassin. North’s involvement in the Reagan administration’s support for the anti-communist freedom fighters in Nicaragua and the rescue of American hostages held in Beirut Lebanon, catapulted North into international prominence. North has lectured at Oxford and many other colleges and American universities. He is controversial and committed, but retains the charisma that shocked the world during the so-called Iran Contra hearings and in his 1994 campaign for U.S. Senate. North believes that â€Å"We can disagree without being disagreeable.† The Iran Contra affair is the name of the major United States foreign policy scandal in the 1980s. It involved two secret operations by the executive branch of the government. The operations were 1) the sale of military equipment to Iran and enemy of the U.S.; and 2) The provision of the military aid to Contra rebels in Nicaragua, which Congress had banned. The two operations were connected by the use of profits from the Iranian arms sales to aid the Contra rebels. After United States president Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, he claimed the Sandinistas had set up a communist dictatorship.

Double Trouble Mystery

It all started on one bitterly cold December morning, I do believe that it was the week before Christmas when myself and Dr Daniel Barnet were suddenly awoken by a knocking at the door, the Dr was the first to rise as I always take my time, as I lifted myself from the bed I could hear the voice of a lady, the voice seemed familiar but I could not for the life of me think who it was, I wrapped my dressing gown around me and opened the chamber door, the morning sunlight was protruding through a small gap in the curtains. As I walked down the hall way the voice became evermore familiar but still I could not muster as who the woman was. As I slowly stepped down the stairs I could hear that Dr Barnet and the lady were not alone. I reached the bottom step and turned the corner only to my surprise it was my sister and her faithful dog Simon. I could not believe my eyes that my own sister of the higher class would be seen with the middle classes such as my self and Dr Barnet. Dr Barnet said I would like you to meet my associate Professor Williams, as my sister turned round to look at me I could see in the way that she looked that something was not right. Her eyes finally made contact with me, the sun shining through the window lead my eye to the tear which was now forming in her eye; she ran over to me and sobbed its Chris, its Chris. Being her brother I instantly said calm down Rose what has happened to Chris. She burst out into floods of tears; Daniel sat her down and told her to start from the beginning of what had happened. While Dr Barnet was calming down my beloved sister I went into the kitchen and put the kettle on. Seconds later I heard Daniel call me in, so I put down the tea pot and plodded into the lounge, an instinct told me that I should go and sit next to Rose as she needed my support. In trying to do so Simon her faithful dog jumped up and sat next to her leaning over her as if she needed protection. I pulled a chair up to the side of her and said Rose can you tell Dr Barnet and I exactly what is wrong, â€Å"it all started last week when I had told Christopher that I wanted to throw a candle lit supper for a few acquaintances, but Christopher being Christopher refused to let me have it so I said to him that if he didn't let me have the party terrible things would happen to him.† explained Rose. â€Å"Go on† replied Daniel â€Å"as I was saying I told him that bad things would happen if he didn't let me have my candle lit supper, hoping that he would let me have it like he usually does, but this time he stuck with his original answer of NO, so I tried to convince him that it would be a fun evening leading up to Christmas but he would not have any more talk about the party, and since me saying that bad things would happen if he didn't let me have the party bad things have been happening, firstly Christopher's mother passes away and leaves nothing to him in her will, as she said that he was too greedy and only wanted to inherit the land or the money.† Dr Barnet asked Rose â€Å"when did Christopher's mother pass on† â€Å"On Friday was when she passed away† replied Rose Do proceed with the story I added taking notes as the story was being revealed. â€Å"after Christopher's mother's funeral we went round to his mothers estate, and went to tidy up all her belongings, Christopher found this very hard and could not bare to do any more as the sudden death of is mother had caused him to have severe psychological problems, this caused him to start drinking. He never drank not even on special occasions. He started acting like a child which our ten year old son Thomas found strange, seeing as Christopher had taught Thomas how to be a gentleman. Now Christopher had started drinking he would spend more and more time out of the house, one night he did not return† â€Å"Can you remember which night this was?† asked Dr Barnet â€Å"I believe it was Tuesday night that he did not return home.† â€Å"Has he ever done anything like this before† I added â€Å"Not to my recognition† replied Rose. â€Å"Please continue.† said Daniel. Well I telephoned the office in which he works and he was there but in a very important meeting on which the business' finance could depend. That night he returned home and was fine but he did not act his usual self. He did not give me the normal peck on the cheek and walked straight past Thomas as if he didn't actually exist. He went straight upstairs, got into bed and went to sleep without saying a word.† That is certainly unlike Christopher to ignore Thomas as they have such a good father son relationship. I said calmly even though rage was building up inside of me because of the way that Chris could treat my only sister. She continued with the ever amazing story. â€Å"The next morning he woke up did not say a word, went straight downstairs after getting dressed had his breakfast and went straight off to work. This was breaking his usual routine. As he would normally lounge around in his dressing gown before having breakfast, once he'd had breakfast with the family he would let Thomas use the bathroom first then he would use it. They would both get dressed and Christopher would take Thomas to school on his way to work. Thomas was so disappointed that his dad had ignored him and not taken him to school.† My blood began to boil could not hold in the hatred for this man any longer, he had been treating my sister and my nephew so badly I could just kill him. â€Å"Since then I have not heard or seen of him I thought he was staying at the office and doing over time to raise funds for Christmas to buy little Thomas his Christmas presents, that is why I have come to find you,† Do you have any more information about where he could be or anything that could get us started. Asked Dr Barnet. â€Å"Well there was a report that noises were heard near my husbands late mothers house, but I dare not go there as I do not have the company of a man who I stronger that I.† replied rose in a tearful kind of way. Dr Barnet and Rose sat down to talk about what Daniel and myself will have to do. Whilst all this was going on I decided to have a low fat breakfast as I had noticed that I was getting to be a bit on the large side. So toast and butter it was even though I found it hard to resist the preserves. Dr Barnet had arranged for us to meat Rose outside the house of her husband's late mother at 10:30, we arrived at about 10:15 to get a quick look at the neighbourhood surrounding the estate. There was a drive to the house about fifty metres long which had a Rolls Royce standing proudly at the top of the drive. The house was of Victorian build with a distinct window which overlooked the street, this window was situated in the attic, and Dr Barnet said to me that he just saw the blind move. At that point Rose turned up to let us into the home. The first thing we noticed was a family photo with Christopher on his father's shoulders and a boy who was identical to Christopher standing net to his mother along with his older brother Scott and sister Lyn who now owned the house. As we walked through the house there was a feeling that we should not be her but Dr Barnet said that I was only imagining it. We found another photograph of the two identical boys one of which being Christopher. When we reached the first floor of the house we found the wallet of Christopher and in it there was a business card saying: Christopher Smith accountant's office of the Perm Wigs Corporation. But a Bank card with the name Robert Smith on it. We finally managed to comb our way to the top floor and still nothing. Dr Barnet decided that we should look in the attic as he thought that he saw the blonds move. As we walked up the narrow stair way full of cobwebs and dust the floor boards creaked when we neared the summit we were blinded by the sunlight from a gap in the roof where a tile had blown off. The attic was full of boxes some of which were coffin shaped. And covered with white sheets, some of which had turned a brown colour over time. We searched through all the boxes and under all the sheets we had given up hope of finding any more clues until Rose stumbles upon a closet situated behind a large stack of boxes. There was no dust on these boxes so they had not been left in that spot for any length of time. Rose slowly turned the handle o the door and it opened with a creak. Behind the door there was a white cloth covering something. There was a red stain on the cloth which had started to turn a dark brown colour it looked as if it was blood. As Rose took hold of the corner of the cloth and pulled it. She exposed the badly beaten body of her husband who had been killed by means of extreme torture and being savagely attacked by a sharp object. I concluded that he had been tied up at one point as he seemed to have burns on his wrist but Dr Barnet said that he thought he had been shackled with chains as the burns looked like a chain pattern. Rose smith identified the body and said that she believed it to the body of her husband Christopher. By now Simon the Saint Bernard was jumping around getting agitated as he did so he bumped into a wall which was inside the store cupboard, the wall opened it was on a hinge and in this room we found a candle which was alight and a red rose in front of a picture of which we thought was Christopher and a tape player was on with the queen classic the show must go on playing. There was a small coffee table on the far side of this hidden room and sitting at it was Christopher but we thought that he was the dead person we found. Rose ran over to him and said in a soft voice Christopher and he turned round with tears streaming from his eyes with a piece of paper in his hands that says at the top last will and testimony. He is muttering â€Å"sorry mum I didn't mean to do it. Please for give me.† Rose slapped him round the face and asked him what he didn't mean to do to his brother Rob, He replied in a tearful way I killed Rob I killed Rob, â€Å"Who is Rob?† asked Dr Barnet My identical brother my mothers favourite son and he got the rolls and all of mothers money and I got nothing so I wanted it all for myself so I ties him up in chains and attached it to the mains electricity and I whipped him with grandfathers sabre which he used in a fencing competition. I called the authorities and they dealt with the matter so all the clues we found could not have helped us in any way as they were identical twins and we could not tell the difference and that was only down to the split personality of one greedy man who was not happy unless he had everything. Since then I have looked after my sister and I now live with them taking care of them until Christopher is finally classed as a sane person and he can once again look after his family. That was the tale of the double trouble mystery. Another mystery solved for the ever expanding case book of world famous Professor Williams and Dr Barnet.

Distance Time Walking Relationship Experimentation

Physics Lab Report Distance Time Walking Relationship Experimentation For Mr. Williams SPH3U1-02 Sept. 13/10 Written by: Dong Chang, Gloria Chan, Sanjay Tanirige, and Waleed Shehzad Image credits Distance Time Walking Relationship Experimentation Purpose The purpose of this experiment is to determine the amount of time in seconds that it takes to walk a distance of 84 metres on the running track. In addition, the person that is the most reliable to perform this test will have to be determined. Hypothesis We hypothesize that it will take approximately 103. 7 seconds to run the 84 metre of track by an average person. This value was derived from the average time that it takes to walk one metre from the person with the most average walking speed out of the group. Procedure Materials and Apparatus: †¢ Metre Stick †¢ †¢ Method Part A: Finding most reliable walker 1. Place the metre stick on a sufficient space on the ground with some distance before and after it. Let the zero metre mark be the origin. 2. Start walking some distance before the origin (in the negative x-axis area).When the person’s stride is over the origin, the stopwatch is started. The person will keep on walking and maintain the same speed and heading with no acceleration until they have walked some distance past the 1 metre mark. Stop the stopwatch once the person’s stride is over the 1 metre mark. 3. Record the time that it takes to perform the action of walking 1 metre. Repeat Step 2 two more times so that you have three trials. Find the average time that it took the person to walk the 1 metre. 4. Repeat Steps 1-3 for each member of the roup. 5. Find the average that it takes for all members of the group to walk 1 metre by adding their averages and dividing by the amount of people in the group. Stopwatch with accuracy of 1/100 seconds Pre-marked area 84 metres long Distance Time Walking Relationship Experimentation 6. The person that has the closest personal average to the group average will be the most reliable walker for the group. Part B: Finding the time that it takes to walk 84 metres 1. Mark the 84 metre track with the start and the finish. 2.Using the most reliable walker found in Part A, start walking some distance before the start line in order to achieve a constant velocity and have zero acceleration. Start the stopwatch when the person’s stride is over the start line, and stop the stopwatch when the person’s stride is over the finish line. 3. Record the time that it takes the person to walk the 84 metre length of track. Observations Record of the amount of time in seconds for a person to walk one metre. Walker Time 1 (seconds) 0. 90 0. 93 1. 08 1. 28 Time 2 (seconds) 1. 23 1. 16 1. 10 1. 08 Time 3 (seconds) 1. 6 1. 16 1. 18 1. 18 Time Average (seconds) 1. 13 1. 08 1. 12 1. 18 Dong Chang Gloria Chan Sanjay Tantirige Waleed Shahzad Therefore, the total average of everyone’s time to walk one metre is: (1. 13s+1. 08s+1 . 12s+1. 18s)/4 =4. 51s/4 =1. 275s ?1. 3 seconds The person with the closest personal average is Dong Chang, with an average time of 1. 13 seconds.Therefore, he is the most reliable to run the test. Distance Time Walking Relationship Experimentation The average time of the most reliable person to walk one metre. Walker Dong Chang Time (seconds) 1. 21 1. 37 1. 19 1. 5 1. 17 1. 28 1. 18 1. 12 1. 21 1. 25 Therefore the average of the time to walk one metre is 1. 233 seconds. To estimate the time it takes to walk 84 metres: Let x be the estimated time to walk 84 metres x=time*distance x=1. 233 seconds * 84 metres x=103. 572 seconds x ? 103. 57 seconds Therefore we estimate it would take 103. 57 seconds in order to walk 84 metres. Actual result of test to walk 84 metres: 106. 75 seconds Distance Time Walking Relationship Experimentation Percent Deviation of Test [(experimental value – theoretical value)/theoretical value] * 100% [(106. 5s-103. 57s)/103. 57s]*100% =(3. 18s/103. 57s )*100% ?3. 07% Therefore the deviation is 3. 07% away from the hypothesis. Percent Difference of Trials (maximum difference in measurement)/average measurement * 100% [(1. 37s-1. 12s)/1. 233s]*100% =(0. 25s/1. 233s)*100% ?20. 3% Therefore the difference between the trials was 20. 3% Analysis 1. a) How did you choose the walker? We first had each person walk 1 metre three times each and timed them. An average time was assigned to each person based on their performance.Then we found the average that it takes for all members of the group to walk 1 metre by adding their personal averages and dividing by the amount of people in the group. The person that has the closest personal average to the group average will be the most reliable walker for the group because they are the most average. b) How did you design your classroom trials? We placed the metre stick beside the straight surface of the wall so that the walker can walk perpendicular to it as to not have any change in direction while conduction the trials.We set the 0 metre point of the ruler as the origin, and that was where we would start timing and we set the 1 metre point to where we would stop timing. The walker would start walking before the origin so they can maintain a constant velocity and have zero acceleration. When their stride is over the origin, we would start timing, and then their stride Distance Time Walking Relationship Experimentation is over the 1 metre mark, we would stop timing. We did this three times each for every group member to find who was the most reliable walker, and ten times more for the most reliable walker. . a) How did your classroom trials approximate the final verification? Our classroom trials help us obtain a proper hypothesis that was extremely close to our final test during the final verification.By using mathematical models and calculations with real world small scale measurements, we were able to predict the outcome of the experiment down to approximately 3% off. Howev er, such trials seem mundane for such a low scale experiment which would probably have been done a lot faster if the final verification was done earlier. ) Who was the most reliable walker? Why? Dong Chang was the most reliable walker because his personal average time to walk 1 metre of distance is the closest to the group’s total average to walk 1 metre. On average, the total group took 1. 275 seconds to walk 1 metre, with Dong’s time of 1. 30 seconds average the closest. 3. a) How accurate was your estimate? Our estimate was very accurate and only presented a 3. 07% deviation (see observations for calculations) from the final verification time. b) Area your results reliable to science?Our results are reliable to science due to the good design of our trials and experiments. We had a 3. 07% error, which is less than the 5% that would deem our results acceptable to science. Conclusion In physics, motion is a change in location or position of an object with respect to ti me. In this experiment, the walker exerts motion in order to change their position down a track. We were able to estimate the amount of time that it takes one to travel a certain distance with a set of scaled down trials. Distance Time Walking Relationship Experimentation

Strategic Perspectives The WritePass Journal

Strategic Perspectives Strategic Perspectives . In the former instance, the company was accused of employing suppliers in its outsourced production strategy who were running sweat shops, an accusation which subsequently led to the closure of one of its factories over poor labour conditions. The company agreed to these accusations taking the position that the misdeeds pointed out amounted to a serious breach to its code of conduct (Inditex, 2013; Economist, 2012). In the latter instance, testimonies and claims of abuse and terror meted on 25 of Zara’s employees, including store managers and staff, were aired in the media.   The company undertook to regularize such situations through the enhancement of supervision of the production systems of its entire network of suppliers (Economist, 2012). 2.1   Stakeholder theory The Stakeholder theory states that, without regard to the fact that some stakeholders would make more contributions to the organization, all stakeholders are entitled to equal treatment (Dricscoll and Hoffman, 2002). Stakeholders include individuals, organizations or groups that have legitimate interest in the business and who therefore affect or are affected by its actions (Nordberg, 2011). With crises and concerns over abuses of human rights, Zara’s corporate reputation and brand equity was hard hit giving it the image of a business entity which neither places sufficient importance to the needs of its stakeholders nor regard to them (Economist, 2012; Buelens, et al., 2011). With the interdependence between the company and its stakeholders, it is essential for an organization, in the recognition of the needs of its stakeholders, to act and reason rationally as well as to make ethical responses. The organization’s leadership is required to have the desire, will and the skill that will ensure that all stakeholders are treated with respect and their voices heard (Buelens, et al., 2011). 2.2   Corporate social responsibility Among the ways in which corporate entities may shore up their reputation and image as perceived by its stakeholders is through conformance and adherence to ethical principles (Dricscoll and Hoffman, 2002). A notable avenue is the pursuit of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) which is a mechanism integrated into business processes and an organization’s business model that ensures that ethical principles and provisions in law are complied with and monitored (Nordberg, 2011; Dricscoll and Hoffman, 2002). It entails the deliberate attempts by an organization to do good as a corporate citizen in reciprocation of goodwill it enjoys from society. For success in ensuring adherence to ethical principles and in the endeavour to build up its corporate image and reputation, Zara needs to institute mechanisms towards CSR that would also serve to guide its mission towards a better relationship with its stakeholders, outline its stand on such issues and as well clearly indicate the promis es it intends to uphold for society as an entity obtaining its sustenance within society (Dricscoll and Hoffman, 2002). 2.3   Organizational ethics Organizational ethics is a concept that expresses the values of an organization to its stakeholders (Dricscoll and Hoffman, 2002). It includes written codes of ethics or standards such as Zara’s â€Å"Code of Conduct for External Manufacturers and Workshops of Inditex† which it claims to have had (Inditex, 2013); systems of reporting which are guarded with confidentiality; as well as ethics training and advice (Buelens, et al., 2011). Despite its claims of written codes of conduct, it is evident that they were not complied with, respected and adhered to. For its success in entrenching organizational ethics, Zara should endeavour to institute elaborate systems traversing the entire organization and its partners that enable the maintenance of requisite ethical standards (Nordberg, 2011). 3.0 Zara’s levels of strategy 3.1   Business level strategy of Zara The primary aim of a business in the competitive business environment, underpinning its goals and objectives of sustenance and growth, is to develop an edge over rival firms building on its resources and competencies. Porter fronts three generic strategies which a company can employ in its pursuit of competitive advantage over its rivals (Kim, Nam and Stimpert, 2004). They include cost leadership, in which a company seeks to offer similar value with a lower price; differentiation, achieved by a company when it offers benefits different from and of more value than those of its competitors; and, focus on either of the two (Kim, Nam and Stimpert, 2004). A company can pursue a hybrid of both strategies simultaneously, achieving differentiation and a price lower than its rivals. Zara pursues a hybrid strategy seeking to exploit both cost leadership and differentiation strategies. Its closest and most comparable rivals challenging its market presence and competitive advantage include Gap, HM and Benetton though Zara sits closest with HM in the more fashionable and less priced segment. Zara is however considered to be more fashionable among the three, a position the company intends to sustain and exploit (Inditex, 2013; Economist, 2012). Its strategic venture into the low-cost segment through its Lefties brand of stores illustrates its pursuit of a clear cost leadership strategy enabling Zara to tap into lower market segments meeting the need of customers in the current harsh economic times (Inditex, 2013). This ensures that the company is still better placed to sustain its growth and profits even with unfavourable shifts in the economy and consumer spending. However, Zara primarily pursues a differentiation strategy through significant focus on competitive strategies that enhance overall efficiency in its entire value chain (Economist, 2012; Inditex, 2013). Zara’s value chain, which is often tweaked to enhance efficiency and performance, is a major platform upon which the company derives its differentiation from rivals. Enhanced efficiency is enabled by vertical integration and therefore control of crucial processes; employment of technology to coordinate suppliers, production and distribution processes; outsourcing of intensive tasks; as well as its finely-tuned logistics and just-in-time manufacturing strategy which shorten response time and enable the achievement of greater flexibility in variety, frequency and amount of new styles produced (Economist, 2012; Inditex, 2013; BloombergBusinessweek, 2009). The constant refinement of operations in pursuit of continuous efficiency gains including leveraging on technology to enhance crucial production processes has enabled the company to reverse the trend of costs rising faster than revenues. Enhanced efficiency and attendant effectiveness lead to the minimization of costly errors, reduction in costs which consequently enables the enhancement of bottom line and price (Inditex, 2013; Carpenter and Sanders, 2007). Zara also derives its differentiation from its effective market intelligence and focus on continuous awareness and understanding of the customer. Customer feedback through personalized ‘word-of-mouth’ interactions with staff at store level used to assess their preferences and wants is used to guide design and development, as well as other essential improvements (Inditex, 2013; BloombergBusinessweek, 2009). Unlike its competitor’s reliance on electronic consumer data, this has enabled quick turnaround of merchan dise through quicker replenishment of popular items and removal of slow-selling lines enabling Zara to generate more cash, reduce inventory and eliminate the need for significant debt on held inventories which has a direct impact on costs (Inditex, 2013; BloombergBusinessweek, 2009). These strategies and the resultant efficiency have enabled the company to achieve enhanced return visits by customers far greater than the industry average on several indices, a significant competitive advantage (Inditex, 2013; Economist, 2012). They have also enabled Zara to incur significantly less expenditure on advertising with the saved revenue being redeployed to enhance competitive advantage (Inditex, 2013). 3.2   Corporate level strategy Corporate level strategy as the highest level of strategy in an organization is concerned with the overall scope, seeking to add value to constituent businesses/ elements within the entire organization (Lynch, R., 2006). In its pursuit of competitive advantage in the hostile business environment characterized by intense competition and economic challenges, Zara has adopted a growth focus in its corporate strategy. This is evidenced by its pursuit of vertical integration, market penetration, market development and product development strategies in an attempt to sustain its growth and strategic positioning in the fashion industry (Lynch, R., 2006; Inditex, 2013). Guiding these strategic decisions and particular choices, the Ansoff matrix highlights scenarios in consideration of the existence or newness of products or markets (Christodoulou and Patel, 2012; Mintzberg, et al., 2008). Existing product New product Existing market Market penetration Product development New market Market development Diversification Ansoff matrix 3.2.1   Market penetration and market development Zara is hindered by constraints resultant from its Spain-centred model, a major weakness in its endeavour to sustain growth and to maintain its strategic positioning (BloombergBusinessweek, 2009; Economist, 2012). An outward focus towards market development is essential. This has necessitated international expansion and the exploitation of untapped markets including North and South America, Asia, Middle East, Africa and the rest of Europe, particularly Italy.   Enabled by the construction of additional distribution facilities in Zaragoza, Spain and in South America, as well as the upward scaling of its logistics processes to enable the realization of economies of scale in the strategic expansion, the company has spread out into Asia, America, Australia, India and Africa (BloombergBusinessweek, 2009; Economist, 2012). The company has also sought to achieve market penetration in its development of virtual stores, tapping into the opportunities in internet retailing and marketing through online stores and boutiques. Available in ten countries and seeking entry into the USA and Korea, the company has since 2010 sought to exploit this model venturing into this field (Inditex, 2013; Economist, 2012). 3.2.2    Product development For a company to survive and grow in the fast changing fashion industry, it is essential that a business keenly enhances product development, matching or beating its rivals in output and production of new items. Zara has endeavoured to maximize its throughput of new items keeping merchandise in stores always new and fresh. This frequency, enabled by just-in-time manufacturing and focus on limited runs, also ensures that products do not stay long enough risking replication or imitation (Inditex, 2013; Carpenter and Sanders, 2007). The active pursuit of market intelligence and awareness and appreciation of customer preference ensures that the company does not become complacent and unresponsive thereby losing its track in the fast changing and intensely competitive industry (Carpenter and Sanders, 2007; Thompson, et al., 2008). 3.2.3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Vertical integration To enhance control of the entire business and its processes, achieve stability of production and thereby strengthen its competitive position, Zara has pursued vertical integration strategies. These include forward integration through the investment in distribution facilities and specialty stores, as well as backward into production and manufacturing facilities. Zara has also developed subsidiaries that manage its purchases of fabric and dyes (Inditex, 2013). The company has undertaken this strategy in an endeavour to minimize its exposure to expensive distributors and suppliers and the inefficiency attendant to the lack of complete control of especially crucial processes. 4.0 Recommendations Zara in its performance and strategic positioning can be considered to be a success. However, the company cannot afford complacency and should endeavour to maintain its competitiveness and to sustain its position in the fashion industry into the future. At its strategic position and level of maturity and given the slow growth of the fashion industry and attendant economic challenges (Economist, 2012; BloombergBusinessweek, 2009), a number of strategies are suggested for Zara to pursue for its sustenance into the future. Among these strategies is Diversification either into a business that also deals in fashion or to an unrelated field adding value and broadening present business. Also recommended is the strengthening and sustenance of its successful strategies such as efficiency in its entire value chain which has been the primary factor that has enabled its differentiation; Market Development in its international expansion and exploitation of new markets; and Market Penetration in the exploitation of the boom in the information technology field, enhancing its virtual platforms and stores. Such ventures have the potential of being important avenues through which the company can acquire additional revenue, as well as, reducing its exposure to vulnerabilities of its centralized model and complete focus on a single line of business. 5.0 Evaluation of strategies A simple and straightforward criteria used to evaluate strategy is the Suitability, Acceptability and Feasibility model (SAF). It offers a process of rationalization to assess importance, priority and likely success of each strategy identified (Haberberg, A., and A., Rieple, 2008; Thompson, et al., 2008). This report evaluates two strategies identified above including: diversification and continued market development. 5.1   Suitability Suitability is concerned with the rationale of the strategy and its overall fit in the organization’s mission (Thompson, et al., 2008). At the company’s level of maturation, with regard to the Industry Life Cycle (ILC), and stature in the fashion industry, diversification is highly recommended as a priority strategy given that its strong competitive position in the fashion industry is constrained by slowed growth in the market. This strategy would enable the broadening of present business to include complementary products (Carpenter and Sanders, 2007). Continued market development is also recommended for Zara enabling it to tap into new markets enhancing its growth and ensuring its sustainability. These strategies would generally also enable the company to lower its vulnerabilities to financial and political factors that could affect it given its centralized model, as well as risks attendant to the fashion industry (Economist, 2012; Mintzberg, et al., 2008). 5.2   Acceptability Acceptability deals with the expected outcomes of the implementation of strategy and expectations of stakeholders (Thompson, et al., 2008). Diversification, if pursued, would enable the capturing of cross-business strategic fits such as the creation of new competitive strengths and capabilities, the sharing of facilities to reduce costs, and/or the spreading of risks across diverse businesses (Christodoulou   and Patel, 2012). Market Development and entry into new territories/geographical areas and distribution channels enable the company to exploit markets that are not saturated, utilising its surplus production capacity. These strategies would enable the generation of additional revenue and the securing of shareholder interests which contribute to the enhancement of shareholder value (Carpenter and Sanders, 2007). They would also reduce risks due to Zara’s centralized mode of operations. 5.3   Feasibility Feasibility is concerned with the capacity of the organization to implement the strategy, especially focusing on the availability of resources (Thompson, et al., 2008). With Zara’s success in the fashion industry and, consequently, availability of adequate financial and organizational resources, as well as the consideration of the diminishing prospects of growth in the fashion industry (Economist, 2012; BloombergBusinessweek, 2009), diversification should be a priority strategy for Zara. Its surplus financial and organizational resources can be exploited to enable the company’s sustenance and growth. These surplus resources can also be utilized in pursuit of Market Development. Its highly efficient distribution system can be scaled up, such as in its present initiative to develop additional distribution facilities (Inditex, 2013), to build the company’s capacity to exploit the opportunity offered. Zara has successfully found activities that matter to customers and has significantly enhanced key activities enhancing its key activities. However, to sustain this strategic position and achieve necessary growth into the future, the company needs to pursue appropriate strategies as outlined above especially diversification, market development and the continuous pursuit of efficiency gains. 6.0 References BloombergBusinessweek, 2009. Zara Looks to Asia for Growth. August 26 Buelens, M., K., Sinding, C., Waldstrom, R., Kreitner, and A., Kinicki, 2011. Organisational Behaviour, 4th Edition: McGrawHill Higher Education Carpenter, M., and W., Sanders, 2007. Strategic Management: A Dynamic Perspective. Harlow: Pearson Prentice Hall Dricscoll, D., and W., Hoffman, 2002. Ethics Matters: How to Implement Values-Driven Management Economist, 2012. Inditex Fashion forward Zara: Spain’s most successful brand, is trying to go global. Mar 24th. LA CORUÑA Haberberg, A., and A., Rieple, 2008. Strategic Management: Theory and Application, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Inditex, 2013. Zara. Viewed from: inditex.com/en/who_we_are/concepts/zara Kim, Nam and Stimpert, 2004. â€Å"The Applicability of Porter’s Generic Strategies in the Digital Age: Assumptions, Conjectures, and Suggestions.† In: Journal of Management, 30, 5 Lynch, R., 2006. Corporate Strategy, (4th ed.), Harlow: FT Prentice Hall Mintzberg, H., B., Ahlstrand, and J., Lampel, 2008. Strategy Safari: The Complete Guide Through the Wilds of Strategic Management , 2nd Edition, Prentice Hall Nordberg, D., 2011. Corporate Governance: Principles and Issues. London: Sage Publications. Christodoulou, I., and Z., Patel 2012. BKEY 601 Strategic Perspectives, McGraw Hill editions. Thompson, A., A., Strickland, and J., Gamble, 2008. Crafting and Executing Strategy: (16th edition), Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill