Why the United States dropped essays

Why the United States dropped essays Why the United States dropped the Atomic Bomb: Persuasive Essay The atomic bomb is the subject of much controversy. Since its first detonation in 1945, the entire world has heard the aftershocks of that blast. Issues concerning Nuclear Weapons sparked the Cold War. We also have the atomic bomb to thank for our relative peace in this time due to the fear of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). The effects of the atomic bomb might not have been the exact effects that the United States was looking for when they dropped Little Boy and Fat Man on Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively (Grant, 1998). The original desire of the United States government when they dropped Little Boy and Fat Man on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not, in fact, the one more commonly known: that the two nuclear devices dropped upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki were detonated with the intention of bringing an end to the war with Japan, but instead to intimidate the Soviet Union. The fact of Japan's imminent defeat, the undeniable truth that relations with Russia were deteriorating, and competition for the division of Europe prove this without question. Admittedly, dropping the atomic bomb was a major factor in Japan's decision to accept the terms laid out at the Potsdam agreement otherwise known as unconditional surrender. The fact must be pointed out, however, that Japan had already been virtually defeated. (McInnis, 1945) Though the public did not know this, the allies, in fact, did. Through spies, they had learned that both Japan's foreign minister, Shigenori Togo and Emperor Hirohito both supported an end to the war (Grant, 1998). Even if they believed such reports to be false or inaccurate, the leaders of the United States also knew Japan's situation to be hopeless. Their casualties in defending the doomed island of Okinawa were a staggering 110,000 and the naval blockade which the allies h...

Pro Tips Turning your Blog into a Bestselling Book

Pro Tips Turning your Blog into a Bestselling Book Pro Tips: Turning your Blog into a Book Who needs the traditional press anymore? With the democratization of the web, bloggers and social media users can now reach audiences of thousands - if not millions - of eager eyeballs. And once any writer has that kind of platform, it is only a matter of time before publishers come knocking on their doors. Have a look on Amazon, and you'll find plenty of books written by bloggers on topics ranging from business and finance to personal development and pop culture.Many bloggers have resisted the siren call of publishing. But with hundreds of posts under their belt, most bloggers have cleared the first hurdle that most new authors face: they can write. Not just in the sense of being able to put their thoughts to paper and engage an audience, but also by making a regular habit out of writing. How can bloggers become authors? Check out these tips from top ghostwriters With advice from Vanessa Mickan and Marcia Layton Turner, two professional ghostwriters who have helped countless authors publish their first books, we’re taking a peek behind the curtain to see how and why bloggers can (and should) make the leap into the world of publishing.The best reasons for writing a book Old school 💠ªÃ°Å¸â€™ ª 3 years ago and still going !! You ladies are my motivation everyday 💛 Thankyou for all you do. Australian personal trainer Kayla Itsines is practically a cottage industry of feel-good fitness thanks to the inspirational messages, pictures, and workout suggestions  she regularly posts. Leveraging a  massive online following (6 million and counting), she has released a lucrative workout app and self-published an ebook called  The Bikini Body Training Guide. What do @TuckerMax @kayla_itsines and @tferriss all have in common? 5. Tim Ferriss Talk about an immersion course! If you want to learn how to become an author, there are few better ways than working with someone who has substantial experience of writing successful books. Think of it as a turbo-charged internship that you happen to be paying for 😉 If you want to learn how to WRITE a great book, here's why you should consider hiring a ghostwriter. 6. Ghostwriters are publishing insiders Ghostwriters come from many backgrounds, but the best ones have plenty of experience in the publishing industry - often as acquisition editors. They can help you understand whether you should self-publish or pursue  traditional publishers. If you decide to go for the latter, they can help you through the process of pitching to editors. It’s not uncommon for ghostwriters to work on  book proposals: creating a pitch document that lays out your book’s content on a chapter-by-chapter basis as well as demonstrating why you are the perfect person to author a book on your subject. Once they’ve put together your proposal, they can even help you identify the right publishers to send it to.Intrigued by the idea of working with a professional on your book? Find out more about choosing a ghostwriter with  this step-by-step guide or by reading  this article from the world’s most successful ghost.Have you considered making the jump from blogger to author? What do you see as your biggest incentives and obstacles? Feel free to share your thoughts, questions, or strong disagreements in the comments below.

Anthopology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Anthopology - Essay Example According to the researches of Chavez, Pedraza and Rimbaut; there are clear distinctions between a migrant and a settler. Migrants could be regarded as people that temporary residents of an area; thus migrants are people that leave their permanent place of residence and live in other areas temporarily in search of greener pastures. On the other hand, settlers are people that have the privileges of a citizen of a particular country or region after living there for a particular number of years. Thus, Chavez believes that undocumented immigrants are people that start out as illegal immigrants and they could actually attain the status of a settler after staying there for a particular number of years. The notion about undocumented immigrants is what actually affects the way that undocumented immigrants carry out their duties as workers in the United States of America. These undocumented immigrants do not see themselves as permanent residents, but as temporary workers that have a short sti nt in the United States of America. The undocumented workers are faced with the challenge that they would have to go back to their native countries someday (Chavez, 1998). ... The three phases are separation, transition and incorporation. The separation phase is the stage that the undocumented immigrants are separated from their friends and families and this represents an emotional period in the lives of the undocumented immigrants. The transition phase is the stage that the undocumented immigrants are presented with the opportunity of moving to a higher level in their lives as they try to become a member of a society that is actually alien to them. The incorporation phase is the stage that the undocumented immigrants try to in integrate themselves into their new home and society and they identify with the values and norms of this society during the incorporation phase. And this is just like the rite of passage as it takes place when someone makes a reasonable progress by changing from one status to another (Chavez, 1998). Chavez carried out his fieldwork by conducting interviews among undocumented immigrants living in different places. He organized struct ured interviews and informal interviews for these undocumented immigrants. The difficulties he faced in the course of his field work are that most of the interviews were usually time-consuming (Chavez, 1998). Chavez chose to refer to them as undocumented immigrants due to the fact that he felt that was the most polite and neutral term to use to classify these groups of individuals as other terms that were used were too harsh on these people. Chavez characterizes the social diversity of northern San Diego based in the different backgrounds of the people that reside there. He also characterizes them by the number of years they have stayed in the United States and the factors that affect the way they live. The undocumented immigrants fit into the larger society in areas that

Confucius Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Confucius - Essay Example fill the duties that they are supposed to perform for their families and their parents, but where such people are just being dutiful yet having no respect, there simply will be no difference between feeding their parents and feeding their horses or dogs Confucius, 1355). Thus, respect is what measures the value of a relationship and thus earning it is a great advantage for an individual. Through applying virtue while treating others, respect will be borne, since virtue entails doing what one would expect of others to do to him/her, meaning earning respect out of giving respect to others. The rule of virtue is that â€Å"what you do not wish for yourself, do not wish for others† (Confucius, 1340). Additionally, treating others as one would expect to be treated by them is advantageous, since it will enable an individual to have more friends who surrounds him/her. This is because; the hallmark of achievement of an individual is the trustworthiness with which the individual has been serving others. Trustworthiness on the other hand cannot be cultivated without there being a good and noble relationship between an individual and those who surround him. Having friends is a major benefit for an individual, because friendship brings delight (Confucius, 1355). Secondly, the benefit that an individual reaps from treating others as one wish they would be treated is that; the individual gains contentment. Contentment is derived from the assurance that the others are reciprocating what an individual has done to them, where doing good will always be accompanied by being done good for. Therefore, all that is required to derive contentment in life is just â€Å"loyalty and reciprocity, and that’s all† (Confucius, 1336). Contentment is the result of an individual doing good and not boasting about his good qualities, and without even calling attention to his good deeds. The additional benefit that comes with this aspect of treating others as one would expect to be treated buy them

Psychology And How It Affects The System Of Referencing Essay Example for Free

Psychology And How It Affects The System Of Referencing Essay Cataloging is an olden time procedure that is made to arrange the collection of books within libraries. Of course, since libraries are considered to have a large collection of reading materials, arranging them into categories helps in the process of researching for the students or plain readers alone. However, this procedure of arranging the files and taking notes of the information with regards a certain book takes much time and effort from the librarians that they are already incapable of doing the primary responsibility that they should be addressing in their profession, assisting the readers. Today, the development of technology aides in libraries have created a radical change within the systems of arranging the files as well as redefined the role of librarians in completing the tasks appointed for them to finish. Technological changes are indeed good. As for this matter, the changes of the procedures taken into consideration by libraries have indeed radically changed the ways by which the librarians tried to complete their duties to their profession,. The existence of computer-based programs also made several files in the local libraries available online making it more convenient for readers to utilize. More than that, it could be noted that the digital based Operating System that is used in public libraries have made it easier for readers to find the actual resources that they need for their researches becomes highly possible and efficient for the users. Yes, the impact of technology in library activities as well as within the procedures of referencing could indeed be considered one of the most successful applications that is made and presented by today’s modern technology. Of course, with the massive overflow of informations through the publication of several reading materials, filing them up in a way that readers would have them through easier access today is beneficial. This is also true in terms of psychological referencing. IT is undeniable that both traditional and modern technological approaches make the psychological references more utilized for studies and assessment procedures for present researches. Psychology too interacts with the different approaches used today in referencing systems. Most often than not, the systems carry the fact that there are certain measures that needs consideration in terms of the acceptance of the human behavior with the referencing systems that are concerned with systematically placing references for basis of studies. Because of the utilization of technology, it is undeniable that the major sources on derived from psychological readings had primarily been improved. Both the ideas and the authors are carefully jotted down in researches with ample accuracy that the studies passed about psychology are then considered to be highly authoritative and validated in terms of sourced references. References: VICTOR HERRERO-SOLANA. (March 2006). Graphical Table of Contents for Library Collections: The Application of Universal Decimal Classification Codes to Subject Maps. Information Technology and Libraries. JOHN D. BYRUM JR. AND DAVID W. WILLIAMSON. (March 2006). Enriching Traditional Cataloging for Improved Access to Information: Library of Congress Tables of Contents Projects. Information Technology and Libraries. Library Information and Technology Association. (February 2007). Futurespeak: A Preface to Top Technology Trends in Libraries.

Racism in Childrens Literature Essay -- Race in America

For my research project I chose the topic of Racism in Children's Literature. I chose this area of study because it is something that bothers me and I know as a child in school I was very uncomfortable with assignments that dealt with racism. One day I would like to make a difference to all the people who are affected by racism. My hypothesis states that if educators are better trained to deal with the delicate subject of racism in children's literature, books would not be banned, yet actually teach the lesson the authors of these books intended for all of us to learn. During an International Board on Books for Young People conference in New Delhi, India, Spyros Kyprianou stated, "Books for young people are the main cultural nourishment for our youth. For this reason they must send messages and teachings of humanism and altruism, love for the lofty principles of freedom, justice, and democracy, respect for moral values and longing for universal fraternization and peace in the world is conducive to the creation of a better future for mankind." Writing has been an important part of every culture from the beginning of time. The illustrations of cavemen have evolved immensely. Today, there are millions of published books. In fact, there are over four hundred books published every month. What happens when these books turn into something more? Is there racism in our children's literature? Ironically, the renowned great works of our past is full of racism. The question that remains, how do we teach our children the great lesson that these brave authors intended? According to Roget's Super Thesaurus, racism is defined as prejudice, discrimination, bigotry, bias, segregation, apartheid, intolerance, and white supremacy, (463). Throug... ...ur Literature." The Teachers Lounge. Dec. 2010 65-68. Print. Lee, Harper. To Kill A Mockingbird. New York: Harper Collins, 1993. Print. McCutcheon, Marc. Roget's Super Thesaurus Second Edition. Ohio: Writers Digest Books, 1998. Print. Munin, Art. "Empathy" About Campus. May/June 2007. 30-32. Print Rogers, Rebecca, June Christian. "What Could I Say? A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Construction of Race in Children's Literature. "Race and Ethnicity and Education. Vol. 10.1 March 2007. 21-46. Print Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. New York:.Random House, 1952. Print Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, 1952. Print. Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Random House, 1993. Print. Wolk, Steven. "Teaching for Critical Literacy in Social Studies." The Social Studies. May/June 2003. Print.

Project Management Regency Plaza

Table of ContentsPage 1. Executive Summary (207 words) 2. Introduction (280 words) 3. Project Definition Phase (949 words) 3. 1Problems Encountered during the Project 4. The Project Manager (790 words) 4. 1Assessment of Kris Hodgkins 5. Risk Management (938 words) 5. 1Evaluating Risk Management 6. Miller’s Dilemma (821 words) 7. Final Discussion (398 words) 8. Conclusion (142 words) 9. Appendix 10. References 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Being a successful hotel operator, the Regency Hotel Group (RHG) has the experience, the resources as well as the capability of managing the Regency Plaza Project. So the question is, why has the project been dogged by various problems? From slow sales growth, unhappy customers to increasing costs, internal conflict as well as work delays, the list is extensive. One major reason for this appears to be poor planning. With proper planning and project management in place, scheduling and coordination is made much easier. Any arising problems could be identified and resolved which would lead to less time and money spent on rectification. This would in turn enable more time and resources to be spent on the refinement of the works which would result in the completion and success of the project. The RHG has established a reputation and a brand name associated with good service, luxury and an extensive range of amenities. Failure or even further delays on this project would be detrimental to their reputation. This goes to show the importance of project management in relation to the organization’s strategic mission. This report will assess how the Regency Plaza project was managed and implications for future project managers to take note of. 2. Introduction Lewis (2005; P23) mentioned that haste makes waste and it is very true. But in the â€Å"hurry up and get it done world†, there is little patience with â€Å"wasting time† on all that planning. The result? Rework and rectification, which is 100 percent waste. Experts estimated that one-third of the cost of the average project goes to correcting errors through reworks. Having said the above, there is still no flawless project process. Why is that so? This is because we are all human beings, and human beings tend to make mistakes. In situations where time, cost and resources are of special concern, project anagers tend to make more irrational decisions, resulting in more re-work. The Regency Plaza case study is a key example. So how can these errors be minimized? What projects managers can do to minimize these errors is to ensure that there is proper planning, project design and project management. Projects are stepping stones of corporate strategy and its success is the lifeblood of every organization RHG is well known for her luxurious fitt ings and high service quality in the hotel industry. The Regency Plaza project was formulated using this strategy in the challenging market environment. The role of the project manager (which in this case is Hodgkins), is to take responsibility for the overall success of the project. However, this is not seen in the Regency Plaza project. As indicated, this project has been racked with many uncertainties. This essay will evaluate the following: 1) The Project Definition Phase of Regency Plaza, 2) The Role of the Project Manager, 3) The Overall Risk Assessment, and lastly 4) The Implications for the Project Manager facilitating the pace of the project. 3. Project Definition Phase The overall project definition phrase goes according to the following cycle diagram which shows the interrelationship between the 3 stages of project definition. Goals RHG had a clear goal in mind of what they wanted to achieve in this project development; that is, to develop Regency Plaza. This is their first attempt venturing into building luxury condominiums units together with hotel rooms. The financial aim was to earn projected gross profits of $134. 4 million and net profits of $26 million. In the development of Regency Plaza Project, luxury condominium units are also included. The management failed to take into account the fact that they are venturing into a new business territory involving long-term residential condominium units. Hotel guests and condominium residents have different levels of expectations not to mention the fact that the Regency Plaza is a luxury development. While being established and successful in their main business is good, perhaps this has also contributed to the over-confidence of the management and their failure to set appropriate realistic goals. A project priority matrix was first developed to identify the various levels of project priorities in terms of time, performance and cost which interelate to the goals set. Project Priority Matrix | | | | | | | | | | | | This would signify the following for the Regency Plaza Project: ? If the project is behind schedule, there will be a reduction in the completion time in order to successfully market the product ? If the project is behind schedule, cost budget will be increased to speed up work ? The original specifications fixed cannot be compromised Specifications When the project management team under the leadership of project manager Hodgkins was set-up by RHG management, plentiful amounts of information/data/specifications was provided. It was a tough period for Hodgkins as she needed to undertake many decisions of deciding on the project’s main specifications. For instance; she had to decide on the number of units that would be offered when the project was completed. From RHG’s perspective, obtaining the maximum profit from the 96 units would be deemed as a wise decision, whereas considering the duration and deadline of the project, choosing to build more units would be tedious not only in terms of planning and meeting deadlines but also with regards to cost in terms of materials. At the same time, one of the key strategies of the development was allowing buyers the option of customising their units. As such, the decision to opt for more units is a core decision which would greatly affect the project’s main specifications whereby the rest of the specifications that follow would be affected as well. Tasks and Responsibilities As ambitious as RHG may be, following the concept development, they not only left key decisions but also the majority of the project responsibilities and decision-making power to Hodgkins. However, this fact was not communicated to the rest of the project participants, resulting in many individuals influencing the project manager’s decision. RHG management had failed to organize the task and responsibilities in a systematic manner where there is proper information dissemination and a tight chain of command. The management also failed to supervise and maintain a series of checks and control for the entire project. It was also noted that the management had a different project team working on the hotel but the same contractor. It is essential that both teams work closely as any delay by either party would impact on the other as could be seen when construction slowed down on the hotel nearing the completion date due to issues with the condominium units. Conflict and unhappiness with the contractor and vice-versa also impacted the other. Decision making process hindered by too many parties pic] 1. Problems Encountered during the Regency Plaza Project Unable To Complete Before Scheduled Time In the case of the Regency Plaza Project, the hiccup encountered by the project manager was behind schedule If a clear and sufficient time frame was pre-planned in the project definition phrase, the possibility of such a problem occurring would be greatly reduced. The project manager had failed to allocat e and include an amount of time/duration into the entire project duration as a contingency plan to rely on in the event of phrase failure or delays.. In the initial tender stage with the contractor, the lowest bid selected and the selected contractor was persuaded to cut off 3 months from their target date. This was agreed with the understanding that the timeline was tight but with minimal changes and disruptions, the time line could still be met. With this in mind, the project manager should note that no disruptions or delays could be tolerated. There also appears to be a lack of proper checks and progress updates, as if this was present, the problem would be flagged earlier on and measures to resolve this could be established. Decision making hindered by multiple stake holders The decision-making process, right from the conceptualisation stage had to go through tedious discussions with the stakeholders. The nature of the project itself, with two separate project teams (hotel and condo) as well as the customisation element, meant that while the responsibility laid with Hodgkins and she was tasked to make major decisions, she had difficulty doing so as she needed to accommodate and take the various stakeholders into consideration while trying to obtain the optimum profit/benefits. If the major decision maker has been determined during the project definition phrase, a systematic flow utilising the decision making matrix should be used to avoid the problem of too many decision-makers. 4. the Project Manager The role of the project manager involves integrating, planning, organizing, controlling and leading. Hodgkins needs to be able to properly communicate and combine the crossing points of functional departments, the subcontractors and other stakeholders. In the initial planning stage, Hodgkins needs to identify the task each stakeholder is involved in and the targeted completion deadline. This will provide a better picture of the resources availabile at each stage of the project. Hodgkins is required to manage and organize the project team that was put together for her by Regency. This controlling role requires the project manager to plan out the objectives and processes required to reach the end goal. Following which, the assigned processes need to be implemented and at various stages, the results need to be tracked and tallied to ensure that the expected outcomes are reached. Lastly, project manager must be flexible and react decisively. There is a eed to constantly keep track and analyze the cause of any differences and re-evaluate the whole process and make the necessary changes. A project manager should lead by example as it is a highly visible management style that will build and sustain cooperative relationships. The skills required as a project manager would be as follow; 1. Good communication ensures that valuable information related to the project status is provided in a timely and effective manner. 2. Ability to work as a team will allow team members to understand their roles and responsibilities on the project and work collaboratively. 3. Listening skills is important because good listening skills is needed to truly hear and try to understand what others on the project are trying to say 4. Planning skills will help the project manager provide each functional department a clearing schedule of their work. 5. Persuasion techniques – influencing without direct authority and obtaining win-win situations 4. 1Assessment of Kris Hodgkins Hodgkins dismissed Farley’s, a renowned condominium marketing consultant, suggestion on building larger but less units. Her focus was to hit the projected sales targets and failed to consider the merits of Fraley’s suggestion. She also realized that customization had disrupted the completion of the project, but did not try to persuade the management on giving up the idea. If she had done so with the evidence of the increase in cost, wastage of materials and potential complaints from customers that may likely lead to damages to the company’s reputation, the management may have reconsidered their commitment. Hodgkins choose not to discuss with the buyers about the option on customizing individual units, as she felt that most of the customizing could only be done after the building was completed. This resulted in the wasting of materials and resources as the base design that was constructed had to be ripped out and rebuilt according to the buyers’ changes. This has also resulted in a delay in the work flow because with incomplete drawings the main contractors are not able to get accurate quotes from the subcontractors. By not processing and disseminating vital information promptly, miscommunication occurs, the work process is lengthened and the pressure is placed on the final recipient. A key example of this is the situation where Hodgkins only delivers sketches from the interior designer to O’Brian and Sinclair when she had the time. An instance where miscommunication results is when Hodgkins never explains to Helen Miller that the reason why the bills she received are so expensive is because of the complexity of the work and the incomplete design provided by Susan Randolph. Incomplete control and bad planning where there is no proper task breakdown structure in place resulted in continual changes to design even while the opening date is closing in. This causes the already tight timeline to be stretched even further, not to mention the fluctuation in manpower, increasing costs and subsequent further delay to the project. As mentioned earlier, the two project managers from Regency are working as different entities although the main objective is for the building to be completed sooner. Furthermore when Hodgkins realize that sales was not doing very well, she did not discuss with Farley and the sales staff on ways to improve sales figure. It can be concluded that Hodgkins is not a good project manager. She failed to communicate vital information to the stakeholders. She was given a team to help on the sales but did not make good use of it. It was only till things were getting out of hand that she called for a meeting. If she had done so earlier, this would have reduced the amount of time and resources wasted. There is also evidence of poor control and checks, bad planning and a refusal to address issues and update management of problems. 5. Risk Management The Risk Management Process consists of four stages which are elaborated below; 5. 1Stage 1: Identify – Risk Identification Identification ensures that actions and contingencies are focused upon specific risks. Actions may then be developed to specifically target this risk and attempt to reduce its impact. Risk Breakdown Structure i. Complexity – The strategy of customisation of condominium units resulted in the delay of the project’s completion. Hodgkins did not identify and assess such risks when she took on this project. If she had done so, it would have allowed her to factor this in when assessing the contractors and costs and would also have given her ample time to develop choices of strategy to tackle the problem. ii. Subcontractors – Time was an issue during the designing process when making alterations to the condominium. This would have been acceptable if the issue had been addressed at the beginning and contingency plans were made. But Hodgkins preferred to take the chance of hoping customers would settle for what was given instead. This was a curious decision that she made in view of the fact that customisation was a selling point for the condos and the target market consisted of wealthy couples who were likely to have higher expectations and would want something personalised and unique. It would not be surprising and would in fact be expected that they would opt for customisation despite the additional cost to them. This judgement error by Hodgkins resulted in problems with regards to work schedules and budgets. Once alterations were required, the process of designing these changes would take weeks. This placed a lot of pressure on the contractors. iii. Construction Management – Due to the customization option available to the buyers, Hodgkins was required to ensure proper management of the overall construction of the project. Any delay on any aspect of the project, eg the delay in completing floors would have a chain effect and cause delays to other parts of the project (i. . the Millers’ case) and result in additional costs. While the buyers are willing to pay for the cost of alterations that they have made, the extra costs associated with the delaying of the entire project would not be their responsibility. Due to the fact that the contract between RHG and the contractors was a fixed sum contract, as such the contractors would be extremely cautious of committing to anything. 2. Stage 2: Analyse – Risk Assessments Rank risks according to the likelihood that the risk will occur and also the severity of its occurrence. The ranking is usually done using words such as ‘Severe’ or ‘Highly/Likely’ which are then linked to numerical values that can be multiplied together. The results can then be ranked, with the highest number the one which most requires attention. For Regency Plaza Project, the major potential risks are plotted below Risk Management Assessment Matrix | | | |Contractors- Time Length | | | | |Complexity |Construction Management | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 5 4 Likelihood 3 2 1 1 2 3 4 5 Impact Red zone–Major Risk Yellow zone-Moderate risk Green zone–Minor risk 5. 3Stage 3: Planning – Risk Response Development Risks cannot be ignored. They may be tolerated, treated, transferred to another party or terminated. Below are some plans that can be used to tackle the major risks: i. Complexity – Solutions of strategy to reduce possible risk damage will be accepting the recommendation offered by Farley on building larger units. If Farley’s recommendation had been taken up, the risk of complexity will be reduced due as there will be lesser buyers and conversely less complications and liaison required. This will result in lesser probability of alterations and the progress of the project can be increased tremendously, while additional cost due to delays is avoided. In terms of the consideration of revenue, bigger units can be priced higher thereby making up for the lesser units. Another alternative will be as mentioned before, if Hodgkins had identified the risk of complexity upon taking up this project, she will then have the necessary time to plan out and tackle the source of this risk. Other than factoring in sufficient contingency time, she would also be able to appeal to management and stakeholder to lengthen the time scheduled for completion. This additional time would enable additional marketing of the units and possible recommendations from satisfied buyers which would assist in the slow sales. ii. Subcontractors – If the issue had been tackled earlier then a visible framework could have been set up with adequate and fixed deadlines that would cause little or no problems to the contractors and allow the changes to be made before critical areas of the condominiums were constructed. This difference would also help avoid the majority of complaints from customers regarding delays and slow service. iii. Construction Management – This again could have been planned more effectively if the scope of change had been correctly defined and agreed at an earlier date, allowing for more efficient use of resources and better planning. 5. 4Step 4: Management – Risk Response Control Hodgkins should monitor the project progression, do an extensive risk assessment, anticipate possible risks and handle unforeseen new risks. All these should be updated to project team members and stakeholders during regular meetings. Problems should be embraced and resolved and not concealed and denied. All the team members should be encouraged to identify problems, mistakes and new risks, and ensure that constant communication and information flow amongst the project members. Hodgkins should also make an effort to communicate and highlight issues specifically to the hotel project team who will be directly affected by any problems on the condominium project. 6. Miller’s Dilemma In view of the Millers’ predicament, Hodgkins was found to be trapped in a tight spot with only five options to consider. Option 1: The first option of telling the Millers that it was too late to customize the unit would have a disastrous impact. The buyer-seller relationship and reputation of Regency Plaza and its management would be put at stake if the Millers, who are active and influential members of the Boston social circles, were to spread the information amongst their social circle (who are the potential target market of this project). Even if the Millers decide to undertake this option, extra time and coordination would be required as changes to the unit might involve shutting down the entire floor, hindering construction on other units and causing further delay to work schedules. At the same time, the positive effect of this option might not be beneficial to Hodgkins either as it may make no significant impact on the already delayed work schedule. Option 2: The second option would involve pushing through the changes. This would reduce the amount of demolition work required and keep the Millers satisfied. However, on a macro view, putting the unit on hold would delay schedules and have impact on both direct and indirect costs, eg delaying the hotel project and thereby the loss of possible income from occupancy. Should the Millers decide to draw out this option and the changes take a longer time, the cost liability during the holding phase would be a grey area which would add on to the complexity of the problem. Option 3: The third option to hire a small general contractor to finish the unit before closing may not resolve the Millers’ problems. Extra overhead expenses would be extremely expensive and it would be tedious for Hodgkins to handle two general contractors. The possibility of conflicts and disagreements on roles and responsibilities might arise between the different groups of contractors, adding complexity and delay to the project. This may also impact the morale of worker in Kelly Construction thereby impacting quality of work. But the advantage of hiring small contractors could be beneficial looking at it from a microscopic view. Changes to the Millers’ unit could be accomplished while works on other units could be carried out concurrently. This would allow works to be completed and costs would not be borne by Kelly Construction which would minimise any other inconvenience. On hindsight, this option might be appealing to the Millers as well as they could get their unit on time. But, the price of satisfying the Millers by increasing management expenses significantly may be too great for Hodgkins to justify paying for. Option 4: The fourth option involves stopping work and handing over an empty unit. The advantage of this approach will be that the Millers could finish the unit at their own convenience while works on other units could be done concurrently. However, Hodgkins could still be trapped in the dilemma if she were to execute this approach. On top of the fact that the costs have already been incurred and work would need to be undone, the bank’s unwillingness to lend money could add on to the Millers’ frustration, which could be extremely unfavorable to the reputation of RHG. Regency would also lose control over the project and may be forced to deal with other occupants who want this option. In a construction sense, there may be future issues with works to units done by external contractors. Option 5: In general, the last option of moving the Millers to a different unit on a higher floor would be a more feasible and win-win alternative. It would generate the least negative impact on both time and cost. Most importantly, all parties – the Millers, Kelly Construction, Susan Randolph, Hodgkins and even the RHG, could benefit from this approach. A higher floor unit is of a higher value. Offering to move the Millers there (it is of course recommended that RHG absorbs the price difference), would help to â€Å"compensate† the Millers for any inconvenience caused. This move would be a positive long-term investment in exchange for the satisfaction of the Millers and sustainability of the positive impression for RHG. Likewise, moving the Millers to a higher floor in which interior work had not yet started would buy additional time for the contractors as no demolition work is required. There would be no wastage of materials and significant cost savings would be anticipated. Susan Randolph would also have a larger time frame to make changes to the designs while cost assessment and approval could be done concurrently without affecting the schedule. In view of the fact that sales figures are not high, there would not be any significant inconvenience caused to RHG and in fact this move may assist in sales if the Millers are positive about the Regency Plaza Project and this is circulated in their social circle. 7. Final discussion The above evaluation has revealed that the Regency Plaza was not very well managed. A major factor contributing to the failure is poor planning. The project seems to be in a mess as roles and responsibilities are not properly defined and allocated, the decision- making process is muddled and is not well communicated. there are no proper checks. These problems could be easily overcome if delegation of roles and responsibilities was communicated clearly (refer to appendix on RAM). Every modification introduced within the project phase can have certain impact on the level of achievement of the project (Lock 1992). Each modification could take several weeks so that quotes could be gathered and reviewed. In t he case of the modification of the Millers’ unit, this caused the delay of the scheduled completion of the twelfth floor and has also affected the safety and infrastructure of the building. As such the risk management aspect was not well taken care of. If the issues had been addressed earlier through constructing a project network, this would cause little or no problems to the contractor as it allows changes to be made before critical areas of the condominium were constructed Newell (2002) suggested that assumptions must be made for the purpose of project planning. However in Hodgkins’ case, her assumptions are flawed and not thought through properly. She assumed that most buyers would not customize their units and would settle easily for what was given. By assuming such scenarios, she had overlooked the target market for the project, ie the wealthy. This error in judgement disrupted the completion of the project, raised overall budgets and caused much dissatisfaction among the project group. To make matters worst, the marketing strategy adopted by Hodgkins was that of word of mouth. With complaints of delay, cted the sales performance of the project was affected and a poor image of Regency was projected. Hodgkins would have done better to have done research on the buying patterns of her target market or spoken to her contacts, market specialists or even to have discussed with her team. If the above problem was to be addressed or realized earlier, the impact would have been minimized. While assumptions may not be a bad thing and in fact are encouraged, they must be made with a contingency plan and for Hodgkins case, she does not seem to have any. 8. conclusion The Regency Plaza project was a race against time and time means money. This situation put Hodgkins in a tight spot and many decisions needed to be made immediately to avoid any delays. Many irrational decisions were thus made which affected the overall progress of the project. As a project manager, success of the project should be the first priority. Coming up with possible alternatives to tackle the tough situation is critical. Although many possible solutions were provided, however Hogkins did not appear to have used many of them to resolve the current issues related to the project. Lock (1992) mentioned that to achieve the project objectives, People, Communication, Jobs and Resources must be properly organized. Planning and coordination is essential. To summarise, Project Managers are key to the success of any project and are worth their weight in gold. . Appendix Responsibility Assignment Matrix(RAM) Task/Resource |PM: Hodgkins |KDS |O’Brian and Sinclair |Kelly Construction |Millers Designer: Randolph |Consultant: Farley |Sales Team | |Sales and Marketing |R | | | | |C |R | |Building Architectural |A |R |R |C | |C | | |Customization |I | |C |R | | | | | Managing the subcontractors | |I |I |R | | | | |Miller’s interior design |I |I |C |C | R | | | |Construction invoices |R | |R |R | | | | | R = Responsible (People who do the work) A = Accountable (People who make sure the work gets done) C = Consulted (People who provide input before and during the work) I = Informed (People who are kept informed of progress) Blue boxes refers to the stakeholders 10. REFERENCES 1. Ballard G & Whelton M, 2002, Wicked Problems in Project Definition, Retrieved on 14th September 2009, from http://www. leanconstruction. org/pdf/WickedProblemsinProjectDefinitionIGLC10. pdf 2. Gray C. F & Larson E. W, 2008, Project Management: the managerial process, 4th Edition, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, America. 3. Juan R. S, 2009, Good Project Manager, Retrieved on 27th September 2009, from http://www. gaebler. om/Good-Project-Manager. htm 4. Lewis J. P, 2005, Project Planning, Scheduling & Control 4th Edition, McGraw Hill, America 5. Lock D, 1994, Project Management 5th Edition, Gower Publishing Company Limited, America 6. Meredith J. R & Mantel S. J, 2003, Project Management; A Managerial Approach 5th Edition, John Wiley & Sons, America 7. Newell M. W, 2002, Preparing for the Project Management Professional P MP 2nd Edition, Amacom, America 8. The Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM), 2009, Retrieved on 20th September 2009, from http://www. mindtools. com/pages/article/newPPM_RAM. htm 9. Weiss J. W & Wysocki R. K, 1992, 5-Phase Project Management, Perseus Books Publishing, America 10. Yagiz O, 2008, Project Planning, Retrieved on 14th September 2009, from http://www. emu. edu. tr/~oyagiz/MGMT409/MGMT409-05-BW. pdf BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Berkun S, 2005, The Art of Project Management, O’Reilly Media, Inc. , America 2. Bruce A & Langdon K, 2007, Manage Projects Dorling Kindersley Limited, London 3. Burke R, 2003, Project Management Planning and Control Techniques 4th Edition, John Wiley & Son, UK 4. Egeland B, 2009, Project Management Tips, Retrieved on 27th September 2009 from http://pmtips. et/ 5. Lewis J. P, 2007, Fundamentals of Project Management 3rd Edition, Amacon, America 6. Lockyer K, 1985, Critical Path Analysis 4th Edition, The Bath Press, Great Britain 7. Lovegrove H, 2008, Good Project Managers are hard to find! , Retrieved on 23th September 2009 from http://www. pmhut. com/good-project-managers-are-hard-to-find 8. Randolph W. A, 1988, Effective Project Planning and Management; Getting the Job Done, Prentice Hall, UK 9. Reh F. J, 2009, Project Management 101, Retrieved on 16th September from http://management. about. om/cs/projectmanagement/a/PM101. htm 10. Shackleton E, 2005, Managing your people; real life lessons from top business leaders, BBC Books, London 11. Tusler R, 1996, An Overview of Project Risk Management, Retrieved on 22th September 2009 from http://www. netcomuk. co. uk/~rtusler/project/riskprin. html ———————– Performance Cost Time Constrain Enhance Accept Marking Consultant (Farley) Clients Vocal Neighbourhood Groups Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) KDS Associates Regency Hotel Management Project Manager Hodgkins Decision Making Process

Cisco Systems Essay

1. How have Cisco’s channels evolved in the last 10 – 15 years? Why have they evolved that way? What does the future look like? Cisco is the leader in the switches and router market. Cisco was described as a classic start-up fairy tale. Indirect sales and distribution through resellers was responsible for the small percentage of products delivered in the early 1990s. Cisco model was praised as a successful indirect sales and channel strategy. In 1995, Chambers (CEO) took the helm and the company played a leading role in the internet revolution. Market capitalization exceeded $500 billion in 2000. Cisco’s sales had crossed $18 billion and it boasted relationship with 600 VARs worldwide. The company’s sale took a hit after the telecom and dot-com crash in 2001. The company reported $1 billion loss in the same year. Due to the disaffection and dissatisfaction among the resellers the company was forced to review and revamp the go-to market strategy. Routers and Switches are the key components of Cisco. Its explosive growth and the growth of Internet were inextricably intertwined. Its router technology was a crucial component of the rapid internet buildout in the 1990s. This success was achieved from basic high-end connectivity, multilayer intelligent service switching solutions. The company has to evolve the goto market strategy and implement the customized pyramid so that new strategy doesn’t create inter-channel conflict determines the future of the company 2. What grade would you give Cisco for managing that evolution? Good or bad? Why? I would provide an A grade to the firm for managing the evolution. It was good implementation, when started the company sold whoever had an application on the technology however with the market exploded in the 1990s, the company relied on channel partners who added unique value, cost effectively. The company followed divide-and-grow policy, doubling the number of sales territories by cutting each in half and expecting the same business from each half. 3. Against the background of your answer to the above two questions, how should Cisco distribute VoIP products? Through voice VARs? Data VARs? or both? I would recommend the distribution of VoIP products through both voice and data VARs. Even though voice channel was considerably more consolidated than the data channel however it is agreed that voice needed to be added to the mix of already existing data VARs. In the data market, margins for the resellers where in the region 12%to 20% due to the channel competition. On one hand, it makes sense to stay with existing margin structure because the new technology delivered huge cost advantage for the end user. But the Voice VARs were entrenched with PBX firms and it would cannibalize introducing new product line. The maturing nature of the networking market and opportunity provided Cisco to expand their business and needed to the keep the productivity with the existing data VARs. 4. What are your reactions to the Pyramid model advanced in Fig.C of the case? What is the core concept of the model? Is there an alternative evolutional model that Cisco should adop? It was a completely different strategy adopted by Cisco when healthy profit margins on routers and switches were the norm in 1990s. This offered value addition to the resellers and sales volume was the key which showed Cisco’s intention to improve the market share. â€Å"Gold†, â€Å"Silver† or â€Å"Premier† status was awarded to the certified resellers who would in-turn get discount of 42%, 40% or 38% in the products for the categories respectively. The core concept of the model is higher the sales, greater discount and increased profit margins. Even though resellers could make 40% margin, in practice, because of intense competition, the gross margin boiled down to 5% to 18% across the industry depending on the product. Adding to the above, Cisco sold equipment through resellers that fell outside the pyramid structure but specialized in particular markets, on a sale by sale basis and through resellers that acted as product-fulfillment houses. This helped Cisco to quickly increase its share in the switch and router market to high extent. I don’t think there is an alternative evolutional model that Cisco would have adopted.

Sk Ii Executive Summary Essays

Sk Ii Executive Summary Essays Sk Ii Executive Summary Essay Sk Ii Executive Summary Essay EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This case examines PG and whether or not it has the ability and means to make SK-II a global brand. Paul de Cesare, President of Max Factor Japan and GLT member of the beauty care GBU, had to recommend one of three alternatives for a global strategy for the SK-II brand: expand into China, build on the brand’s success in Japan, or introduce SK-II to Europe. In doing so, he also had to keep entry strategies for the different markets in mind, and also the organizational change brought about by O2005. e Cesare should recommend the option of growing the SK-II brand in the Japanese market (where it has only 3% share of the $10B beauty market), and introduce the product into major cities of mainland China. In deciding upon which market to enter, two factors are important: 1. The individual country factors must be analyzed and compared with the core competencies of the PG organization. 2. One must understand what the effects of entering new markets will have on the newly created strategic organizational structure of PG under the O2005 plan Overview: The core competencies of SK-II can be replicated easily in the Asian market (Table 1, Appendix, page 6) The European market has different preferences than the Asian market and very different competitive conditions. Market share of SK-II is still low in Asia. The promise of success as shown by large growth in Japan, home to Asia’s most sophisticated beauty product consumers, necessitates that the focus should be on this region. However, with the new organizational structure of PG supporting the widespread sale of its successful products, an attempt at entry into the European/ UK market might provide clues of expansion into other Western markets. SK-II: Sources of Success Well researched and developed product, provides the multi-step process desired in the sophisticated beauty product market of Japan Service at the counter is strong, leading to customer loyalty

Learn the Conjugations for Sourire (to Smile)

Learn the Conjugations for Sourire (to Smile) Sourire  is a great French verb because it means to smile. When you want to say the past tense she smiled or the present tense we are smiling, the verb will need to be conjugated. In order to do this, youll need to memorize quite a few words and this lesson will introduce you to the essentials youll need. The Basic Conjugations of  Sourire Some French verbs are easier to conjugate than others. Unfortunately, sourire is not one of the easy ones. Thats because its an irregular verb and it does not follow any common rules. However, a verb such as rire (to laugh) does share the same endings. If you study smiling and laughing at the same time, both will be just that much easier to remember. Who knows, you might even have a little fun! The first step in any French verb conjugation is to identify the verb stem (or radical). In this case, that is  sour-. With that, you can use the table to find the correct ending to use. Simply find the subject pronoun needed and choose either the present, future, or imperfect past tense. For example,  I am smiling is  je souris  and we smiled is  nous souriions. Present Future Imperfect je souris sourirai souriais tu souris souriras souriais il sourit sourira souriait nous sourions sourirons souriions vous souriez sourirez souriiez ils sourient souriront souriaient The Present Participle of  Sourire Beyond the verb usage, the present participle of sourire can be used as an adjective or noun. Its easy to form as well. Simply add - iant to the radical and you have souriant Sourire  in the Compound Past Tense The passà © composà © is a compound past tense and its used frequently in French. In order to construct it, you will conjugate avoir into the present tense and follow it with the past participle souri. That gives you jai souri for I smiled and nous avons souri for we smiled. More Simple Conjugations of  Sourire If you need to question to the act of smiling,  the subjunctive verb mood  can be used. When the act is dependent on something,  the conditional  is useful.  The passà © simple  and  imperfect subjunctive  are both literary forms, so youll find those most often in written French. Subjunctive Conditional Passà © Simple Imperfect Subjunctive je sourie sourirais souris sourisse tu souries sourirais souris sourisses il sourie sourirait sourit sourà ®t nous souriions souririons sourà ®mes sourissions vous souriiez souririez sourà ®tes sourissiez ils sourient souriraient sourirent sourissent The imperative  is the one time when its acceptable to skip the subject pronoun. Its useful for short sentences, such as commanding someone to Smile!   Imperative (tu) souris (nous) sourions (vous) souriez

Literature review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Literature review - Essay Example mprove their health and means are devised for them to have less probability of converting into a diabetic patient, the metabolic and cardiovascular abnormalities which are not that severe in nature are hard to identify in fasting plasma glucose FPG and therefore are not well understood. This will help analyze the procedure that needs to be required and the patients that need to take care in order to prevent from being a diabetic patient. It has been identified that obesity is one of the major reasons for people to have diabetes in their early or late stages of life. Obesity and overweight problems are one of the major reasons why people take up fatal diseases. This high rise in obesity is due to the consumption of diets that have extremely high amounts of calories which leads to nothing but obesity and health issues. It was examined that whether dietary energy density was connected with obesity and its related problems including insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome. A study was conducted on diet and energy with n = 9,688. The dietary energy density was calculated on the basis of foods only, no other factor was included. There was used a series of multivariate linear regression models to decide the sovereign connection between dietary energy density, obesity measures (BMI [in kilograms per meters squared] and waist circumference [in centimeters]), glycemia, or insulinemia. There was used Poisson regression model to determine the independent involvement between dietary energy density and the metabolic syndrome as explained by the National Cholesterol and Education Program This study has basically helped in understanding the connection between obesity and the diabetes that people have in young age. It has highly helped in identifying the reasons and the connection between the two factors of fatality which are highly dangerous for life. The article of ‘Coping, Affect, and the Metabolic Syndrome in Older Men: How Does Coping Get Under the Skin?’ by