How to Mange Palouse Soils from Erosion

Table of Contents Introduction Importance of Palouse Soils Causes of Erosion Effects of Erosion on Palouse soils How to Mange Palouse Soils from Erosion Conclusion Works Cited Introduction The level of global environmental degradation is on the increase and many countries are already experiencing some of its effects. Just like other parts of the world, Washington State has been plagued by a lot of natural disasters over the past few centuries and it is currently grappling with the challenges caused by these natural disasters.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on How to Mange Palouse Soils from Erosion specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More For example it has experienced earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Apart from these common disasters, erosion of the Palouse soils has caused serious environmental degradation. These soils are mainly found in the eastern part of Washington State. Importance of Palouse Soils The import ance of this Palouse soils lies in the fact that it is very fertile and it also has the capacity to retain water. â€Å"This is because the particles of the silt that form the Palouse soils have pores that retain water and it therefore has a great agricultural potential† (Duffin 78). Owing to the importance of this soil it is therefore important to analyze the causes of its erosion, its effects and how it can be managed. Causes of Erosion â€Å"The history of the erosion of Palouse soils can be traced back to 1800s when crops were cultivated along the Palouse River Basin† (Duffin 34). This erosion became worse in 1900s when the erosion interfered with the soil fertility. The sharp increase in erosion of Palouse soils during this time was attributed to the destruction of the vegetation which protected the top soil. The inhabitants of the Palouse region cleared the slopes to pave way for cultivation of grains which later exposed the slopes to serious erosions. In the sub sequent years, other factors have contributed to the escalation of soil erosion in this region and they include the following. First, is the issue of farming whereby several crops like winter wheat have been grown on the Palouse area, which has sloppy a terrain. Second, the sloppy nature of the Palouse region makes it prone to soil erosion. This is because water runs faster on sloppy grounds as compared to low lands. The third factor is the increasing number of settlements in the region which also leads to environmental degradation. In addition to these, the loose nature of the silt soil makes it to be eroded easily (Troeh and Donhue 542). Effects of Erosion on Palouse soils The erosion activities on the Palouse soils have caused many environmental challenges in this region and they include the following: â€Å"A survey that was conducted in this region revealed that close to 40 percent of the rich Palouse soils have been lost to erosion, and the situation could become worse if mor e cropland was put into production† (White 220).Advertising Looking for essay on geology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Due to the soil erosion, agricultural production has gone down considerably due to the decreasing fertility of the land. â€Å"The increasing settlements, and cultivations have also led to the lowering of the ridges and some are now as low as seven feet† (Morgan 105). How to Mange Palouse Soils from Erosion Because of the devastating effects of this erosion a lot of mechanisms can be put in place to mitigate its effects on human beings and the environment at large. Several measures including reduction of farming activities in this region have been adopted to curb soil erosion and they have led to substantial reduction in the rate of soil erosion and its effects. The methods to be used in the prevention of this soil erosion should be in line with the landscape of the Palouse soils. Since this la ndscape is very sloppy the following recommendations though not new can be used to manage the effects of the soil erosion (Morgan 116). Farmers in this region should have a consensus on the cultivation practices to be adopted by most of them. For example, they can concentrate on regular planting of crops which do not expose the vegetation to erosion. For example cover crops should be grown extensively. The application of contour farming technique can act as a good solution to a sloppy area like this one. â€Å"This is due to its ability to facilitate soil retention and it can therefore elevate agricultural production from approximately ten to sixty percent† (Morgan 130). Because the Palouse soils are quite weak, the inhabitants of this region should plant many trees especially the evergreen species which will act as wind breaks through out the year. This will prevent soil from being blown off by strong currents of wind. Shrubs should also be maintained in order to check surfa ce â€Å"runoff†. Gabions should also be constructed in areas with deep trenches to check the speed of water that runs down the slope during the rainy seasons. Apart from these recommendations, the government can relocate some of the people living here to other productive lands else where in order to decongest this place. This will ensure sustainable recovery of the Palouse soils. Conclusion If the above remedies can used consistently, the soil erosions that have ravaged the productivity of Palouse soils can be reduced to manageable levels. It is therefore important for all the people living in this place to take an initiative toward protecting their land from any further degradation. The government should also monitor the rate of soil erosion and come up with sustainable programs which will restore the lost soil fertility.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on How to Mange Palouse Soils from Erosion specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Works Cited Duffin, Andrew. Plowed under : agriculture and environment in the Palouse. Washington. D.C: University of Washington Press, 2007. Morgan, Richard. Soil erosion and conservation. New York: Wiley-Blackwell, 2005. Troeh, Frederick and Roy Donhue. Soil and water conservation for productivity and environmental protection. New York: Prentice Hall, 2003. White, Robert. Priciples and practice of soil science: the soil as a natural resource. New York: Wiley-Blackwell, 2005. This essay on How to Mange Palouse Soils from Erosion was written and submitted by user Marvin E. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

How Much You Should Pay for Essays

How Much You Should Pay for Essays How Much You Should Pay for Essays Often, students have doubts whether to ask for help with writing papers on different topics. Of course, the price matters a lot, but first of all, you have to determine if it is really worth doing so. Very few people are born writers, so the only way out for others is to practice hard to master their skills. You need a lot of time for that as well as every paper should be finished by the due date. Students often feel nervous because they have to race against the time. If you want to write a paper by yourself, you have to be sure you know how to do it right. Anyway, even if you do it yourself, you may ask someone to check it, to correct mistakes and the structure of the paper. In such a case, you definitely need help from a professional writer. The question is, what price is both affordable and reasonable to pay for essays. Price vs. Quality There is no doubt that you can easily find an essay writing service that offers prices that are lower than usual. You may think it is so great to have an opportunity to get the task you need for so little money, but on the other hand, try to think of an experienced writer who agrees to write an essay for a low price that does not correspond with their skills and knowledge. It is just not worth turning to them. If you pay too little for your essay, be ready to get the equal quality. Of course, you have to mind that no one will make any efforts to complete a great paper. Thus, the low rates a custom writing service produce have to be a red flag for you as you are more likely to receive not only a poor quality paper sample but also plagiarized. In this case, you have to decide what matters to you the most the quality or price. College writing assignments are not the thing to scrimp on. Isn’t it better to spend a little more and get a unique paper that meets your demands as well as gladden you by its quality? How to Get a Reasonable Assistance? What we offer you is a fair price policy for essays of high quality. Prices at start at $13 per page, which is a standard price for a task like this. In addition, you may be perfectly sure that the writer assigned to work on your order is an experienced specialist. All the writers employed had to show results sufficient enough to meet your requirements. Besides, they also know how to format a paper, so you don’t need to worry about that as well. Whether you need your paper to be formatted in MLA, APA, or Harvard, our writers will effortlessly deal with that. So, place an order with our essay writing service, fill in the order form mentioning all the necessary details to let the writers know what kind of paper you need. Make your instructions clear and precise to avoid any misunderstandings. Select your academic level, type of the paper needed, the number of pages, and the deadline to know how much you will need to pay for your essay. We will do our best to assign the most suitable writer to your order. Why not get high-quality custom help at an affordable price?

Economic Demography (Term project Assignment) Term Paper

Economic Demography ( project Assignment) - Term Paper Example Also it examines the limitations that may arrive due to considering only education as the factor of the wage inequality. Furthermore, it takes into account the other factors that may result in the different wages of people. In this paper I would try to establish the fact that education is a determinant of wage inequalities. For the purpose of my research I’ve collected a data set which has pre tax wages and salary. Against this data set I’ve taken a data set that records the highest grade attended by the individuals. These two data sets are taken specifically to test my hypothesis correctly. For the purpose of the analysis I have also used many literature reviews. The data set that has been used for the education records the highest grade of the individual. This data set has been designed in such a way that it captures the number of years of education for the individuals. The range is from 0 years spent in education to 8 years spent after college in education. Further, it shows that on average in the US, people drop out of the college after their second years. The data set that used for the purpose of the analysis of the income is the personal wage and monthly income of all the individuals in the United States. The range for this data set is not specified which means that it applies to all individual cases. From the data sets that were used, the interesting deduction that one can make is that the correlation of the wage or the salary income and the highest grade attended by the individuals is very high that is -0.8 for 18,447,324 individual cases. (IPUMS samples) The standard errors that have been recorded here are approximately equal to zero which means that the T-static value is 0.00. This ensures that the coefficient of the correlation is statistically significant no matter what confidence level is taken. This is because the null hypothesis (the correlation coefficient equals zero) can be rejected at all levels of

Literature Review for topic overcome resistance to change in a Essay

Literature Review for topic overcome resistance to change in a organization - Essay Example According to Asten (2011), the first strategy that can be employed is to analyze the positive together with the negative effects of the policy that is set to be implemented. In carrying out such analysis, however, it is of significance to look at specific aspects of the policy as the simplicity of implementing such policies. Asten argues that it is far reaching for the heads of any organization to implement policies that are easy to effect. In like manner, Asten is of the opinion that the compatibility of the new policy should be considered and in that regard, it should be observed that the policy should be compatible with the cultures of the organization. Another aspect of the policy that should also be considered according to Asten is the divisibility of the policy. Asten describes divisibility as whether the policy is to be implemented in full or in stages. Homer (2010) is of the opinion that whether a new policy would be implemented in a new organization depends on communication. He defines an ideal communication strategy as a situation where the heads of the organization fill the employees in on any impending changes and the employees similarly, provide the heads with their take on a new policy. Homer argues that the policy may not be favorable to the employees but presenting the policy in a positive manner makes the employees see some sense in the policy that is to be introduced. According to Jansen (2000), one way to overcome resistance to change within an organization is by ensuring that the new policy does not overload the employees in a way. Jansen makes reference to the finite pool of worry where he argues that whenever water is being poured on a sponge, it reaches a point where the sponge becomes saturated, and any more water that is added to it will pour out instead of filling the pores of the sponge. On the same basis, Jansen is of the opinion that in as much as change is necessary

Should public funding be used to provide early childhood education to Essay

Should public funding be used to provide early childhood education to all children - Essay Example However, this fact notwithstanding, the following analysis will consider the extent to which governmental funding of early childhood education would be a net good or an overall net bad from educational, economic, and societal standpoints. As a function of answering such a broad question, it is the hope of this particular author that the reader will be able to draw a more well rounded answer to a question that would otherwise evoke a rather emotional response from the perspective shareholders within the process as well as the taxpayers that will ultimately be left holding the bill regardless of what particular approach is engaged. By analyzing these determinants, it is the further intention of the author that the pros and cons of such a broad and overarching funding will be made manifest and allow the reader to come away with a rather clear understanding of the benefits and drawbacks of such a system might be. Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, one must integrate an understanding and appreciation for the economic constraints that universal government sponsorship of early childhood education would portend. ... As a function of understanding the means by which the United States government ultimately operates, one comes away with the understanding that the elected representatives are responsible to the shareholder citizens with regards to the legislation and proposed budget. In this way, it is easy to see how, regardless of current budgetary shortfalls, a large enough response from the electorate would force the hand of the federal government to act in a way to provide such services to the electorate. Naturally, in doing so, this would have a strong negative impact upon other vital functions of the government, to include many other forms of needed social programs; perhaps Medicaid, Medicare, and/or Social Security funding (Hart 64). As such, it is necessary for the reader/researcher to consider the fact that without exponentially raising tax rates, it will be impossible to seek to add a broad new level of government services without directly robbing from one program to help to pay for anothe r one. From the educational standpoint, the application of universal childhood education can have a massive benefit to the further development of educational standards within the lifetime of the student and can serve to provide a sound basis upon which the educators involved can seek to build. Within the current system, only some shareholders within the student body have the opportunity and/or the means to engage within childhood education. Although this should not be seen as a definitive disadvantage, the fact of the matter is that it provides an unequal footing upon which the first few grades must integrate with the students. A level of basic assumption cannot be provided with relation to what has been covered and what has not. In

A Look At Airasia Management Essay

A Look At Airasia Management Essay The transportation service company that we have selected is AirAsia. AirAsias principal activity is to provide air transportation services. Since 2001, AirAsia has broken the travel norms around the globe and become the worlds best airline. AirAsia has gained an award winning and most low-cost airline in Asia. With a fleet of 72 aircraft, AirAsia flies to over 61 domestic and international destinations with 108 routes, and operates over 400 flights daily from centers in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. AirAsia is a very successful low cost carrier. In a very short time, it became a market leader in the Asia region. AirAsias main base is the Low- Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). Through the corporate philosophy of Now Everyone Can Fly, AirAsia has become more popular and many people choosing Air Asia as their preferred choice of transport. AirAsia believes in the no-frills, hassle-free, low fare business concept can bring the business to very successful and feels that keeping costs low requires high efficiency in every part of the business. Apart from the principal activity of providing airline transportation service, AirAsia also involved in the courier service which consists of Delivery-to-Door (directly to the specific destination) and Airport-to-Airport two parts. The rates of such services are cheaper than other couriers by up to 50 percent lower price. It guarantees your courier with more value and savings. Customers can easily access to the service by just a few clicks in the AirAsias website. It is very convenient, efficient and cost saving. Besides, customers can easily track their consignment using the Google Maps. AA16a History of AirAsia AirAsia was established in 1993. Before 2001, AirAsia fail to sufficiently stimulate the market and attract enough passengers from Malaysia Airlines in order to establish its own niche market. On 2 December 2001, because of the failure of establishment, the airline was up to sale and purchased by Tony Fernandess company Tune Air Sdn Bhd. Tony Fernandes then enrolled some of the lending low-cost airline experts to restructure AirAsias business model. He invited some experts to join the executive team. In late 2001, AirAsia was re-launched in Malaysia as a trendy, no-frills operation with three B737 aircraft as a low-fare, low-cost domestic airline. In 2003, AirAsia has already become more attractive in its market demand, subsequently opened a second hub at Senai International Airport in Johor Bahru and launched its first international flight to Bangkok. After that, AirAsia started a Thai subsidiary, added Singapore itself to the destination list, and commenced flights to Indonesia. Airasia start to commence airline service in many other countries in the subsequent years. In the year 2006, Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) was established in Kuala Lumpur International Airport which cost the establishment fee of RM108 million which can handle 10 million passengers a year. After that, AirAsia has hedged 100% of its fuel requirements for the next three years, achieves an aircraft turnaround time of 25 minutes, and has a crew productivity level that is triple more than Malaysia Airlines. It achieves an average aircraft utilization rate of 13 hours per day. AirAsia is currently the largest single customer of the Airbus A320. The company has placed an order of 175 units of the same plane to service its routes and at least 50 of these A320 will be operational by 2013. On 27 December 2006, Air Asias CEO Tony Fernandes unveiled a five-year plan to further enhance its presence in Asia. In the plan, AirAsia will strengthen and enhance its route network by connecting all the existing cities in the region and expanding further into Indonesia, Southern China and India. Hence, with increase frequency and addition of new routes, AirAsia expects passenger volume to hit 18 million by the end of 2007. On 27 September 2008, AirAsia has on its list 106 new routes to be added to its current list of 60 over the next few years. The number of old routes discontinued has not been publicly disclosed. On 12 November 2008, AirAsia abolished fuel surcharges. In doing so, it claimed to be the first airline in the world to abolish fuel surcharges. By May 2008, the airline had flown 55 million cumulative passengers. In 2010, it has the worlds lowest costs for an airline, at the rate of below 2 cents per seat per kilometer. AA01a AirAsia SWOT analysis SWOT analysis is the combined analysis which examines the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of one company. It is a very important analysis in a company because it can identify the internal (strength and weakness) and external (opportunities and threats) factor for a company in order to achieve their goals and objectives hence to be low cost carrier company in airline industry. To be successful in the company management, a company needs to consider the companys ability and how to integrate it with internal and external factor. Main purpose of the analysis is to identify the internal and external factor that AirAsia need to consider for low cost carrier in airplane industry. Strengths The primary strength of AirAsia is the low cost leader in Asia. The strength of AirAsia is to maintain low cost; whereby they dont have to provide benefits to their workers, but still can maintain the best quality of their fleet. AirAsia has successfully created a low-cost airline mentality among their workforce. The workforce is very flexible and high committed in making AirAsia the lowest cost airline in Asia. AirAsia reduce its cost by attaining efficiency in every part of the business and maintaining simplicity. Therefore every system process must incorporate the best industry practices. The first thing for the low cost apply is the time concept. Time is money. An airline makes money when the aircraft is flying, not when the aircraft is parked.  In order to maintain low cost, AirAsia must consider of high aircraft utilization (which keep the aircraft flying as much as possible) to minimize the time spending on the ground. Secondly, no frills is the factor to achieve low cost. AirAsia only provide those necessities for their customer and reduce the unnecessary cost to be incurred in the fare of airline. For instance, The Company do not provide free food beverages, free seating, ticketless airline are all the activities excluded in order to achieve a more competitive price by wasting money on insignificant services. On the other hand, streamline operations that allow the process making as simple as possible is the key of a successful low cost carrier. The second strength of AirAsia is the excellent utilization of Information Technology (IT). The Low Cost Carrier (LCC) is expected to expand rapidly by attracting more customers to join the market thus increasing the degree of rivalry within the industry. The excellent utilization of IT have directly contributed to their promotional activities, brand building exercise as well keep the cost low by enabling direct purchase of tickets by consumer thus saving on airline agent fees. AirAsia was recognized for being the first airline in the world to introduce SMS and IVR booking solutions to its guests to expand its booking system. AirAsia widely utilizes the internet as a booking and payment channel has kept them to be the leading airline company in Asia. Its comprehensive website at (www. airasia.com), allows guest to book and pay for seats, check flight schedules, and acquire information about the airline. The website is so popular, that approximately 45% of AirAsias business is done th rough internet sales. AirAsia became the first airline in the world to offer a multi-lingual website that comes in 6 languages English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin, Tamil, Thai, and now Bahasa Indonesia. This is also one of the advantages of the company as the website is user friendly as well as enabling company to focus on different market segment especially countries in Asia. On the other hand, the management team of AirAsia is also very good in strategy formulation and execution. This is no doubt a crucial strength for Airasia as company strategy is the core element of a business. To be successful in their long terms objective and their business, AirAsia need to identify their strategic management. Company can easily achieve their vision and mission base on the good management. With good management, company is required to be considered of its ability. The ability of the company can be integrated by the SWOT analysis. Airline industry is a unique and complex industry, thus without a good and right management, its possible that AirAsia could not be able to compete with the complex business environment. AirAsia has a strong management team instead of just a general management. The simply general management involved in the major four functions of planning, organizing, leading and controlling may not be sufficient to support the whole organization. It is more concern in the management internally but rather creating competitiveness. The strategy that management team of AirAsia have formulated was a combined of several proven strategies by other low cost airlines. The strategies included Ryanairs Operational Strategy which emphasis on no frill and landing in secondary air port is a good starting point for the organisation. Other strategies like Southwests People Strategy focus mainly on employee while Easyjets Branding strategy is an excellent idea by linking the organization with other service providers like hotels, car rental and etc. Weaknesses The second part of the internal factor of SWOT analysis is the weaknesses. The main weakness of AirAsia is that they do not have their own maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility. Why AirAsia need maintenance, repair and overhaul facility? It is because since AirAsia is expanding to a huge company and they have huge number of planes need to be serviced in order to ensure the safety of the customer. The lack of own maintenance teams may lead some problems such as renewing contract, misunderstanding of the contact, lack communication, poor quality and delayed services amongst others. On the other hand, they also may not drive the same standards and mission that drives by AirAsia and there is a risk that the confidentiality may be compromised. Thus, without a proper MRO facility, it will affect the productivity and performance of the company causing a hindrance to the road of success of AirAsia. The second weakness of AirAsia is that AirAsia has received a lot of complaint from customers on their service. For examples, flight delays, being charged for more and not able to change flight or get a refund if customers could not make it. Customers are the main source of income for an enterprise especially when it involves services, it is crucial that Airasia set their priority on customers by having the concept of customer first. To maintain a good customer service is essential when competition is getting intense nowadays. When a customer feel unhappy with the services provided to them, it may distort company brand name besides presenting a negative and undesirable image to not only a single customer but a number of them when they are being acknowledge and influent by negative feedbacks through unsatisfied customer. Therefore it is significant for AirAsia to be serious on considering customer complaints and utilized them to improve their services. After reviewing the strengths and weaknesses of AirAsia, we must also consider the external factor of SWOT analysis which is opportunities and threats of Airasia in market place. Opportunities The opportunity of AirAsia is depend on the ever-increasing oil price. The increase of service cost or production cost is the most undesirable result which will decrease the overall return earning of their company. However, the increasing oil price has become another opportunity for AirAsia instead of bringing threat to the company. It is mainly because AirAsia has been emphasized in the low cost strategy and being a low cost leader, although the extra cost of the increase oil price will bring disadvantages to AirAsia, this effect will not be a huge impact to AirAsia, its cost will still be the lowest among all the regional airlines as other airline company also facing the same problem. Thus, AirAsia has a great opportunity to capture some of the existing customers of full service airline and other low cost airlines customers as well. Thus, this opportunity creates a winning position for Airasia when it is a threat for other airline company. Secondly, the ASEAN Open Skies agreement that has been reached is another opportunity for AirAsia. Open Skies is an international policy concept which calls for the liberalization of rules and regulations on international aviation industry especially commercial aviation. ASEAN Open Skies allow unlimited flights among ASEANs regional air carriers beginning December 2008; it allows AirAsia adding Singapore routes which has proven to be high yielding and is expected to deliver sustained profit. This will definitely increase the competition among the regional airlines. Moreover, AirAsia stands at the gate of profitable opportunities, their recent developments and intended expansions will give them a global exposition. As they venture into internet booking and ticketless services for their marketing processes, they would be opened to electronic commerce business solutions for their enterprise, such as SCM, ERP, and EDI etc. Furthermore, the use of internet services for their services would open more opportunities for AirAsia in the process of solving network, communication, and information related problems that could be inherent in the organization. The population of Asian middle class is reaching almost 700 million by 2010 can also creates a larger market and a huge opportunity for all low cost airlines in this region including AirAsia. You can imagine that more and more people would be willing to travel by air; it would bring advantages to AirAsia, however, as well as other company. Threats AirAsia take advantages of lower landing fees at low cost terminal, which is also without airport lounges charges. They also provide E-ticket rather than printed ticket to customer which is cheaper. However, due to the certain rates like airport departure, security charges and landing charges are beyond the control of airline operators, this is a threat to all airlines especially low cost airlines that tries to keep their cost as low as possible. For example, Changi airport in Singapore charges SGD21 for every person who departs from Singapore. This is an extra cost that is compulsory to pay. Different airport charges differently and this might lead to extra uncertain cost for AirAsia. Another threat would be security of their networks. As mentioned above, Airasia is highly depending on their information technology and information system used. For example online booking, customer information and details kept in system may be risky when the security of the networks is susceptible. This will put the company at risk to bear the enormous loss when the information system is being destroyed. The internet is a public domain and as such it is vulnerable to be attacked by hackers or viruses, AirAsia ought to be conscious of these threats and have proper plans and control to prevent any of these to happen. Owning to the facts that most organization are struggling for survival, major players may enter targeted market segment which is profitable. Alternatively, Market segments growth could attract major competition. This will create another threat for AirAsia. AirAsias profit margin is about 30% and this has also already attracted many competitors. Some of the full service airlines have or planning to create a low cost subsidiary to compete directly with AirAsia. For example, Singapore Airlines has created a low cost carrier such as Tiger Airways which is one of their business strategies to gain market value and compete with low cost airline. Therefore it is vital for Airasia to maintain competitive among the rival by upgrading their services consistently. Users perception that high budget airlines may compromise their safety, thus to keep costs low is another threat to AirAsia. AirAsia must have high-quality planning in order to provide customers first-class airline service by ensuring their safety and comforts with an affordable price. AirAsia needs to aware of the market demands and policies for local territories, because economic slowdown could reduce demand for AirAsia. Local Airlines would have easy access to certain information that could aid them; therefore, AirAsia needs to be on constant market audit, market researches and control to keep up with such competition. In conclusion, Swot analysis is a very effective way of identifying strengths and weaknesses, and of  examining the opportunities and threats one tends to face. Carrying out an analysis using  the SWOT framework helps AirAsia to focus activities into areas where one is strong and where  the greatest opportunities lie. SWOT analysis from AirAsia is one of the major components to strengthen the business and allow them to be able to compete with the competitor by possessing a firm position in low cost carrier airline industry. Porters Five Forces Model Power of suppliers In every business industry, suppliers always exist. Power of the suppliers is important as it will affect the industry. Suppliers supply inputs in order to produce goods or services to the customers. Inputs can be referred to raw materials, services such as expertise, components, and labor which are essential to run the firm or to power up the company. In the airline industry, the suppliers are quite influential since there are only two major suppliers which are Airbus and Boeing. Hence there are not many choices for airline industry. Nevertheless, the global economic crisis has limited the new entrant and also reducing the upgrade of planes in the immediate future.    However, both suppliers provide almost same standard aircrafts and hence the switching to AirAsia is low. Moreover, AirAsia placed a large amount of order from Airbus in order to accommodate the heavy demand from the public on its reasonable flights. AirAsia have no problem acquiring airplane from their supplier, AirBus because AirAsia is mainly an AirBuss airplanes user. Its rival, MAS whereas is mainly a Boeings airplanes user. Power of buyers. Besides the compulsory existence of suppliers, buyers are also necessary in the business industry. This is because they are the prerequisite for the company to keep running. Buyers who are also recognizes as the stakeholders are people who demand goods and services from the firm. This tells us that buyer tends to hold bargaining power and this pressurizes firms. Price changes can be sensitive in the competitive market and the consequence might cause firms to lose or gain in revenue. In our case, buyers demand reasonable and affordable flight price from AirAsia. Years after this airlines been incorporated, it successfully satisfy the buyers bargaining power for flights at a low fare by introducing campaign such as Mind Blowing Fair, New Year Sale, 500,000 Free Seats and the latest with Fabulous Fly-Day. AirAsia is first to introduce ticket-less traveling, are nearly accomplish. In this industry, buyers have no bargaining power on price of fare like those in a morning market. In fact, they are often offered cheap fare flight on limited period such Every Friday, 11am-4pm. AirAsia adopted an information technology (IT) similarly to other airlines which called Yield Management System (YMS). Even though this system has affected the price of fare, but it is able to achieve fairness in business to the customers and the firms. As an example, a reservation done at a later date will be charged more than the one done earlier for the same seat. This is to provide advantage in term of lower price for the customers who had put efforts in buying fares earlier. Moreover, high demanded routes or destination tends to be more expensive compare to destinations which are less active. By doing so, AirAsia would be able to cope with total seats demanded by the customers. If price of fares are the same overall, AirAsia would unable to earn from flights which are less popular. The intensity of competitive rivalry The word intensity means the pressure or amount of forces being applied. Thus, this Porters force talks about how competitive are the firms or companies in the business market. In this competitive market, many firms often fall due to their incapability to cope with competitive pressure from the rivals. Those firms will end up losing more than their cost of input or eventually strive into other markets. In order to survive in a competitive market, firm must not fall into dilemma when it comes to advertising, invest in research and development(RD), innovate new yet efficient product and up to date with latest technology. This is because those efforts by least can provide the firm competitive advantages in the market. In Malaysia, there are only two main airlines companies which are operating and dominating in the countrys market, apart from other foreign airlines company. They are AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines (MAS). Firefly is actually a wholly owned airline by MAS. Both of these airlines have been rivals for at least a decade. Thus, it can be concluded that AirAsia is receiving high intensity of competitive pressure from MAS. MAS have always strived to provide comfortable and reasonable fare flights to compete with AirAsia. However, AirAsia is still capable to resist their pressure by providing customers with cheap fare tickets without losing the quality of their services. The main competitive advantage of AirAsia is low cost in providing services. For example, meals during flight are not provided which can save up the cost to provide foods and in return, reducing the cost of fare. Spaces in AirAsias airplanes are fully utilized so that the airplane is able to load more passengers in a single f light. This enables the company to earn more and making them capable to provide cheaper fare flight. AirAsia through its designated system provide customers a comfortable service in booking the flights through internet and mobile. Customers can surf mobile.airasia.com to book flight using mobile or http://www.airasia.com using the internet. Their systematic online electronic ticket ordering process enables them to even cope with mass booking by the customers during day and night. The diagram explains how the system works and notify why the errors are kept to the minimum. It is a computer reservation system (CRM) powered by Navitaires Open Skies technology that includes Internet, call center, and airport departure control functionality. This system has greatly assist AirAsia in achieving success. Even Tony Fernandes, CEO, AirAsia agrees: Navitaires Open Skies technology has truly enabled AirAsias growth from 2 million passengers to 7.7 million passengers in less than two years. Open Skies scaled easily to accommodate our growth. However, I would strongly declare that even though AirAsia indeed is receiving competitive pressure from MAS but, the market or industry itself is not competitive as both of them have already dominate their respective market segments. Threat of New Entrants Barriers to entry are designed to block the way of potential and new entrants from entering a market profitably and to compete with the existing firms. Capital requirements, economy of scale, product differentiation, government and legal barriers are some of the examples of barriers for a new entrant. New entrants to a business will bring a brand new capacity and a desire to gain market share this will apply pressure on prices, costs, and the rate of investment. There is always an underlying pressure for response and alteration for the existing players in a business when there is a new entrance. The competition in a business will be high if it is easy for other companies to enter to this business. As we know the biggest barrier for a new player to enter any business especially airline industry is the cost of entry. Airline industry is a business that requires huge and large investment. Thus, AirAsia has a low threat of new entrants because the airline industry is so saturated that there is barely space for a newcomer even to squeeze its way in. Cost of buying and leasing aircrafts, safety and security measures, customer service, research and development, high manpower and technologies causes the airline industry to become one of the most expensive industries in the world. In this world of today, every primary activity is carried on by specific information technologies especially for business like airline industry. It is extremely costly for a business to implement these information technologies systems. So, this is another barrier for the new players to enter to certain business. For instance, Advanced Planning and Scheduling System (APS) are significant in aviation business. It is costly for a company to implement this system but without implementing and employing the system, no airline as well as AirAsia can run their business smoothly. Air Asia requires APS system to maintain their customers loyalty because APS system is competent in optimizing operational planning and scheduling which enable Air Asia to create new source of cost advantages. As a result, this shows that Air Asia has a high threat of new entrants since those systems are costly to implement. Brand name of existing airlines and frequent fliers point are other barriers to entry. It is really difficult to decoy consumers out of their existing favorite brands. Somehow, an airline with a strong recognition can maintains old customers and lures new customers even though its prices are higher. How does Air Asia do it? Information Technologies (IT) is one of the major that enables Air Asia to offer their customers in lowest possible prices. All airlines industry competes on costs. To maintain and to improve in the current market position as well as new market, AirAsia has implemented the Low Cost Carrier System (LCC) in order to continuously searching for cost advantages. AirAsia has successfully positioned their simple but strong slogan Now Everyone Can Fly in their customers mind by offering lowest possible prices. Lowest possible prices lead to increase in their profit. Its net profit for the second quarter ending 31 December 2004 was reported RM44.4 million, a 322% increase over the previous quarter (AirAsia, 2005). This again shows AirAsia has a high threat for new entrants to enter. Threat of New Substitute Threat of new substitute means the availability of a product that the customer can purchased rather than the industrys product. In other words, substitute product is an alternative of products that offers by other firms that have similar benefits or functions. Profitability of an industry will be affected by the availability of substitutes because customers have the choice to choose. A number of factors such as consumer switching costs, prices and quality of substitute products will determine the presence of threat in this aspect. For local airlines, the threat of substitutes face by AirAsia might be a bit higher than international carriers. Substitutes for air travel to the desired location in a local country include train, car or bus yet time, money, personal preferences and convenience will determining ones decision. Although airlines travel maybe a slightly expensive than by bus or car, the time taken is much faster. Since AirAsia has implemented Low Cost Carrier System which can offers customers in lowest possible price has lead to most of the customers switch to AirAsia as the switching costs is low. AirAsia faced a low threat substitutes for international carriers since there is a low threat of new entrants. Besides, most of the customers choose to travel by air since traveling through air save times. However, in the worldwide market, AirAsia still needs to compete with many existing players such as Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines. Nevertheless, AirAsia builds and maintains its competitive advantage by offering services at a price that is basically lesser than competitors prices. Above and beyond AirAsia has become the first airline that executed ticketless travelling among its competitors by using computer reservations system. Computer reservation system is a programmed and computerized system that used to store and retrieves information and perform transaction associated to air travel. This assisted AirAsia to perform operation effectively and efficiently. ERP, SCM, CRM In todays globalize economy, information technology (IT) has driven fundamental changes in the nature and application of technology in business. Cross-functional system is the third era of information system, coming after calculation system and functional system. What exactly is the purpose of the system? What benefits will organizations obtain after implementing the system? These questions are so frequently asked that some companies even gave up on executing the cross-functional system as it involves coordinating activities across multiple departments and require workers to comprehensively change the way they used to work. However, cross-functional system will be extremely beneficial if it is applied in the correct manner. A successful application of cross-functional systems is dependent on two factors, people issues and technological issues. People issues include corporate culture, work units and individual decision makers. The important factor in corporate cultures and work units is no doubt cooperation, only by working together managers are able to share information through the system. For efficient decision making, useless or incorrect information in cross-functional systems must also be prevented. Technological issues on the other hand, include information system (IS) elements. Management must compare the advantages of using information system elements such as inputs, processors and outputs with the costs involved. There are plenty of examples regarding cross-functional system, but Supply Chain Management (SCM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) are the 3 types of enterprise system going to be discussed. Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the current trend in most of the organization, where SCM is define as a set of synchronized decisions and activities utilized to efficiently integrate suppliers, warehouses, transporters, retailers, and customers so that the right product or services is distributed at the right quantities, to the right location and at the right time in order to satisfy customers high demand and minimize any unnecessary cost occurred. SCM core objective is to improve customer service by eliminating waste from the system in all types of form including wasted time. Being able to eliminated wasted time allows the coordination of business processes to be speeded up. Commonly, supply chain contains three flows that organizations need to take into account. First is the material flow, where all physical products including the end-products, raw material and so forth flow along the chain. Information flow consist of all types of data including demand, supply shipment, orders and all sort of information that are required in the supply chain. Lastly is financial flow, involving all transfer of money, payment and credit related data which is vital in the supply chain. On the other hand, a companys supply chain is complicated because it might involve hundreds and even tho

Adolescence: Stress, Depression, and Suicide Essay -- Adolescent Behavi

Adolescence is a stage of maturation between childhood and adulthood that denotes the period from the beginning of puberty to maturity. However, many conflicting opinions are raised about weather such a stage of childhood is influenced by stress, depression, and suicide rate. Some people support the optimistic view that says that adolescence is not a period of storm and stress. Others, including me, support an opposite pessimistic view which characterizes adolescence as a period of stress and inner turmoil. Unfortunately, it has been recently proved that depression is a growing problem in today's society and a major contributing factor for a multitude of adolescent problems. This is because , as research indicates, adolescent depression is the result of mood disorders accompanying this period and the high suicide rate that is basically a result of such a depression. By analyzing depression, we will find that depression is a disease that afflicts the human psyche in such a way that the afflicted tends to act and react abnormally toward others and himself. Therefore it comes to no surprise to discover that adolescent depression is strongly linked to teen suicide. Adolescent suicide is now responsible for more deaths in youths aged 15 to 19 than cardiovascular disease or cancer (Blackman, 1995). Despite this increased suicide rate, depression in this age group is greatly underdiagnosed and leads to serious difficulties in school, work and personal adjustment which may often continue into adulthood. However, how prevalent are mood disorders in children and when should an adolescent with changes in mood be considered clinically depressed? Brown (1996) has said the reason why depression is often over looked in children and adolescents is because "children are not always able to express how they feel." Sometimes the symptoms of mood disorders take on different forms in children than in adults. Adolescence is a time of emotional turmoil, mood swings, gloomy thoughts, and heightened sensitivity. It is a time of rebellion and experimentation. Blackman (1996) observed that the "challenge is to identify depressive symptomatology which may be superimposed on the backdrop of a more transient, but expected, developmental storm." Therefore, diagnosis should not lay only in the physician's hands but be associated with parents, teachers and anyone who ... ...that lie in their paths, there are some who find themselves overwhelmed and full of stress. How can parents and friends help out these troubled teens? And what can these teens do about their constant and intense sad moods? With the help of teachers, school counselors, mental health professionals, parents, and other caring adults, the severity of a teen's depression can not only be accurately evaluated, but plans can be made to improve his or her well-being and ability to fully engage life. WORKS CITED Blackman, M. (1995, May). You asked about... adolescent depression. The Canadian Journal of CME [Internet]. Available HTTP: http://www.mentalhealth.com/mag1/p51-dp01.html. Brown, A. (1996, Winter). Mood disorders in children and adolescents. NARSAD Research Newsletter [Internet]. Available HTTP: http://www.mhsource.com/advocacy/narsad/childmood.html. Lasko, D.S., et al. (1996). Adolescent depressed mood and parental unhappiness. Adolescence, 31 (121), 49-57. Oster, G. D., & Montgomery, S. S. (1996). Moody or depressed: The masks of teenage depression. Self Help & Psychology [Internet]. Available HTTP: http://www.cybertowers.com/selfhelp/articles/cf/moodepre.html

Assignment on Food & Beverage Operations Essay

Introduction As this is one of the most important sources to earn revenue so food and beverage operations have got great significance in hotel management and operations. Organisations in hospitality industry like hotel and resorts are paying maximum attention on food and beverage production and operations. Through this assignment several aspects associated with food and beverage department would be discussed from the view point of a food and beverage manager of a five star hotel in Manchester. After renovation food and beverage manager has been asked to review food and beverage functions of this department and along with this process food and beverage production and service system would be analysed. Proper budget and implementation of that budget would a huge challenge for the food and beverage manager of this hotel and costing and pricing would also be a challenging job after renovation. Purchasing decision would be discussed through this assignment and how those decisions could be taken for betterment of this hotel so that it can run with profitability. For this five star hotel food and beverage manager will have to manage banqueting functions and suitable menu would be essential how this menu could more effective and attractive would also be discussed through this assignment. Later on this report several issues associated with hospitality industry would be discussed such as security, health and safety and product quality and service standard. Task 1: Food and Beverage production and service systems In contemporary hospitality management there are several aspects are associated with food production and food and beverage service system. Now in this section these aspects are being discussed in follows: 1.1 Characteristics of food production and Food & Beverage service system: Demand for Food: Demand of food is not same all over the world there is seasonality of food demand. Customers might not like to eat same food again and again. Peak times of demand of food occur during breakfast, lunch and dinner time. Between these demand times there are valleys or slow times. Competitive events could also be an influential for demand of food and based on demand food production could be modified accordingly (Defranco et al 2007). Labour intensiveness of food production and service It is difficult to get service oriented hospitality people and this is the  reason why this industry is labour intensive. Employees need training and skills for both food preparation and service. Health and safety and food and hygiene certificate must be essential for the employees of this industry. Though employees need to have proper skills but in many occasions this industry needs unskilled employees and gradually they will be skilled. Perish ability of food Simultaneous production and consumption is one of the most important characteristics of food service and produced food must be kept within certain temperature. To protect food from bacteria food must be kept either below 5 degree Celsius or more than 65 degree temperature. Food must be handled properly before, during and after preparation. Changes of Menus Customers might not like same menu every time and menu should be changed on daily basis and production changes accordingly. In this context variation must be bought in food service and preparation then business would be more profitable. Figure: Food Preparation and service process (Miller, 2009) 1.2 Food and beverage service system Modern food and beverage service system could be categorised into several methods and both customers and service people are involved in the food and beverage system. Now in this section food and beverage service systems are being discussed from the view point of Dittmer, Paul R., and Gerald G. Griffin (2009): Table Service: This service includes plate service or silver service and customers are served at a laid table. Self service: Customers will be required to help themselves from a buffet or counter. Assisted service: According to this system customers are served part of the meal at a table and part is self service. Single point service: In this system customers order, pay receive food and beverage from the same point Specialised service: Through this system customers are served from the point where they are, this is also called tray service or room service or even room delivery. 1.3 Factors affecting recipes and Menu It has been discussed above that there are several food and beverage service systems and to serve customers according to these system this five star hotel must prepare menu and there are some factors must be considered while preparing menu and recipes. Now in this section these are being discussed in follows: Financial resources available: Financial condition of this hotel must be considered in this context and based on resources available menu should be prepared. Types of restaurant: This hotel has got four restaurants and according to the nature of the restaurant menus could be prepared. Guest spending power: Spending power of customers is one of the most influential factors to set menu and recipes. Food production cost: If production cost is high then profit then it would be useless to produce that food. Competitive environment: It must be given preferences to what competitors are doing and this hotel must keep competitors in account to prepare menu. Location of the restaurant: Location of the restaurant is another important aspect to prepare menu. Chefs’ skills: It must be given preference whether chefs are skilled to prepare specific menu and in this context skilled chefs should be recruited. Guest diet requirements: Some guest might ask for Halal or gluten free or dairy free meal and in this context customers’ diet requirement must be considered. 1.4 Compare the cost and staffing implication in Food and Beverage department Cost minimisation and employing right number of workforce are the crucial decision of food and beverage department for this hotel. Several types of cost are associated with food and beverage department, now in this section these aspects are being discussed according to the principles of Coltman et al (2000): Actual Cost: The actual cost is what a cost or expenses actually was, for instance the payroll records and check made out to employees will indicate the actual labour cost for payroll period. Budgeted Cost: When a cost is expected to be for a certain period of time is called budgeted cost. Controllable Cost: A cost which could be changed in the short period of time is called controllable cost. Non controllable Cost: Which cost cannot be changed in short period of time is called non controllable cost. Fixed Cost: Fixed cost is not changed according to product unit and these costs remain unchanged. Variable Cost: Variable cost could be changed according to the production unit and it increase if production is increased. Food and beverage department is sometimes depends on seasonality so staffing should  be strategic. To ensure proper operations this hotel should recruit full time, part time and casual employees. Right employees should be placed in right position. 1.5 Suitability of Systems of different food outlets There are four different food outlets are available in this hotel, what systems could be applied with each outlet being demonstrated in follows: Main Restaurant: Buffet service could be the best option to serve food from this restaurant as there would be more customers to eat food from this restaurant. Coffee Shop: Single point service would be used to serve food from this shop as there will be less staffs will be working to serve customers. Chinese Restaurant: There would be plenty alternatives for customers so again buffet service would be good for the customers as serf service would be helpful to reduce cost for this hotel. Fine Dining Restaurant: Tray service would be essential for this restaurant as customer will be given personal service. Task 2: Financial Control in Food and Beverage Operation Financial control and management would be very important aspect for this hotel as cost minimization would be given preference. Now in this section several aspects associated with financial control would be discussed: 2.1 Uses of financial statements in food and beverage department: Financial statements for this hotel could be used to understand key facts about the performance and disposition of this hotel and several decisions could be influenced by financial statements. This hotel just finished its renovation and long term decisions should be taken to improve profitability of this hotel. Now in this section needs and uses of financial statements are being discussed in follows: Financial statements could be very useful as a precise measurement of operation profit, hotel profitability and financial position could be revealed through the financial statement. After renovation how long will be taken to bring this hotel to profitability could be understood from financial statement. Current events of the hotel and production process could be monitored through the financial statement. Financial statements could also be helpful to take better decisions for the future. In decision making process financial statements could be very effective as decisions would be taken based on the financial position of the  Hotel. 2.2 Cost and Pricing process of the hotel Cost is defined as the expense to a hotel or restaurant for goods or services when the goods are consumed or the services are rendered. Food and beverage for this hotel are considered consumed then they have been used and costing would be very important to ensure profitability and hotel must ensure cost effectiveness while making decisions for the hotel especially for the food and beverage department. In costing process this formula could be used: Opening Inventory Value + Cost of Purchases – Closing Inventory Value = Usage Amount Usage Amount / Sales Revenue = Cost of Goods Sold (%)  Pricing decisions: based on situations different pricing decisions could be sued to ensure customer attraction and profitability for this hotel. There are some strategies are being discussed those could be used for this hotel: Cost Based Pricing: This method of pricing is often referred to as â€Å"’cost-plus† pricing. In its simplest form, cost-plus pricing involves hotel calculating average cost per unit and then allocating a specified mark-up, which may be related to rate of profit required by the company, to arrive at the selling price. Value Based Pricing: How much customers are willing to pay for the food this hotel is the main theme of this value based pricing. According to this strategy hotel cannot impose any price rather they can assess customers perception about the food standard and quality of this hotel. Customers feedback could be important in this aspect to set price. Competition based pricing: Competitors pricing strategy would be considered to set price according to this strategy. Service standard and product quality could also be considered in this aspect. 2.3 Steps of Purchasing Process: There are several steps are involved with purchasing process for this hotel, now in this section these steps are being discussed in follows: Figure: Purchasing Process (Chabon, 2007) Need recognition: This process begins with recognizing the need for specific product for this hotel. A problem or need can be solved by acquiring a specific product. General need description: This is description of the  general characteristics and quantity of the needed item. Emphasis here is on reliability, durability, price and other attributes desired in the item. Product specification: The item’s product specifications are analyzed and the purchasing team decides on the best product characteristics and specify them accordingly for the hotel. Supplier search: Who could be the best supplier for the food and beverage products this is carried out to find the best suppliers? Some suppliers may not be considered because they are not large enough to supply the needed quantity or because they have poor reputation. Proposal solicitation: This hotel will invite qualified suppliers to submit proposals. When the item is complex or expensive, the buyer will need detailed written proposals from each potential supplier. Supplier selection: Food and beverage department will review the proposals and select a supplier. They will consider competence of various suppliers, their ability to deliver the item on time and also deliver the necessary services. The following attributes have a strong influence on the relationship between the supplier and customer. Order routine specification: This involves preparing the final order with the chosen supplier, listing the technical specifications, quantity needed, expected time of delivery, e.t.c. Performance review: Here the hotel will review the performance of the supplier. The hotel may retain, modify, or drop the supplier in future hence the supplier should ensure that he is giving the expected satisfaction. Task 3: Menu for Hospitality Events In hospitality industry for a caterer compiling a menu is one of the most important jobs and several factors must be considered before any menu is prepared. In menu preparation what customers want should be given preference not what the caterer has got to serve. This is the situation where for a wedding reception a menu should be prepared and justification of choosing that menu. Assume this is the Pakistani wedding and guest would be Asian community. Menu must be prepared according to the choice of this community. Let’s look at the Menu first: Starters: Sheesh Kabab Chicken Roast Vegetable Samosa Main Dish Chicken Palok Beef Bhuna Nan/ Roti Brown Rice with meat Desert Gajrela Golap Jam with Ice cream Tea/ Coffee Aspects of Preparing this Menu Wedding Date: 15 September, 2014 Type of Customer: Pakistani, Indian and Asian Budget:  £13.95 Per person Diet Requirement: Halal Justification of Selection and Suitability of recipes for menu: There are several aspects are creating impact of choosing this menu, now in this section justification of using that menu is being discussed with suitability of recipes for menu: Customers Profile: Majority of the customers are Pakistani origin and while preparing menu Pakistani cuisine has been chosen. This menu has been widely preferred by Pakistani community. Customers Preference: While choosing this menu discussion with wedding reception has been conducted and according to their choice menu has been selected. Menu Choice: In this menu there would be three starters, two main dishes with rice and nun or roty and two dessert. With starter guests will get complimentary Salad and Chutney. Selection of menu with event schedule: Customers will be served during lunch time and before serving meal there would be an drinks reception and in total customers will be at the venue for 2 hours. Anticipate special needs: Customers has been asked whether there would be any special requirements such as food allergies, religious requirement and diet requirement. All meats will be halal according to the choice of customers. Comfortable room setup: Choose the appropriate room layout that supports event objectives. If as serving a meal, the tables will be filled with used dishes and glassware, in addition to binders, notepads and pens. That’s why it’s important to choose the best room setup, and allow space for people to move. Task 4: Provide Food and Beverage services for  hospitality events: Several aspects are associated with hospitality events now in this part of this report those aspects are being discussed in follows: 4.1 Food and Beverage service plan for a wedding reception: Number of Guest: 350 Budget:  £5000.00 This wedding reception for this number of people within this budget could be implemented through the following procedure: Service Name Estimated cost Remarks Cutlery & Crockery  £1.50*350 =  £525 According to Brand Standard Table Linen  £4.00*35 = 140 According to Brand Standard Chair Cover  £1.50*350 =  £525 According to Brand Standard Cloth Napkins  £175 According to Brand Standard Stage Decoration  £450 According to Brand Standard Red carpet Walkway  £270 According to Brand Standard Table Display  £210 According to Brand Standard Waiter/ Waitress  £580 According to Brand Standard Washing area  £135 According to Brand Standard Food Cost  £1500 According to Brand Standard Food Preparation Cost  £300 According to Brand Standard Total  £4810 According to Brand Standard 4.2 Steps involved with service Plan: There are several steps are associated with recommended service plan, now in this section these plans are being discussed in follows: Step 1: Book appointing of the customer Step 2: Book the Event and take deposit Step 3: Finalise stage, walkway and decoration Step 3: Ensure service people, security and entertainment Step 4: Serve People according to the Function sheet ensure quality, health and safety and security of the customers. Step 5: Get feedback from the customers. 4.3 Evaluate service and Recommendations: Communication with customers would be essential to provide excellent service and inter and intra departmental communication would be very essential in this context. Customers’ feedback would be helpful to improve service standard and quality. Cost minimisation would be essential to maximise profit margin and in this context this food and beverage department would be involve to improve service standard. To arrange such kind of events what competitors are doing and how they are service would be very essential to improve service standard. Innovative ideas should be implemented in this context. Specific demand of customers would be essential. Conclusion In food and beverage operations two things must be coherent one is food and another one is service, these two things are inextricably interrelated.  During serving food quality and quantity must be ensured. Food production and preparation must be ensured with standard. Health and safety must be ensured according to HACCAP principles. During menu preparation customers choices must be given preference. Several aspects have been discussed through this report and proper standard must be ensured throughout the process. To increase profitability of the hotel service people should give emphasize on up selling and customers attraction and satisfaction. There should not be any gap between customers’ expectations and delivered service and food. References Defranco, Agnes L., and Pender B. M. Noriega (2007) â€Å"Cost control in hospitality industry† McGraw Hill: Mason Miller, Jack E., and David V. Pavesic (2007). Menu Pricing & Strategy. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Dittmer, Paul R., and Gerald G. Griffin (2009). Principles of Food, Beverage, and LaborCost Controls for Hotels and Restaurants. 6th ed. New York: John Wiley &Sons, Coltman, Michael M., and Martin G. Jagels. (2000) Hospitality Management Accounting. 7th ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Chaban, Joel. (2007) Practical Foodservice Spreadsheets With Lotus 1-2-3. New York: John Wiley & Sons,

How To Use Content Syndication To Boost Your Subscribers

How To Use Content Syndication To Boost Your Subscribers Promote your blog post. Sage advice for the content marketer. If you’re anything like me, writing a blog post takes time. Lots of it. In fact, this post took me about 15 hours to write. And now I have to promote it, too? Exactly when am I supposed to do the other work required to keep my business going? I’m in the process of launching a new company. I have a new website, a new blog, and a new product. And like all businesses, I wanted to get my marketing engine going but didn’t have time to spend hours both writing great content and promoting it. Over the years, I’ve developed three strategies to promote blog posts, drive traffic to your site, and collect emails even if you don’t have a lot of time on your hands. In this post, Im going to share with you in detail what has quickly become my absolute favorite strategy for promoting a blog post in 20 minutes: Content syndication. How To Use Content Syndication To Boost Your Subscribers In No Time via @GregDigneoThe 20-Minute Traffic Strategy I just launched a new blog. No traffic, no email addresses, no backlinks. No nothing. If you’ve ever launched a blog of your own, I’m sure you know there is absolutely no truth to the axiom, â€Å"If you build it, they will come.† Back on April 6th, I published my first blog post called â€Å"How to Reach Over 1 Million People Through Guest Blogging.† This is the original post published on my blog. And for more than  three months, the post just sat there. I was getting pretty much zero traffic. It wasn’t generating traffic. It wasn’t collecting email addresses. It wasn’t being read. In order to promote the post, I decided to republish the post on the popular marketing blog, SteamFeed. A strategy called content syndication. As soon as I syndicated that one post to that one blog, I immediately started seeing a small (but steady) flow of traffic to my site. After I syndicated content, my traffic increased. And I even started collecting email addresses. Once people see your content, they'll know you write great stuff. That influences email subscribers. And the whole thing took just 20 minutes. Look, syndicating one post on one popular blog isn’t the silver bullet to content marketing riches.   Like everything, consistency over time can lead to big results. James Clear, of JamesClear.com, built his blog from 500 email subscribers to an email list of 100,000 people and 250,000 unique visitors per month  by syndicating  his content. All in less than 2 years. So let’s get into the nitty gritty of how to syndicate your content on another blog. How To Syndicate Your Content On A Popular Blog Unlike other promotion strategies, by the time you’re ready to syndicate your content, 95% of the heavy lifting is complete. The hardest part of the process is writing a great blog post. So let’s start there. Step 1: Publish a  great post. What makes content great? The truth is, great content is like a great work of art. It’s hard to define, but you know it when you see it. Great content is like a great work of art. It’s hard to define, but you know it when you see it.And the bar for great content is being raised every single day. What was considered â€Å"great† last week is average today. So instead of showing you how to write great content, the best I can do is give you 3 guidelines that have helped me write great posts. 1. Detailed How-To Post Leave no stone unturned. When you write a "how-to" post, you want to be as descriptive as possible. Make sure that you include every little detail about how to achieve a task.   At the end of the post, the reader should be able to replicate every single step without fail. For example, I would consider this a detailed â€Å"how-to† post. 2. Personal Experience People can always relate to a personal experience. We all struggle. We’ve all been down on our luck in some way shape or form. What makes for a really great blog post is when we open up about these struggles. We share a bit of our vulnerability. We open up and let people identify with us. Why? Because at some point in time, we’ve all been down on our luck, or we are all going through some struggle right now. 3.   Case Studies Which headline sounds more interesting? "How to get more traffic?" or "Case Study: How a brand new blog got 5,300 unique visitors and 230 email addresses in one week." I don’t know about you, but I’ll pass on the first headline and devour the second one. The â€Å"get more traffic† post has been done. A lot. It’s boring. But the nature of the case study headline is that it promises to give very specific tips, tricks, and strategies that I’m going to want to copy. Step 2: Create bonus material. The bonus content is designed to be complementary to your blog post in order to entice people to give you their email address. For example, in my guest blogging post, I created 3 pieces of content to put into a bonus. First, I turned my blog into a checklist. I hired a designer on Fiverr to make it look a little nicer. Since I’ve been guest posting for a while, I had a list of 101 blogs that accept guest posts. And finally, I gave away the copy for my highest converting byline and landing page and called it a â€Å"Traffic and Conversion Swipe file.† While it may sound like a lot of work to create all of this content, repurposing things that you have on your digital bookshelf will speed up the process. Recommended Reading:  Why You Should Give Free Content To Your Readers Step 3: Turn your post into a lead magnet. My main goal as a content marketer is to build an email list. However, not all of the traffic will go to a landing page. Quite a bit will go to your original post. Let’s make sure that we capture as many email addresses as possible. Here’s what I did: 1. Exclusive Blog Bonus Right before the first subheadline, I created an â€Å"exclusive blog bonus†. This is the bonus material that you created in step 2. Exclusive blog bonuses provide relevant content right in your blog posts in exchange for email addresses. In order to get access to the bonus material, the reader has to click on the link and enter their email address. This is what’s known as a content upgrade. As far as I can tell, Brian Dean is the pioneer of this strategy. I will repurpose this material multiple times during the content syndication process. 2. Customized Email Capture Form In The Footer A lot of blogs have email capture forms in their footers. But most bloggers don’t customize the form. This is a huge mistake. If someone spends 15 minutes reading your blog post, chances are they are interested in the topic and want to find out more. I used the WordPress plugin Thrive Leads to easily create a customized email capture form that complements the blog post a visitor just read. After reading a post on guest blogging, I figured it’d be natural to want a list of blogs accepting guest posts. Gather leads and promote your blog with exclusive blog bonuses. 3. Targeted Opt-In I’m not going to lie, I hate light boxes. But they work. So, I made a compromise. First, I created a targeted opt-in. Once again, unlike the generic opt-ins that you see on most blogs, this one relates directly to my post on guest blogging. And second, I set the box to only appear on the exit intent. This means that the popup will only appear when the person is about to hit the back button. I probably sacrifice a few conversions, but it keeps the reader experience clean. Exit intent light boxes or popups are great ways to capture leads as they leave your blog. Step 4: Find a blog to syndicate the content to. In the business space, there are quite a few blogs that are looking for content syndication opportunities. They are: Business2Community: A popular multi-author business blog. Social Media Today: A popular multi-author social media blog similar to Social Media Examiner. Business Insider: A popular business publication. Having a relationship with an editor will help your chances greatly. BizSugar: Popular posts featured on Bizsugar will get published on Small Business Trends AllBusiness: A popular multi-author small business website. Huffington Post: One of the largest blogging platforms in the world. Kristi Hines has put together a few more sites  that routinely syndicate content. If none of these blogs work for you, then you can always use Google. First, you can use the search query: â€Å"This blog was originally published on†.   This is because Google requires all syndicated posts to contain this message (or something similar). Second, you can use the search query: â€Å"Sites accepting syndicated content†. Other bloggers have curated sites for you. This will help you broaden your reach. Step 5: Pitch the editor. As in most instances, having a relationship with the editor of the popular blog will enhance your chances of getting the post accepted. For example, I had written several guest posts on SteamFeed before being able to syndicate content to the site. However, cold outreach can still work. It just takes some persistance. If it is a large blog such as Business Insider or The Huffington Post, the blog will have several editors. By doing a Google search, you should be able to find the name and email address of the editor that fits your niche. Here is the email script I’d use to syndicate my post: Subject: Syndicate This Post About Guest Blogging Hi (name of blog editor), I wrote the following post which details a step-by-step guide to getting a guest post accepted on a popular blog. I leave absolutely no stone unturned and I think that SteamFeed.com readers will love it. Here’s the link: (include the URL) If you enjoy it, I’d love to see it republished on your blog. Greg Tip:  Research the editor of the blog or who you are pitching to. One of the biggest turn-offs for editors  is seeing  that the person asking you for a favor didn't even take the time to look up your name. The Best Way To Syndicate Your Content In 20 Easy MinutesStep 6: Rewrite your conclusion. The only change that I made from the original post to the syndicated post is the conclusion. I built in a call to action so that people will get even more information on guest blogging. I borrowed this strategy from Bryan Harris  in order to help me increase the amount of email subscribers that I received. Here it is: Now let’s break it down: The first thing you want to do is wrap up the post (pink box). This is a way to tie everything together. As you can see, a sentence or two can get the job done. Next, you want to introduce the â€Å"Exclusive Blog Bonus† that you created for the original post. If you look at the green box, you’ll see I used three bullets to let people know exactly what they were going to get. Finally, you need a call to action. I used LeadBoxes from LeadPages to create a content upgrade so that people can download the bonus directly from the SteamFeed blog. They don’t have to go to a landing page! Step 7: Create a landing page. Now that you’ve gotten your content  syndicated on the blog of your choice, it’s time to create a high converting landing page. Here are 2 key components to a landing page that will convert traffic into leads: 1. A Relevant Offer Instead of sending them to a generic landing page, I would create an offer like â€Å"5 Ways Facebook Dark Posts Can Get You Cheap Traffic† or something like that. An offer like this is irresistible to a reader who just spent a considerable amount of time reading about Facebook ads. 2. Personalize It A personalized landing page can help you see a huge boost in conversions on your landing page. And it’s incredibly easy to do. For instance, let’s say I’ve just finished a post on Social Media Examiner. As soon as someone came from that post to my landing page, the first thing they would see is â€Å"Welcome Social Media Examiner Readers.† Neil Patel, of Quick Sprout fame, says that he sees a bump in conversion by 10% by personalizing  the landing page. Not too shabby for a few seconds of work. Step 8: Write your byline. I always write my byline last. That way, I can easily match my call to action to the offer that I created for the guest post. A byline should answer 3 questions: Who are you? What do you do? Where can I learn more about you? For instance, my byline was: Greg Digneo is the founder of Birchfield, a software company that helps content marketers build their email list through referrals. We are in beta. Click here for early access. Bonus: SEO implications I’m no SEO expert by any means. I know my way around backlinking a bit. And I can insert keywords into a post. But I would remiss if I left out the search engine implications of â€Å"duplicate content† in a post that is largely about duplicate content. When I was doing some research, I found a few things that will mitigate SEO issues. First, you should wait at least two weeks to syndicate your content.   This will give the various search engines enough time to index the original post on your site. Second, at the bottom of your post, add the sentence â€Å"This article was originally published on†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Each blog will have its  own syntax. But you need to tell search engines that the article is duplicated content and show them where it is. Finally, if you have access to the WordPress editor, you can add your URL to the â€Å"Canonical URL† section in the Yoast SEO plugin. This will ensure that the syndicated post is linked back to the original. Tag your syndicated posts as canonical with Yoast. One More Thing†¦ When I first published my blog post â€Å"How to Reach over 1 Million People Through Guest Blogging†, I didn’t have an audience. No one was tweeting it. No one was sharing it. No one was talking about it. But when I syndicated my post on a popular blog, magic happened. People read it, 267 people shared it (and counting), and I got exposure to my startup. This is what my syndicated post looked like on SteamFeed. That’s the power of content syndication. Want 2 More Ways To Promote Your Post If You’re a Busy Content Marketer? As I've focused more and more time on my startup, I’ve had less time to promote my blog posts. Working as a content marketer for the past few years, I’ve created two additional effective promotion strategies that you can use to get traffic and collect emails for your business. I’ll go in detail how you can use these strategies to grow your business.  Click here and enter your name and email address and I'll shoot them over to you immediately.

The Invisable Push essays

The Invisable Push essays That formidable force that makes one needs, what one usually desires; that mind-set that is really more of an entity that sits on ones shoulder, and relentlessly screams further, further, that asset that makes those who are zealous, jealous.......This is ambition. Ambition has been the backbone of every army. Through those great ancient Egyptian wars, through Persia, Hastings, and Waterloo, and through every other noticeable conflict that has ever existed but that I am unable to cite. Each party was blessed by pure and passionate ambition. Ambition to win at whatever cost necessary. Surely, only the collective force of ambition found in battle is liable to cause as much suffering and damage as has been caused by all the battles that have ever been won or lost. Even the weakest most injured warrior who, persevered has been touched not by insanity, but by raw ambition. Ambition is a wonder of the world, it made all seven of our lands and more. What collective zeal one must obtain to create such a phenomenon. Some have been overtaken by blind ambition, which drives them on a mad rampage through reality. Stopping at no cost whether detrimental to themselves or others. Politics and Corporate Companies have been a spotlight though the years such as Watergate and in my opinion the current Enron Case. Hitler is another great example of blind ambition, he got so involved and drawn in, that he became conscienceless. Ambition is the source of all that is good and all that is evil. It makes the wonders but it can also make the wars. Ambition is the winner and loser of every game. Every athlete, every chess player, every marathon runner, and every duck-legged Olympic walker glows of determination which seeps from the pores of their ambition. When years of dedication pass the baton to ambition their is a sense to be reckoned with. No matter how tall ambition stands, someone always has to loose. Unlike the ambiti ...

Law ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Law ethics - Essay Example A business involves financial and non-financial costs. Labour and equipment are financial costs that any business entails. On the other hand, an ethical business also incurs non-financial costs of environmental impacts like noise. Thus, such ethical businesses also strive to minimize non-financial costs by taking up the responsibility of causing little or no harm to the people and environment (Kreng 11). The case of product default as explained to me by Doug is of great concern to the general public, and even the employees at Green Moves. The products of the company have to be environmental friendly. I fully understand as a new employee that I should abide by the policies of this given company. However, my position should not be compromised by intimidation. In business, ethical responsibilities include actions and activities that are certainly not systemized in the law, and do not directly serve the company’s economic needs. The moral incentives that guide the business are ass ociated with doing the right things and prevent any harm without any external force or legal restraints. Every organization should have the responsibility of taking part in society in a cooperative manner. Business people recognize their self-presence in the society based on the fact that, business and societies go hand in hand. Business cannot progress without society and society cannot move ahead without business. Hence, every company must realize the presence of the society, which will in turn be important in increasing demand for amorally responsible business. For being ethical, organizations need to have good decision makers who perform their duties with justice, equality, fairness, neutrality, and value the rights of other people. Ethical behaviour requires the organization to treat individuals with fairness in their dealings relevant to the goals and objectives of the organization. Immoral and unethical actions take place when a decision leads a person or firm to benefit at t he cost of another person or the society as one. Ethical responsibilities comprise of those practices and actions that are prohibited by the society even if the law has not stated it. It represents the standards, norms and criterion that invoke a thought of concern for the customers, employees, shareholders, and all stakeholders including the community. Therefore, ethical responsibility should be carried out in line with the desired ethical standards and the expectation of the societal customs and values. It is also important to accept and acknowledge the new, dynamic and developing ethical norms and values that have been adopted in modern societies today. However, companies should not in any way use the ethical norms to achieve their own goals. Ethical standards should not be negotiated or compromised in any way for the achievement of corporate goals (Kreng 45). Organizations also need to ensure they do not cause greater damage to the environment they are operating in, as well as e mploy strategies for minimizing any sort of damage to the societies. This is referred to as the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), with many of the businesses today adopting its use in achieving their long term goals. Henceforth, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can be best defined as a business obligation to contribute towards prolonged economic development, operating with workers, their families, the immediate communities, and society as

How has the study of media and communications developed over the last Essay - 1

How has the study of media and communications developed over the last century - Essay Example To some theorists, however, it is a field that encompasses various media, not just mass media. According to McLuhan’s aphorism, for example, media is anything that mediates interaction (Genosko, 2005). Whether it is human artifacts or technologies, so long as they can provide that channel for interaction, they are media. This paper looks at the history of the study of media and communications over the last century, and the theoretical approaches that have been employed to explain this development. Most people have an implicit understanding of how humans have always interacted with each other and the world. Nevertheless, very few people recognize the fact that the development of communication has been a process. It is something that has taken place within periods, and effected by different events. For instance, before the development of the printing press, media studies and communications were quite slow. With the invention, however, there was a robust into the formal studies of these disciplines. Over the last century, media has played a major role in the political sphere. For example, over the Kosovo atrocities, the media played a significant focus for the revolution. In Eastern Europe, the media has been the major weapon in the transition to liberal politics. In the postmodern world, the social media networking has completely broken down the conventional forms of communications. These developments have however taken place in stages and subjected to different theoretical app roaches. Marxism is a theory hypothesized by Karl Marx to describe mainly the interaction between the superstructure and the economic base. Marx maintained that the dominant class controlled the means of production (Strinati, 2004). For this reason, he believed that the media served no other purpose other than the ideological interests of the capitalists. Because they are the dominant class, it only follows