Analysis LA Fitness in England Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Analysis LA Fitness in England - Essay Example The main reason behind expansion of LA Fitness is that it wants to offer a wide range of services in the new markets in order to ensure the success of the business in the international market as well. The company plans to expand in England. Some of the driving points, which would enable the company to expand its business in the foreign markets and achieve success, are given below: 1. The increasing awareness related to the health issues as well as concern towards obesity and its effects amongst the people of England, will act as one of the key element in acceptance of the business operations of LA Fitness in the country. 2. Increasing wish of controlling and maintaining weight, avoiding various health issues and reducing daily stress influences individuals to visit the health clubs almost regularly. This is one of the main reasons behind LA Fitness’s business expansion plans into the international market. 3. LA Fitness provides services to meet the needs of the customers and o ffer them facilities for most of their health and fitness needs. This would help them in achieving success in their business operations in the international market easily. 4. The consumers would be offered different exercise regimes. Well differentiated service offered by the company would enable it in developing recognition in the new market. LA Fitness provides customized training services for meeting the personal needs of each and every member and gives them chance to choose the best suitable work out for themselves. Industry Analysis using Porter’s Five Forces Analysis would help in understanding the reason behind the expansion of the company in the chosen Country. Porter’s Five Forces analysis Porter’s five forces analysis would help in performing the industry analysis of health and fitness industry in England (Alkhafaji, 2003; Porter, 1980; 1998). Competition from the existing firms- There are many health clubs in England, which offer health and fitness se rvices to the customers. Thus the competition from the existing firms is very high (David, 1986). However, LA Fitness provides customer friendly services to its members. It is better than its competitors, as it treats its customers as family members and provide them good training. The fitness market is having a growth of certain percentage every year. The company has huge scope of achieving competitive advantage over its competitors by expanding the fitness clubs and hiring large number of employees in the new market, who would provide good services. Bargaining power of buyers- The bargaining power of the buyers is very high in England as there are a large number of fitness clubs offering services to the customers (Davis, 2008). There are a large number of alternative options for them. This increases their bargaining power. Moreover, 10 to 15 percent of buyers of the health clubs do not renew their membership as they do not find it interesting anymore. LA Fitness would have to advan ce its services by utilization of latest technologies in order to retain its buyers in the new market. Threat of substitutes: There are various substitutes for health clubs. People can consume healthy food; go for cycling or walking after eating. There are many individuals who play sports regularly in order to stay healthy. Some of them do labor work, which keeps them physically fit. Some visit doctors and maintain fixed diet in order to remain aware of the nutrients.

The Triad Essay Example for Free

The Triad Essay This paper seeks to analyze and discuss whether there is basis to agree to the proposition that the Triad is the fast track to company globalisation and standardisation. We will try to evaluate whether theory and evidence supports such proposition.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First we should know what is the Triad is.   Moore and Rugman (2005) in discussing, ‘Globalization is about Regionalization’ said that the word â€Å"triad† was coined by Japanese consultant and author Kenichi Ohmae which refers to the economies of Western Europe, North America and a small number of East Asian nations, particularly Japan. Moore and Rugman (2005) quoted Ohmae to have argued that these economies are the critical ones from a viewpoint of innovation, trade and investment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The classification of the countries into triad is based on the viewpoint of innovation, trade and investment.   This means that these countries would take the lead in introducing new products ahead of other countries in the world and it also happened that these few countries in the triad are ones   with high GDP according to the last available data from World Bank (Wikipedia- GDP, 2006) (Paraphrasing made).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Thus Moore and Rugman (2005) agreed with Wikipedia when they categorized a triad whereby MNEs around the world belongs.   They said: â€Å"The vast majority of Fortune 500 companies on which we could compile data (320 MNEs) are home-triad based, having only modest sales in the other two regions.   A set of 36 are â€Å"bi-regional,† with at least 20 percent of their sales in two parts of the triad.   Only 10 of the 500 are truly global, with at least 20 percent of their sales in all three parts of the triad.   Overall, this is a picture of regionalization, not globalization.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In proving the result of the study, Moore and Rugman (2005) they had examined the Fortune Global 500 which deals the largest firms by revenues in the world and found out that the intra-regional sales of 380 of the 500 firms were included in the list.   The author noted that these 380 firms account for 79.2% of the total revenues of all 500 firms.   Thus, researchers concluded that the average revenue for a firm in the top 500 was $28 billion, ranging from Wal-Mart at $220 billion to Takenaka at $10 billion and that the average sales revenue of a firm in the set of 380 firms was $29.2 billion.   Most notable too, is the authors’ finding that across these 380 firms, the average intra-regional sales represent 71.9% (Moore and Rugman, 2005) (Paraphrasing made).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Knowing what the triad is, we should know what globalization is. Jessup, (n.d.) said:   â€Å"Strategically, globalization refers to actors attempts to promote the global coordination of activities on a continuing basis within (but not necessarily across) different institutional orders or functional systems. Such attempts can be pursued through different material and social technologies on the interpersonal, inter-organizational, inter-institutional, or inter-systemic levels.†   The author gave the following examples to illustrate globalization: interpersonal networking; strategic alliances orchestrated by transnational enterprises (alliances which may include more local or regionally-based firms as well as not-for-profit organizations); the institutional design of international regimes to govern particular fields of action; and projects for world government or global governance. Further, Jessup, (n.d.) noted that the forms of coordination proposed for globalization vary widely and none are guaranteed to succeed witness the market-led globalization favoured by the World Bank, the horizontal global governance favoured by proponents (especially NGOs) of international regimes, and plans for more top-down inter-state (or even world) government.   Hence, he inferred that what is generally labelled nowadays as economic globalization rarely, if ever, involves full structural integration and strategic coordination across the globe (Paraphrasing made).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  The term globalization, however, has a very broad meaning for it could also mean cultural integration.   IEL (1999) thus stated that the degree of adaptation or resistance to foreign cultural schemata varies among societies, citing the Schumpeterian concept of creative destruction where there is there is a constant struggle between groups that wish to speed up the process of integrating new ideas, processes, and products and those who want to slow down the speed of losing existing norms (IEL, 1999) (Paraphrasing made).   Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  We are then directed to know what standardization is.   Wikipedia (2006) defined standardization, â€Å"in the context related to technologies and industries, is the process of establishing a technical standard among competing entities in a market, where this will bring benefits without hurting competition. It can also be viewed as a mechanism for optimizing economic use of scarce resources such as forests, which are threatened by paper manufacture. As an example, all of Europe now uses 230 volt 50 Hz AC mains grids and GSM cell phones, and (at least officially) measures lengths in metres.†Ã‚   It added that in the context of social criticism and social sciences, standardization often means the process of establishing standards of various kinds, and improving efficiency to handle people, their interactions, cases, and so forth (Paraphrasing made).      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After knowing the concepts, is there now basis to agree that the Triad is the fast track to company globalisation and standardisation?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   On the basis of the evidence presented that the countries belonging to the triad are the MNEs who have proven track records in their revenues as those belonging to top as per Fortune magazine, and relating now the same to concept of globalization which may be summarized as going to the global market through various means, we could say the triad is fast track to globalization.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     As far as path to standardization is concerned, which could mean mechanism for optimizing economic use of scarce resources or improving efficiency to handle people and their interactions, we could also say that the triad is the obvious path because it is there where competing companies for globalization are found. It is argued that globalization produces competition leading to standardization.   Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hence, we could say that triad could really be a fast track for an aspiring company wanting to have globalization and standardization since the triad provides the venue and the opportunities.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To conclude, it could be said that will eventually trigger globalization while the latter will result in economic integration of the whole world. .   Globalization is seen to promote further interdependence among countries in East Asian economies as they pass through different stages of development.   MNE being classified as triad-based MNEs indicate that triad first conquers first their own region or triad to sell their products before actually becoming global, hence a company must first become a major player in a country within the triad, then it becomes regional until it becomes global.   However, being part of the triad based does not mean that they will eventually become global, because strategy is still a choice.   Bibliography: Jessop, B. (n.d.) Reflections on Globalization and Its (Il)logic(s), Lancaster University, Department of Sociology{www document} URL   http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fss/sociology/papers/jessop-reflections-on-globalization.pdf, Accessed October 28,2006 International Economic Letter, Number 52 (1999), Globalism {www document} URL http://www.sba.oakland.edu/econpage/newsletters/NewsLetter52.htm ,   Accessed October 28,2006 Moore and Rugman (2005), Globalization is about Regionalization, Mcgill International Review, {www document}   URL   http://www.irsam.ca/mir/Moore%5B27-30%5D.pdf, Accessed October 28,2006   Wikipedia, 2006, Standardization {www document} URL   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standardization, Accessed December 8, 2006. Wikipedia, 2006, List of Countries by GDP, {www document} URL   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29, Accessed October 28,2006

Effect of Electromagnetic Field of Mobile Phones

Effect of Electromagnetic Field of Mobile Phones Introduction Mobile phones have become indispensable as communication tools in the present world. From 1990 to 2013, worldwide mobile phone subscriptions grew from 12.4 million to over 6.8 billion, penetrating more than 95% of the global population and reaching the bottom of the economic pyramid to cater to the lower socioeconomic groups as well (International Telecomunication union, Geneva). The Indian telecom industry has undergone market liberalization at a very rapid pace and grown since 1990. Today, India has become one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the world. India is the world’s second largest mobile phone user base with over 929.37 million users in the year 2012 (Mittal Anuj 2013) (TRAI). Widespread mobile phone ownership and usage has aroused public concern over possible harmful biological effects of their use. Electromagnetic frequencies of mobile phones emit radiations between the 800 MHz and 2000 MHz, which causes excitation and rotation of water molecules and some other organic molecules, hence causing thermal and non-thermal effects on humans (Frey AH, 1998). Effects of electromagnetic fields (EMF) transmitted by mobile phones over human health, is a matter of public and scientific concern. Burning sensation and sensation of warmth around the ear (Oftedal G 2000), headache (Frey AH, 1998), sleep disturbance (Borbely AA, 1999), changes in the cognitive functions and neural activity (Preece AW,1999) (Hamblin DL, 2004), as well as changes such as decrease in the cerebral blood flow and alteration in functioning of blood brain barrier has been reported as the effects of mobile phones use. (Fritze K) (Haarala C, 2003). The potential carcinogenic effects of radiations emitted from mobile phones is controversial (Repacholi MH, 1997) (Moulder JE, 1999). Therefore, any biological effect related to mobile phone use, should be considered as a high-priority health issue. The hearing system is in the close proximity to the mobile phone so hearing system is potentially the most affected target for thermal and non-thermal effects. The external ear provides the route by which electro-magnetic frequencies from mobile phones reach the peripheral and central auditory system, which leads to relatively high energy deposition in the ear. The auditory system and particularly the cochlear outer hair cells (OHC) are known to be highly sensitive to a variety of exogenous and endogenous factors. Externally applied electrical and magnetic fields are known to produce some hearing sensation in the ear (Watanabe Y, 2000). Proximity of ear to electromagnetic source may lead to even larger damage and side effects such as hearing loss. One report, released from researchers at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, India, revealed that people who talk on a cell phone for more than an hour a day were found to have suffered losses of hig h-frequency hearing (Panda NK, 2010). However, little attention has been paid to the effects of electromagnetic field (EMF) of mobile phones on hearing. Till date, the interaction between electromagnetic fields (EMF) emitted by mobile phones and auditory function is not well established. Clear conclusions cannot be drawn from studies available, about the presence or absence of effects because of the limited sample sizes and short duration of studies. Despite of all these evidence, only recently, some studies have analyzed the effects of mobile phones on the human auditory system. However, the results are not consistent and are variable among different study designs. Only limited research data concerning interaction between EMF emitted by mobile phones and auditory function and possible impact on hearing, are available in the literature. The animal experiment, distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) did not show statistically significant changes on the outer hair cells functionality of adult as well as developing rats exposed to EMF at 900-1800 MHz frequencies for 1–2 h per day for 30 days(Parazzini M,2002) (Kizilay A, 2003). No appreciable change was seen in evoked otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) and none of the subjects reported a deterioration in hearing threshold level after 10 minutes exposure to the EMFs emitted by mobile phones in a recent human experiment to study the effects of the EMF of mobile phones on hearing status(Ozturan O, 2002). Other studies based on the brainstem evoked audiometry response (BERA) concluded that 30 minutes of mobile phone use has no adverse effect on the human auditory system(Arai N) (Gà ¡bor Stefanics, 2007). These small number of publications show that there is a big gap in the knowledge of potential biological effects of cellular phone use on hearing. Mobile phone is based on the two way radio communication between a portable handset and closest base station. Cellular system divides the city into small cells, which vary from hundreds of metre in densely populated areas, to kilometres in the sparsely populated areas. Each cell has abase stationthat consists of a tower and a small building containing the radio equipment. A cell phone is aduplexdevice, which means that there are two different frequencies, one for talking and another separate frequency for listening. Therefore, both persons can talk on the call at the same time. Mobile phones operate withincells, and they can switch cells as from one cell to another as we move around from one place to another. This gives cell phones this incredible range, because the call is transferred between the base stations (cell) without interruption. The radio communications utilizes electromagnetic waves at frequency around 900 MHz to carry information via small change in the wave’s frequency. A base station antenna typically radiates the radiations of about 60 Watts and a handset emits the radiations of 1-2 Watts. The antenna of a mobile phone emits radiations equally in all directions but a base station, unlike cell phone, produces a beam that is much more directional. There are two common technologies used by mobile-phone networks for transmitting information: TDMA [(Time Division Multiple Access) also known as GSM(Global System for Mobile communications)] does it by chopping the signals into sequential time frames. Each user of the channel takes turns to transmit and receive signals. In reality, only one person is using the channel at a given point of time. One of the important features of GSM system is theSubscriber Identity Module (SIM card). The SIM is a small, detachablesmart card, which contains the users subscription information (i.e. validity and talktime) and phone book. This allows the user to retain his or her information while switching mobile phone handsets. Alternatively, the user can also change service provider while retaining the handset, by changing the SIM card. GSM is currently the market leader in mobile phone industry (Michel Mouly, 1992). CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) The CDMA is based on spread spectrum technology which uses the whole bandwidth available. This allows each user to transmit frequency to the entire spectrum at all the time. CDMA uses a type of digital modulation called spread spectrum. CDMA spreads the voice data over the channel in a random fashion. The receiver undoes this randomization and collects the bits together to produce the sound. CDMA is an example ofmultiple accesses, in which several transmitters can send information over a single communication channel at the same time. This allows several users to share a band of frequencies (Andrew J, 1995). GSM phones emit continuous wave pulses, so there is a great need to reduce the exposures to electromagnetic fields emitted from the cell phones with â€Å"continuous wave pulses†. On the other hand CDMA cell phones do not produce these pulses. GSM phones emit about 28 times more radiation when compared to the CDMA mobile phones. Therefore, GSM phones are more biologically harmful as compared to CDMA. Subtle deleterious effects to hearing can be assessed by modalities such as BERA, otoacoustic emission (OAE) and Pure tone audiometry, which measure the cochlear and retrocochlear , outer hair cochlear cell and middle ear functions respectively. In the evaluation of the functional status of auditory nerve and brainstem auditory sensory pathway Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response is a simple and effective method. It is a noninvasive and reproducible method that requires less cooperation of patient and measures the specific part of the auditory pathway. It is not significantly affected by state of consciousness, drugs and variety of environmental factors including other sensory inputs to cortex. BERA is an objective diagnostic tool widely used in modern neurophysiology. It represents the electrical events generated along the auditory pathway which is recorded from the scalp. These responses include several waves related to the specific areas of auditory pathway. Latencies of these waves reflect the neural conduction velocity at corresponding levels of auditory brainstem. Pure tone  audiometry  (PTA) is the keyhearing testused to identifyhearing threshold levels of an individual, enabling determination of the degree, type and configuration of ahearing loss. Thus, it provides the basis for diagnosis and management. PTA is a subjective, behavioral measurement of hearing threshold, as it relies on patient response topure tonestimuli. Therefore, PTA is used on adults and children old enough to cooperate with the test procedure. The initial laboratory exploration of OAEs coincided with, and contributed to, the rapid development of a new understanding of cochlear function. Numerous experiments have demonstrated that OAE are intimately associated with a key feature of the cochlear mechanism that has become known as the â€Å"cochlear amplifier†(Cooper NP, 1997). With OAEs it is possible to demonstrate cochlear mechanical frequency selectivity and nonlinearity and to observe the depression of cochlear activity caused by noise, drugs and medial olivocochlear stimulation. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES This study is designed to evaluate the potential effects of electromagnetic field of mobile phones on human ear. Assessment of hearing threshold by pure tone audiometry and there comparison in users and non-users. Assessment of auditory pathway by Brainstem Evoked Response Auditory (BERA), and there comparison in mobile phone users and non-users. Assessment of cochlear function by recording the otoacoustic emissions produced from outer hair cells of inner ear, and there comparison in mobile phone users and non-users.

Van Doren :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The scientific revolution had a huge influence as to why people thought they could be God. Van Doren explains how parts of science led these individuals to believe that they could be God if they could understand how the world worked and why it worked that way. He explains that there are five parts of science. These parts of science were biology, physics, mathematics, chemistry, and psychology. With the knowledge of these five parts of science, people thought they could answer any questions by using scientific method and play the role of God in explaining how the world works, why it works that way, what the world was made up of, and also what people think and why they think a certain way in certain situations. Biology allowed people to know the make up of the world and people. Physics and mathematics allowed individuals to see how the world worked and why it worked a certain way. Psychology showed the people that we could figure out what and how people thought by d oing experiments on groups of people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Van Doren explains how these five parts of science are not better than any certain one. He explains how everyone in that day believed that the world was flat and not round as we know it today. He explains how they thought that science is the one method that will allow them to arrive at the â€Å"truth.† He explains how science was a common thing that â€Å"everyday people† could understand. This led many to believe that they could answer a lot of questions thus making them think they could be God. Van Doren tells us that there are three assumption of science. The first assumption of science is that we can describe what goes on in a physical world. He explained how scientists are both honest and humble. They never claim more than they can prove and love to talk about their findings with other scientists or poets. This first assumption gives people the ideas that we can know what is going on in the physical world, why it goes that way, and how it works . The second assumption of science is we can explain why something is happening. This deals more with actual things and not ideas or feelings as Van Doren said. This assumption dealt more with the issues concerning the external world and its working rather than the inner part and how it works.

Concept of Service Profit Chain for Apple

The Service-Profit Chain Today by by James L. Heskett, W. Earl Sasser, Joseph Wheeler Relevance Today The service-profit chain (SPC) is as relevant today as it was when we wrote about it in â€Å"Putting the Service-Profit Chain to Work,† in the March 1994 issue of Harvard Business Review. In fact, three of the co-authors of that article have since left the academy to apply SPC principles in the business world. Company Examples Highly successful companies like Bouygues Telecom in France (now the third largest in its markets in the ten years since its founding) and ING DIRECT (now the 17th largest bank in the U.S. after just seven years) have been created since then, based on service-profit chain (SPC) relationships. Others, such as Rackspace Hosting (engaged in Web site design and management), Westpac (one of Australia’s leading banks), CEMEX (one of the world’s largest cement companies, based in Mexico), Harrah’s Entertainment (a leader in branded casino entertainment, based in Reno, Nevada), and Baptist Health Care (a not-for-profit health care organization centered in northwest Florida and southern Alabama), have been revitalized through actions suggested by SPC relationships.Positive examples of SPC practice are commonly found in companies at the top of Fortune’s 100 Best Places to Work and the Wall Street Journal’s best-performing companies. Other companies, such as Circuit City, provide examples of what happens when organizations manage themselves into a â€Å"doom loop† of negative SPC relationships. In March 2007, Circuit City announced that it would replace 3,400 of its more experienced, higher-paid salespeople with new, lower-paid hires. In so doing, it damaged customer satisfaction and ultimately suffered the financial consequences. Service-Profit Chain AnalysisIn the past 14 years literally hundreds of academic studies have examined one or more of the seven links in the service-profit chain we describ ed in our 1994 article. (David Maister, author of Practice What You Preach: What Managers Must Do to Create a High Achievement Culture (New York: The Free Press, 2001), proved in an extensive study the cause-and-effect relationships that exist between various elements of the SPC. ) Of the studies that have been done, all but a handful have confirmed the relationships in all kinds of for-profit and not-for-profit service activities.Some researchers have taken issue with certain of our hypotheses. In particular, several have found weak or negative relationships between employee satisfaction and productivity and between customer satisfaction and financial measures. In part, this can be explained by sudden management actions that have not yet been fully felt throughout the SPC. For example, changes in such things as staffing policies and organizational structure produce effects that may temporarily disrupt relationships between measures of employee and customer satisfaction. The Importa nce of All the Links in the ChainAs we have continued our work, we have learned, among other things, that: * An organization and its leadership can’t â€Å"cherry pick† ideas or focus on single relationships in the SPC; for maximum effectiveness, all of them must be addressed. * Firms performing well on one SPC dimension are probably doing well on others, too. * It all begins with the first link between the quality of the workplace and employee satisfaction. This link includes such variables as employee selection and recognition, as well as amenities and benefits designed to help employees achieve results for customers and themselves.Companies such as SAS (a leader in business intelligence and predictive analytics software, headquartered in Cary, NC) and Wegmans supermarkets (a regional chain centered in the northeast U. S. ) that invest deeply in workplace quality are consistently found near the top of the list of best places to work in the US. * There are patterns of practice that lead to SPC success. For example, many best-practice organizations have been built on teams of employees with latitude to hire, develop, and, if necessary, fire team members and with responsibility for the growth and profitability of a piece of the business. Customers that we termed â€Å"apostles† in 1994 drive most or all of a firm’s profits through what we have more recently come to think of as the five Rs of customer or employee â€Å"ownership†: retention, related sales, referral, recruitment, and research and development. Wegmans Supermarkets Take the case of Wegmans supermarkets. The company’s mission is to â€Å"set our goal to be the very best at serving our customers. Every action we take should be made with our customers in mind. We also believe that we can achieve our goal only if we fulfill the needs of our own people. At Wegmans, these are more than just words. According to Fortune, Wegmans has ranked in the top five places t o work in the U. S. for several years. In part, this is because CEO Danny Wegman and his team seek to create exciting experiences — centered around food — for both their employees and their customers. This even involves sending selected employees to Europe to study the practices of chefs creating gourmet cuisine. After interacting with employees, a surprising number of the company’s customers apply for jobs, self-selecting into an organization they believe in.A substantial portion of the company’s marketing effort fosters word-of-mouth referrals from existing customers. Ideas for new food items, recipes, and presentations are regularly solicited from and provided by customers and employees. As a result, Wegmans delivers unmatched value in spite of prices that are sometimes higher than competitors’. This, in turn, leads to profitable performance and growth in a very competitive business. Customers and Employees as â€Å"Apostles†Following the publication of â€Å"Putting the Service-Profit Chain to Work,† the work of two of us (Heskett and Sasser, in cooperation with Joe Wheeler) has focused on the payoffs from applying service-profit chain concepts to groups of employees and customers that exhibit what we call â€Å"owner† behaviors. Findings from this work will comprise the contents of our new book, The Ownership Quotient, to be published by Harvard Business Press later in 2008. These employees and customers aren’t just satisfied, loyal, and willing to recommend a company or its products or services to others.They are â€Å"apostles† who actually recruit others to an organization–either as a place to work or to bring their business. And they recommend improvements in how a product is designed or a service delivered, often through constructive complaints that are noted, processed, and acted upon by companies that foster â€Å"owner† behaviors. Our attention to â€Å"ownersâ₠¬  was captured when we found that in the organizations we have studied so far, a customer/owner is worth more than a hundred price-sensitive, non-loyal customers.Organizations that understand this, such as Harrah’s Entertainment and Rackspace Hosting, have designed ways of identifying and catering to customer/owners, often by creating ownership attitudes among their employees. These organizations build ownership in a number of ways: * They organize around cross-functional teams of employees, each of which is responsible for managing itself and developing relationships with a group of dedicated customers. (For example, at Rackspace Hosting, teams of â€Å"Rackers† are responsible for building business relationships with assigned groups of customers seeking help in managing their Web sites. * They carefully select the customers they will serve. (For example, at ING DIRECT, desired customers for on-line banking are targeted and others are â€Å"fired. †) * They u se firm-wide databases that enable employees to share information in order to tailor products and services to customer needs. (For example, Harrah’s Entertainment has a Total Rewards customer database. ) * They understand and meet individual customer needs and interests. (For example, employees at Build-A-Bear Workshops are trained to look for and respond to needs of individual customers in the store itself, as well as those who visit the company’s Web site. * They often engage customers in the delivery of a product. (For example, IKEA customers are encouraged to transport and assemble their furniture purchases themselves. ) * They identify values, behaviors, measures, and actions necessary to build and maintain an ownership mentality. (For example, Baptist Health Care has identified the critical elements of its organizational culture: integrity, vision, innovation, superior service, stewardship, and teamwork. ) Concept of Service Profit Chain for Apple The Service-Profit Chain Today by by James L. Heskett, W. Earl Sasser, Joseph Wheeler Relevance Today The service-profit chain (SPC) is as relevant today as it was when we wrote about it in â€Å"Putting the Service-Profit Chain to Work,† in the March 1994 issue of Harvard Business Review. In fact, three of the co-authors of that article have since left the academy to apply SPC principles in the business world. Company Examples Highly successful companies like Bouygues Telecom in France (now the third largest in its markets in the ten years since its founding) and ING DIRECT (now the 17th largest bank in the U.S. after just seven years) have been created since then, based on service-profit chain (SPC) relationships. Others, such as Rackspace Hosting (engaged in Web site design and management), Westpac (one of Australia’s leading banks), CEMEX (one of the world’s largest cement companies, based in Mexico), Harrah’s Entertainment (a leader in branded casino entertainment, based in Reno, Nevada), and Baptist Health Care (a not-for-profit health care organization centered in northwest Florida and southern Alabama), have been revitalized through actions suggested by SPC relationships.Positive examples of SPC practice are commonly found in companies at the top of Fortune’s 100 Best Places to Work and the Wall Street Journal’s best-performing companies. Other companies, such as Circuit City, provide examples of what happens when organizations manage themselves into a â€Å"doom loop† of negative SPC relationships. In March 2007, Circuit City announced that it would replace 3,400 of its more experienced, higher-paid salespeople with new, lower-paid hires. In so doing, it damaged customer satisfaction and ultimately suffered the financial consequences. Service-Profit Chain AnalysisIn the past 14 years literally hundreds of academic studies have examined one or more of the seven links in the service-profit chain we describ ed in our 1994 article. (David Maister, author of Practice What You Preach: What Managers Must Do to Create a High Achievement Culture (New York: The Free Press, 2001), proved in an extensive study the cause-and-effect relationships that exist between various elements of the SPC. ) Of the studies that have been done, all but a handful have confirmed the relationships in all kinds of for-profit and not-for-profit service activities.Some researchers have taken issue with certain of our hypotheses. In particular, several have found weak or negative relationships between employee satisfaction and productivity and between customer satisfaction and financial measures. In part, this can be explained by sudden management actions that have not yet been fully felt throughout the SPC. For example, changes in such things as staffing policies and organizational structure produce effects that may temporarily disrupt relationships between measures of employee and customer satisfaction. The Importa nce of All the Links in the ChainAs we have continued our work, we have learned, among other things, that: * An organization and its leadership can’t â€Å"cherry pick† ideas or focus on single relationships in the SPC; for maximum effectiveness, all of them must be addressed. * Firms performing well on one SPC dimension are probably doing well on others, too. * It all begins with the first link between the quality of the workplace and employee satisfaction. This link includes such variables as employee selection and recognition, as well as amenities and benefits designed to help employees achieve results for customers and themselves.Companies such as SAS (a leader in business intelligence and predictive analytics software, headquartered in Cary, NC) and Wegmans supermarkets (a regional chain centered in the northeast U. S. ) that invest deeply in workplace quality are consistently found near the top of the list of best places to work in the US. * There are patterns of practice that lead to SPC success. For example, many best-practice organizations have been built on teams of employees with latitude to hire, develop, and, if necessary, fire team members and with responsibility for the growth and profitability of a piece of the business. Customers that we termed â€Å"apostles† in 1994 drive most or all of a firm’s profits through what we have more recently come to think of as the five Rs of customer or employee â€Å"ownership†: retention, related sales, referral, recruitment, and research and development. Wegmans Supermarkets Take the case of Wegmans supermarkets. The company’s mission is to â€Å"set our goal to be the very best at serving our customers. Every action we take should be made with our customers in mind. We also believe that we can achieve our goal only if we fulfill the needs of our own people. At Wegmans, these are more than just words. According to Fortune, Wegmans has ranked in the top five places t o work in the U. S. for several years. In part, this is because CEO Danny Wegman and his team seek to create exciting experiences — centered around food — for both their employees and their customers. This even involves sending selected employees to Europe to study the practices of chefs creating gourmet cuisine. After interacting with employees, a surprising number of the company’s customers apply for jobs, self-selecting into an organization they believe in.A substantial portion of the company’s marketing effort fosters word-of-mouth referrals from existing customers. Ideas for new food items, recipes, and presentations are regularly solicited from and provided by customers and employees. As a result, Wegmans delivers unmatched value in spite of prices that are sometimes higher than competitors’. This, in turn, leads to profitable performance and growth in a very competitive business. Customers and Employees as â€Å"Apostles†Following the publication of â€Å"Putting the Service-Profit Chain to Work,† the work of two of us (Heskett and Sasser, in cooperation with Joe Wheeler) has focused on the payoffs from applying service-profit chain concepts to groups of employees and customers that exhibit what we call â€Å"owner† behaviors. Findings from this work will comprise the contents of our new book, The Ownership Quotient, to be published by Harvard Business Press later in 2008. These employees and customers aren’t just satisfied, loyal, and willing to recommend a company or its products or services to others.They are â€Å"apostles† who actually recruit others to an organization–either as a place to work or to bring their business. And they recommend improvements in how a product is designed or a service delivered, often through constructive complaints that are noted, processed, and acted upon by companies that foster â€Å"owner† behaviors. Our attention to â€Å"ownersâ₠¬  was captured when we found that in the organizations we have studied so far, a customer/owner is worth more than a hundred price-sensitive, non-loyal customers.Organizations that understand this, such as Harrah’s Entertainment and Rackspace Hosting, have designed ways of identifying and catering to customer/owners, often by creating ownership attitudes among their employees. These organizations build ownership in a number of ways: * They organize around cross-functional teams of employees, each of which is responsible for managing itself and developing relationships with a group of dedicated customers. (For example, at Rackspace Hosting, teams of â€Å"Rackers† are responsible for building business relationships with assigned groups of customers seeking help in managing their Web sites. * They carefully select the customers they will serve. (For example, at ING DIRECT, desired customers for on-line banking are targeted and others are â€Å"fired. †) * They u se firm-wide databases that enable employees to share information in order to tailor products and services to customer needs. (For example, Harrah’s Entertainment has a Total Rewards customer database. ) * They understand and meet individual customer needs and interests. (For example, employees at Build-A-Bear Workshops are trained to look for and respond to needs of individual customers in the store itself, as well as those who visit the company’s Web site. * They often engage customers in the delivery of a product. (For example, IKEA customers are encouraged to transport and assemble their furniture purchases themselves. ) * They identify values, behaviors, measures, and actions necessary to build and maintain an ownership mentality. (For example, Baptist Health Care has identified the critical elements of its organizational culture: integrity, vision, innovation, superior service, stewardship, and teamwork. )

HRM in a Changing Environment: The Challenges Essay

Today’s organizations are facing challenges upon following levels: i. Environmental Challenges ii. Organizational Challenges iii. Individual Challenges i. Environmental Challenges Environmental challenges refer to forces external to the firm that are largely beyond management’s control but influence organizational performance. They include: rapid change, the internet revolution, workforce diversity, globalization, legislation, evolving work and family roles, and skill shortages and the rise of the service sector. Six important environmental challenges today are: a) Rapid change, b) Work force diversity, c) Globalization, d) Legislation, e) Technology f) Evolving work and family roles, g) Skill shortages and the rise of the service sector a) Rapid Change Many organizations face a volatile environment in which change is nearly constant. If they are to survive and prosper, they need to adapt to change quickly and effectively. Human resources are almost always at the heart of an effective response system. Here are a few examples of how HR policies can help or hinder a firm grappling with external change: b) Work Force Diversity. All these trends present both a significant challenge and a real opportunity for managers. Firms that formulate and implement HR strategies that capitalize on employee diversity are more likely to survive and prosper. c) Globalization. One of the most dramatic challenges facing as they enter the twenty-first century is how to compete against foreign firms, both domestically and abroad. Many companies are already being compelled to think globally, something that doesn’t come easily to firms long accustomed to doing business in a large and expanding domestic market with minimal foreign competition. Weak response to international competition may be resulting in upwards layoffs in every year. Human resources can play a critical role in a business’s ability to compete head-to-head with foreign producers. The implications of a global economy on human resource management are many. Here are a few examples: Worldwide company culture Some firms try to develop a global company identity to smooth over cultural differences between domestic employees and those in international operations. Minimizing these differences increases cooperation and can have a strong impact on the bottom line. For instance, the head of human resources at the European division of Colgate Palmolive notes, â€Å"We try to build a common corporate culture. We want them all to be Colgaters.† Global alliances† Some firms actively engage in international alliances with foreign firms or acquire companies overseas to take advantage of global markets. Making such alliances work requires a highly trained and devoted staff. For instance, Phillips (a Netherlands lighting and electronics firm) became the largest lighting manufacturer in the world by establishing a joint venture with AT&T and making several key acquisitions. These illustrations show how firms can use HR strategies to gain a worldwide competitive advantage. d) Legislation Much of the growth in the HR function over the past three decades may be attributed to its crucial role in keeping the company out of trouble with the law. Most firms are deeply concerned with potential liability resulting from personnel decisions that may violate laws enacted by the state legislatures, and/or local governments. These laws are constantly interpreted in thousands of cases brought before government agencies, federal courts, state courts, and t Supreme Court. How successfully a firm manages its human resources depends to a large extent on its ability to deal effectively with government regulations. Operating within the legal framework requires keeping track of the external legal environment and developing internal systems (for example, supervisory training and grievance procedures) to ensure compliance and minimize complaints. Many firms are now developing formal policies on sexual harassment and establishing internal administrative channels to deal with alleged incidents before employees feel the need to file a lawsuit. Legislation often has a differential impact on public- and private sector organizations. (Public sector is another term for governmental agencies; private sector refers to all other types of organizations.) Some legislation applies only to public-sector organizations. For instance, affirmative action requirements are typically limited to public organizations and to organizations that do contract work for them. However, much legislation applies to both public- and private sector organizations. In fact, it’s difficult to think of any HR practices that are not influenced by government regulations. e) Technology The world has never before seen such rapid technological changes as are presently occurring in the computer and telecommunications industries. One estimate is that technological change is occurring so rapidly that individuals may have to change their entire skills three or four times in their career. The advances being made, affect every area of a business including human resource management. f) Evolving Work and Family Roles The proportion of dual-career families, in which both wife and husband (or both members of a couple) work, is increasing every year. Unfortunately, women face the double burden of working at home and on the job, devoting 42 hours per week on average to the office and an additional 30 hours at home to children. This compares to 43 hours spent working in the office and only 12 hours at home for men. More and more companies are introducing â€Å"family-friendly† programs that give them a competitive advantage in the labor market. These programs are HR tactics that companies use to hire and retain the best-qualified employees, male or female, and they are very likely to payoff. For instance, among the well known organizations / firms, half of all recruits are women, but only 5% of partners are women. Major talent is being wasted as many women drop out after lengthy training because they have decided that the demanding 10- to 12-year partner track requires a total sacrifice of family life. These firms have started to change their policies and are already seeing gains as a result. Different companies have recently begun offering child-care and eldercare referral services as well to facilitate women workers as well as are introducing alternative scheduling to allow employees some flexibility in their work hours. g) Skill Shortages and the Rise of the Service Sector. Expansion of service-sector employment is linked to a number of factors, including changes in consumer tastes and preferences, legal and regulatory changes, advances in science and technology that have eliminated many manufacturing jobs, and changes in the way businesses are organized and managed. Service, technical, and managerial positions that require college degrees will make up half of all manufacturing and service jobs by 2000. Unfortunately, most available workers will be too unskilled to fill those jobs. Even now, many companies complain that the supply of skilled labor is dwindling and that they must provide their employees with basic training to make up for the shortcomings of the public education system. To rectify these shortcomings, companies currently spend large amount year on a wide variety of training programs. HRM in changing environment With the evolution of the study of HRM, it is no more mere an academic discipline rather an important factor of organizational success in the practical field. Today HRM needs to sense, respond and deal with all the issues of the organization at different levels and prove its worth. HRM has to deal with all the challenges that organization faces and these are at the following levels: †¢ Environmental Challenges (Seven) 1. Rapid Change 2. Work Force Diversity 3. Globalization 4. Legislation 5. Technology 6. Evolving Work and Family Roles 7. Skill Shortages and the Rise of the Service Sector †¢ Organizational Challenges (Four) 1. Controlling Costs 2. Improving Quality 3. Creating Distinctive Capabilities 4. Restructuring †¢ Individual Challenges 1. Productivity 2. Empowerment 3. Brain Drain 4. Ethics and Social Responsibility 5. Job Insecurity 6. Matching People and Organizations Research

Imaginative Michelangelo- Agony and the Ecstacy essays

Imaginative Michelangelo- Agony and the Ecstacy essays Irvine Stones novel The Agony and the Ecstasy captures the life and work of Michelangelo the artist. Within the biographical novel are themes that signify the artists talent and expression by form of his masterpieces as well as his life experience. Such themes as Transcendence/Permanence, Communication/Commentary, Self Expression/Self Exaltation, and Patronage/Functionality, intervene throughout the novel and serve us a way to recognize credible attributes of the artist. A few astounding creations that expose the four themes include the famous Pieta, Sistine chapel, and Hercules. A tremendous amount of detail and care is evident in numerous works of Michelangelo, yet the Pieta is one that stands apart for such recognition. The amount of time put towards the piece emphasizes the sincerity of the artists passion. By observing the Pietas emotion driven subject, Mary and Jesus, a moment of transcendence is breeched. Taking a year and half to complete, Michelangelo was able to portray Mary as young and filled with compassion as she was in his conception. He could not conceive of her as a woman in her mid 50s, old, wrinkled, broken in body and face by labor of worry. His image of the Virgin had always been that of a young woman, even as the memory of his mother. (pg.342). Here, in the Pieta, the artist was able to transcend time and enter into an eternal and ideal picture that was in his mind. It is also noted that such transcendence in the Pieta overlaps the theme of Self-Expression/Self Exaltation as Marys beauty is contrasted with his own mothers. Similar to t he emotion driven portrayal of Mary, Michelangelo dealt with the sorrowful subject entwined with Christs crucifixion. The Pieta was the end, the preordained conclusion of everything that Mary had decided in that fateful hour God had allotted to her.(pg.327).The way in which Michelangelo brought ...