The Logistics Of A Supply Chain - 957 Words

The logistics of a supply chain can be very difficult to understand. There are many different parts involved and if one does not function correctly the others will soon follow. From manufacturing to transportation there is always something happening within the supply chain. Every section of the supply chain is scrutinized and checked to see if the process is going as smoothly as possible. Knowing different styles of research can help in diagnosing problems from within the supply chain. Two of these methods are quantitative research and qualitative research. Two methods that are used to research and calculate an issue would be the quantitative method and the qualitative method. Each method has its own style. Quantitative research deals with numbers, has data that can be measured such as length, speed, time or cost (Roberts, 2012). Qualitative research deals with descriptions and data that cannot be measured (Roberts, 2012). These methods will both help to diagnose any issues that co uld arise within the supply chain from the manufacturer all the way to the customer’s hands. Having a customer do a survey is a qualitative research object. This can then be formulated with other customers and figure out if it is necessary to make more product to have on hand or to back off and stop production on the product. If a researcher is going through online reviews and is counting how many stars a product received through a website, they would be using quantitative research. This isShow MoreRelatedLogistics Supply Chain Essay793 Words   |  4 Pages1. What is logistics, and why is it important in private companies and public organizations? logistics is That part of the supply chain process that plans, implements, and controls the efficient, effective flow and storage of goods, services and related information from the point of order to the point of consumption in order to meet customers’ requirements.It is has become important for growing service organizatio ns both private and public to fulfill customer request and utilizing such network toRead MoreLogistics And Supply Chain Management1033 Words   |  5 PagesLogistics and supply chain management is an important aspect of a firm’s strategy for the business to achieve success by creating value throughout the logistics and supply chain. The research paper will outline the concepts that are involved in creating the logistics and supply management framework. The logistics and supply chain management strategies will drive success for the company towards fulfilling and supporting customer needs, procurement and manufacturing operations of the firm. This researchRead MoreLogistics: Management and Supply Chain1566 Words   |  7 PagesMinor Logistics Operations Presentatie titel MIRBSLM114OP N.J. Osentoski-Monsma A. Nielsen-de Vries Lecturers Logistics Room D2.173 osenj@hr.nl / vriad@hr.nl Rotterdam, 00 januari 2007 6-1 Corporate strategy Business strategy Operations Strategy Mission Objectives (cost, quality, flexibility, delivery) Functional strategies in marketing, finance, engineering, human resources, and information systems Strategic Decisions (process, quality system, capacity, andRead MoreLogistics and Supply Chain Management2341 Words   |  10 Pageshighly competitive situation in order to survive; Supply Chain Management (SCM) becoming the main topic for improving efficiency and satisfy customer’s need. The supply chain of a company consists of different departments, ranging from procurement of materials to customer service. Supply chain management means transforming a company’s â€Å"supply chain† into an optimally efficient, customer-satisfying process, where the effectively of the whole supply chain is more important than the effectiveness of eachRead MoreSupply Chain And Logistics Management1295 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction What is supply chain and logistics? Supply chain management involves various activities from acquisition of raw material to distribution of final goods while logistics involves only transportation of goods. Supply chain plays integral role in business process without effective supply chain management an organization cannot meet its demands on time. So it plays crucial role in business activities. Following activities are involved in supply chain management 1. Procurement 2. ProductionRead MoreLogistics And Supply Chain Management1379 Words   |  6 Pagesand technology and the consulting firms that service them, they are scrambling to hire people with Supply Chain expertise, but these experts are hard to come by. Supply Chain Management has moved from a necessary evil to a core competency at companies across industries. I am applying for admission to the Master of Logistics and Supply Chain Management because I want a career in the Supply Chain Management. In particular, I am interested in factors that affect the competitive performance ofRead MoreLogistic and Supply Chain2659 Words   |  11 PagesOPERATIONS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT Vol. 2, No. 3, September 2009, pp. 167-171 ISSN 1979-3561|EISSN 1979-3871 167 Managing Supply Chain Complexity in a Tea Manufacturing Company I Nyoman Pujawan* Department of Industrial Engineering, Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology, Kampus ITS Sukolilo, Surabaya 60111 Indonesia E-mail: pujawan@ie.its.ac.id Mahendrawathi Er Department of Information Systems, Faculty of Information Technology, Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology, KampusRead MoreSupply Chain Management And Logistics Essay1877 Words   |  8 PagesSupply Chain management and logistics are an extremely important functions of an organization. In this research paper, we will be discussing an aspect of supply chain and logistics that I am interested in, how both are related and different, key activities in supply chain and logistics, and the ethics and social responsibility in both supply chain and logistics management. Logistics is a vital component of supply chain management. Both involve the planning, carrying out and management of goodsRead MoreLogistics In Supply Chain Systems918 Words   |  4 PagesLogistics is an important part of the supply chain process as it is the phase where products that are manufactured are packed, stored in warehouse, and transported to the end users when an order is placed. Logistics deals with lot of data/information about different products, resource, transport, and warehouse management. With the growth of technology, many devices like RFID, barcode, sensors, GPS, Telematics etc. have found its use in Logistics resulting in huge amount of data/information generatedRead MoreLogistics and Supply Chain Management1168 Words   |  5 PagesTopic: Do the terms, ‘logistics management’ and ‘supply chain management’ have the same meaning in operations and why logistics management might be of strategic importance to a manufacturing or service or ganisation. During last two decades, the importance of logistics has been noticed around the world. In global markets, the effects and further developments of logistics and supply chain management for corporate success has increased significantly that result in a large amount of companies have

Deeper The Messages of The Crucible by Arthur Miller

The Messages of The Crucible Miller’s purpose for writing The Crucible was to identify the conspiracies in America’s government regarding the â€Å"Red Hunt.† Just like in Salem, the people who were considered bewitched were regular everyday people that were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Evidence and proof of being witched was completely absent but it was the people’s ambition to come out on top and people’s motives to save their own skin that got many innocent people convicted of witchcraft and thus hanged. Just as the innocent people in Salem were condemned of witchcraft and sentenced to death, so to were American people being condemned of being â€Å"communist† during the time of the Cold War in America. People who thought a certain way and who felt a certain way about something were often times under the suspicion of the government of having been communist. The intense rivalry between the two superpowers raised concerns in the United States that Communists an d leftist sympathizers inside America might actively work as Soviet spies and pose a threat to U.S. security.(http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/red-scare) There are also many biblical allusions in the Crucible. Abigail is seen to be ambitious in her attempts to gain John’s love away from Elizabeth. Her sneaky and sly since of entitlement can easily be compared to Cain in the story of Cain and Abel. Cain is ultimately jealous of his brother Abel whenever God accepts his offering and not his. AsShow MoreRelatedSimilarities Between The Red Scare And The Crucible1506 Words   |  7 PagesConor Regan Mr. Young American Lit Honors 9/29/17 Wicked Witch of the USA: The Parallels Between The Crucible and the Red Scare Imagine the panic when there is the possibility that anyone around who looks no different than everyone else is relaying information to the enemies. Having no idea if the neighbors who have lived there for 15 years are actually spies. Having no idea if there was a real threat of danger right around the block. This is the type of concern spread by Senator Joseph McCarthyRead MoreThe Crucible And The Handmaids Tale Analysis1176 Words   |  5 PagesIn the books The Crucible by Arthur Miller and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood truth is large concept. Throughout the books truth is used to define the perception and the reality through key symbols that go above and beyond an object. In The Crucible The Bible plays an immense part in shaping characters characteristics, also in The Handmaid’s Tale it shapes one of the main motifs of the story. Throughout the two books, flowers are a meaningful symbol which is compared to a real relationshipRead MoreThe Crucible By Ar thur Miller1852 Words   |  8 Pagesdifferent personal interpretations. It is inconceivable to imagine that each novel has only one prominent underlying message or theme. Arthur Miller, the American dramatist and playwright, out of The University of Michigan, was able to transform one of the most notable accounts of mass hysteria and loss of rational thought, and mold it into an elaborate and complex drama. Miller’s, The Crucible tells the story of the Salem witch trials that occurred in Salem, Massachusetts in the late seventeenth centuryRead MoreThe Forced Dilemmas for the Characters in The Crucible by Arthur Miller1027 Words   |  4 Pagesoccasion of severe test or trial.† is the most obvious definition the Dictionary gives of the word â€Å"Crucible† that would relate to the title of the novel. However not many think to consider the other definition of the word which is â€Å"a little ceramic or metal container which is used for the purpose of metals or other substances to be melted or subjected to very high temperatures†. In other words a â€Å"Crucible† is a small container which is pact with aggressive results; which fully relates to Salem throughoutRead MoreThe Crucible By Arthur Miller1545 Words   |  7 PagesIn â€Å"The Crucible,† Arthur Miller portrays two females whose characters, when juxtaposed, look to vastly distinction each and every different. Although the specific phrases aren t used, one girl is basically put forth within the story as â€Å"good† and the other woman as â€Å"evil.† Such black and white rulings of these characters would be close to ironic, in view that that Arthur Miller wrote his play to reveal the risks of judging humans with different mindsets or perception systems. Miller portrayed thatRead MoreRastafarian79520 Words   |  319 Pagesone sounded by the charismatic leader. The genius of charismatic leaders is their ability to embody and articulate a certain mission with which others identify and to which they commit themselves.35 The identiï ¬ cation of groups of people with the message of charismatic personages is necessary for the formation of charismatic communities. Otherwise, those claiming charismatic qualities will remain isolated individuals and are likely to be regarded as eccentric. Because charismatic leadership isRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 PagesElectronic Communications 345 †¢ Managing Information 349 Choice of Communication Channel 350 xiv CONTENTS Persuasive Communications 351 Automatic and Controlled Processing 351 †¢ Interest Level 352 †¢ Prior Knowledge 352 †¢ Personality 352 †¢ Message Characteristics 352 Barriers to Effective Communication 353 Filtering 353 †¢ Selective Perception 353 †¢ Information Overload 353 †¢ Emotions 353 †¢ Language 354 †¢ Silence 354 †¢ Communication Apprehension 355 †¢ Lying 355 Global Implications 356 CulturalRead MoreCrossing the Chasm76808 Words   |  308 Pagesmight think because over the past decade my views have changed (all right, I’ve become older), and I have an inveterate tendency to meddle, as any number of my clients and colleagues will testify. The problem is, when you meddle, you get in deeper and deeper until God knows what you have, but it wasn’t what you started with. I have plenty enough opportunity to do that with future books, and I have enough respect for this one to try to stand off a bit. That being said, I did make a few significantRead MoreManagement Course: Mba−10 General Management215330 Words   |  862 Pagesusually was judged and measured by the depth and capability and hard-asset credentials of the company’s management. That, of course, remains critically important. However, American companies whose performance most readily slipped in the economic crucible at the beginning of the twenty-first century (and whose recovery was among the slowest) seemed to rate highest in hard-asset terms compared with the many companies with a higher mix of soft-asset management strength, whose results were far better

Jared Diamond. “the Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race” Review Essay Example For Students

Jared Diamond. â€Å"the Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race† Review Essay Jared Diamond. â€Å"The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race† Jared Diamond writes about the consequences of agriculture on the human race. He suggests that the earliest farming societies did not have an easier more productive lifestyle than hunter-gatherer societies, contrary to popular belief. For example, the Kalahari Bushmen spend a mere average of 12 to 19 hours a week to getting food, and on average sleep a lot, work less hard, and have more free time than people in hunter-gatherer societies. Another consequence agriculture had on humans is their diets. Hunter-gatherers eat many various wild plants and animals; therefore, they have better nutrition than farmers who generally only eat the limited variety of crops they produce. For example, the Kalahari Bushmen’s daily intake was 2,140 calories and 93 grams of protein, whereas farmers gave up good nutritional crops for cheap calories found in their starchy crops. In my own opinion, I believe that Diamond’s paper is for the most part skewed for the reason that he has a great anti-progressivist bias. Whenever Diamond makes a direct comparison between farming and hunter-gatherer societies, he shows all the positives for hunter-gatherer and the negatives for farmer societies. For example, when Diamond is comparing the nutrition of the two societies, he talks about the balance of nutrients and diet, he mentions that the Kalahari Bushmen eat a variety of over 75 different wild plants and receive more calories than needed. On the other hand, he mentions the fact that thousands of Irish farmers died during the potato famine during the 1840’s. Another example of how Diamond’s bias towards the gatherer side affects the paper is when he tries to compare the Bushmen to the Ethiopian farmers. The comparison is trying to show that being a gatherer is a better choice by comparing Kalahari Bushmen to the Ethiopian farmers. This is not an equal comparison because he uses the Kalahari Bushmen who are apparently above average on nutrition and one of the most successful Hunter-gatherer societies to one of the lower, undernourished farming societies in Ethiopia.

You are my Sunshine free essay sample

Her voice was quiet; he wasnt sure if he was even actually hearing it or if he was imagining It. You are my sunshine, my only sunshine You make me happy when skies are gray. This song It was one that she had taught him. He couldnt recall exactly when she taught him It, or who had been the one to teach her It. He was positive It was one of the humans, either John or Jade. It seemed like a song that they would know, sappy and cheesy. It was probably John that taught her It. Either way It didnt matter who had shown her it, but she sang it all the time.She sang it to him, or him, and she was always requesting for him to sing it with her. She seemed to want nothing more than to duet with him. Youll never know dear. We will write a custom essay sample on You are my Sunshine or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page How much I love you Naturally every single time she asked he had refused. Why would he ever sing, especially with her, or such a lame song? What a bucking stupid idea. Where did she even think of it? Did somebody suggest it to her? If it had been a suggestion then it was probably John, the boy seemed to be behind everything that bothered Karat. Please dont take my sunshine away. As his gaze was glued to the young troll lying on the floor, In a pool of her own olive load, he couldnt help but feel crushed by guilt. This was his fault. That girl he had known, one of his closest friends -? not that he was willing to admit It -? was only a shadow of who she had once been. The other night dear, as I lay sleeping. Her pain was clear in her voice. How was she even singing at this point? It didnt matter. He moved slowly, or at least it seemed slow to him. Kneeling beside her small form he reached out and grabbed hers, holding it tight with his and interlacing their fingers. I dreamed I held you in my arms.. . He slowly moved to lay down beside her, smearing the image she had painted with ere own blood. It was better to have the real him laying here next to her instead of that painting. Relight? As he stared at her, he didnt know which was worse; the fact that he couldnt help her, or the fact that If she survived this she would never be the same again. Would It be worse if she lived? There was no way that she could function to the same degree as before, not with the Injury she had received. Even now her voice held a different sound to it. Was it better if she died? Nape. He started, but was interrupted by her small, broken voice. But when I awoke Dear. Was mistaken This entire thing was his fault, he couldnt protect her. What was he supposed to do now? How could he possibly save her? He had absolutely no idea. His gaze was drawn away to the prone form laying just a few feet away from them. He wanted to call out to him, to ask him what he was supposed to do. How the buck he was supposed to handle this, but he knew that there was no use in doing so. Issue was ever going to say a thing, he was never going to get up again. So I hung my head and I cried. Regret hit him like a brick wall..He was such a fuchsias. Before this he couldnt even cake the time to sing a stupid song with her. How could he have been so terrible to her? He pushed her away at every chance he had. He hurt her over and over, rejected her, and tore down her ideas. How could he have continuously done so? Each time hand tightened and he let out a slow breath. He would do right by her at least once. You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. His voice rang out beside hers, or rather over hers. His was far louder and much stronger. He could feel the blood on the ground seeping through his clothing but his didnt care, at least not at the moment.He needed to make for being so rotten to her. He needed to make her happy for the last few moments that he was actually able to. You make me happy when skies are gray. Still holding her hand tight, he reached out with his right and hook his arm around her back before tugging Nape into his arms. Her voice skipped dipped, she skipped a word in the line, the pain of being moved clearly great. She didnt react otherwise though. She didnt look at him, she didnt cling to him. She Just continued to sing. He doubted she even realized that he was there, that he was holding her against him. Youll never know dear, how much I love you He clutched her tight against his chest, his grip becoming a steel beam around her. That time she reacted, her arm twitched, moving up a bit. His mind took it as a sign, a good sign. She was still registering her surroundings. She knew he was there. He refused to believe the logical part of his brain, the part telling him that it was an involuntary reflex. That it had nothing to do with her registering him being next to her. It didnt matter, he was going to believe what he wanted to and at that moment he wanted to believe that there was hope for her.He grabbed her arm gently, the one that had twitched, and lifted it up. He hooked it around his neck, listening to her breath hitch at the movement. He took the sound as her not wanting him to let go, not the fact that she was in pain. His eyes shut tight, blocking out the olive that surrounded them, blocking out the tragedy. With his eyes shut he could pretend that they were Just lying next to each other on the floor, laying on spilt foggy. That there was nothing wrong, that they were both fine. Or At least he could try to pretend that. He refused to acknowledge the fact that her voice was fading ever so slowly.That with every passing moment she become quieter. He wanted to remain ignorant for as long as possible. She was tired, she Just needed a break from singing. Thats all that it was. After she had a moments rest she would be perfectly fine. She would look and him and smile wide. She would pounce on him and exclaim in her happy little voice Scarcity! You sang with me! . He would grumble and deny it. She would giggle and then she would insist that they sing again. And That would be alright. If she wanted to sing the song again that would be perfectly fine with him. Please dont take. Y sunshine away. His voice wavered, it wobbled. The pitched falling in and out of tune, it echoed in the room. The only sound. His mind registered that there was only his voice now, that Nape had fallen silent but he didnt take it into account. She Just needed a small break. She would Join in once more on the final line. She wouldnt let him sing it on his own. Please dont take my sunshine away. He whispered the last note, the song was over. Nape hadnt rejoined in singing. It took him several moments to open his eyes; afraid to see what awaited, what he would need to face.The colors around him were tinted red, his vision blurring. He him. He dragged his gaze to Nape. He stared at the young troll in his arms. He looked so peaceful, as if she were Just sleeping, her eyes were even shut. He kept his fingers tightly intertwined with hers as he lifted her free hand up and brushed the bangs from her eyes. Her skin was still warm. The image was almost perfect; he could nearly convince himself truly that she was Just sleeping except for the olive that stained her features. There was far too much. Her forehead was sticky, trail of olive blood flowing down it, already starting to dry slowly.A sad, small smile cracked his features, she looked so restful. He leaned forward and kissed her gently on the forehead. Nape, get up. Its time to wake up, he spoke gently, out of character for himself but he was terrified that he could break her with his words. Come on, we can even sing that stupid song again if you want. I know how much you love it He nudged her gently, come on. We can even royally if you want. Ill do it seriously this time, I wont make fun of you.. . You Just need to get up There was no response from the cat troll, she remained as silent and still as ever. Nape, seriously.Stop acting like this. Its time to get up. The silence continued. . .. No? Well guess we can lie here, only for a bit longer, but you have to look at me.. . Alright? Or at least say something. He pulled her prone form closer to him. K pulls AC closer to him, wanting to keep her warm, not wanting her to get cold. K Just wanted to keep AC happy and safe. He looked at her, eyes scanning her face, looking for any recognition. Nape. .. Did I do it right? Silence, of course, was his only answer. Come on, give something. Give some feedback! Say something! Jut bucking say anything, Jesus buck Nape.

Flight and The Snake by John Steinbeck Essays

Flight and The Snake by John Steinbeck Essays Flight and The Snake by John Steinbeck Paper Flight and The Snake by John Steinbeck Paper Essay Topic: Flight The Long Valley John Steinbeck is a well-known author who was born in Salinas, California in 1902. The town of Salinas later became the setting of many of his stories, includingâ€Å"Flight† and â€Å"The Snake†, which were short stories in the Long Valley. Steinbeck was well known for his writing style. He was a master of imagery and symbolism, and he made sure the reader had a clear picture of what he was writing. In â€Å"Flight† and â€Å"The Snake† he uses animal references for the main characters, Pepe in â€Å"Flight† and the mysterious woman in â€Å"The Snake†. Besides those references, both stories use color symbolism to describe the character and setting. Both Stories also indicate what happens when an individual is stripped of what they are, either material or psychological. Using these references and symbols makes the readers think more deeply into the story. Even though both stories use similar references and symbolism, the two stories are comp letely different. Many interpretations have been given to both stories so many people will have different opinions on what these two stories mean. As with Steinbeck’s other writings, both â€Å"Flight† and â€Å"The Snake† take place in Salinas, California, one setting out in the Torres ranch and the other setting in a laboratory.â€Å"Flight† tells a tale of an unprepared youth’s failure to achieve maturity (Placentino, 1980) and â€Å"The Snake† tells a story about a Marine Biologist meeting a mysterious woman and what effect she has on him. Animal imagery is used throughout both stories. In â€Å"Flight†, Steinbeck describes Pepe as having as having â€Å"sharp Indian cheekbones and his â€Å"eagle nose†, suggesting his primitive animal-like nature (Placentino, 1980). Snake references are also used for Pepe as when he throws his knife, his wrist â€Å"flicked like a head of a snake† (Placentino, 1980).Similarly, in â€Å"The Snake†, the mysterious woman is described as being snakelike, swaying back an :

How to Come Up With Great College Essay Ideas

How to Come Up With Great College Essay Ideas SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Writing the college application essay is a tough gig. You’ve got to be charming, personal, memorable, and insightfulall in under two pages! But I’m going to tell you a secret: half of a great personal essay is a great topic idea. Ifyou’re passionate about what you’re writing, and if you’re truly documenting something meaningful and serious about yourself and your life, then that passion and meaning will come alive on the page and in the mind of your reader. So how do you come up with an essay idea? The best way is to brainstorm your way to an event from your life that reveals a core truth about you. In this article, I will help you do just that. Keep reading to find 35 jumping off points that touch on every possible memory you could harness, as well as advice on how to use your brainstorming session to fully realize your idea for an essay topic. What Makes an Essay Topic Great? What does your application tell admissions officers about you? Mostly it's just numbers and facts: your name, your high school, your grades and SAT scores. These stats would be enough if colleges were looking to build a robot army, but they aren't. So how do they get to see a slice of the real you? How can they get a feel for the personality, character, and feelings that make you the person that you are? It's through your college essay.The essay is a way to introduce yourself to collegesin a way that displays your maturity. This is important because admissions officers want to make sure that you will thrive in the independence of college life and work. This is why finding a great college essay topic is so hugely important: because it will allow you to demonstrate the maturity level admissions teams are looking for. This is best expressed through the ability to have insight about what has made you into you, through the ability to share some vulnerabilities or defining experiences, and through the ability to be a creative thinker and problem solver. In other words, a great topic is an event from your past that you can narrate, draw conclusions from, explain the effect of. Most importantly, you should be able todescribe how it haschanged you from the kind of person you were to the better person that you are now. If you can do all that,you are well ahead of the essay game. How Do You Know If Your College Essay Topic Is Great? Eric Maloof, the Director of International Admission atTrinity UniversityinSan Antonio, Texas hasa great checklist for figuring out whether you're on the right track with your essay topic. He says, if you can answer "yes" to these two questions, then you've got the makings of a great essay: Is the topic of my essay important to me? Am I the only person who could have written this essay? So how do you translate this checklist into essay topic action items? Make it personal.Write about something personal, deeply felt, and authentic to the real you (but which isnot an overshare). Take a narrow slice of your life: one event, one influential person, one meaningful experience – and then you expand out from that slice into a broader explanation of yourself. Always think about your reader. In this case, your reader is an admission officer who is slogging through hundreds of college essays. You don’t want to bore that person, and you don’t want to offend that person. Instead, you want to come across as likable and memorable. Put the reader in the experience with you by making your narrow slice of life feel alive. This means that your writing needs to be chock-full of specific details, sensory descriptions, words that describe emotions, and maybe even dialog.This is why it’s very important to make the essay topic personal and deeply felt. Readers can tell when a writer isn’t really connected to whatever he is writing about. And the reverse is true as well:deep emotionshows through your writing. Writing with deep emotion: because you can't just stick smileys all over your college essay. Want to write the perfect college application essay? Get professional help from PrepScholar. Your dedicated PrepScholar Admissions counselor will craft your perfect college essay, from the ground up. We'll learn your background and interests, brainstorm essay topics, and walk you through the essay drafting process, step-by-step. At the end, you'll have a unique essay that you'll proudly submit to your top choice colleges. Don't leave your college application to chance. Find out more about PrepScholar Admissions now: Coming Up With Great College Essay Ideas Some people know right off the bat that theyhave to write about that one specific defining moment of their lives. But if you're reading this, chances are you aren't one of these people. Don't worry - I wasn't one of them either! What this means is that you - like me - will have to put in a little work to come up with the perfect idea by first doing some brainstorming. I've come up with about 35 different brainstorming jumping off points that ask questions about your life and your experiences. The idea hereis to jog your memory about the key life events that have shaped you and affected you deeply. I recommend you spend at least two minutes on each question, coming up with and writing down at least one answer - or as many answers as you can think of. Seriously - time yourself. Two minutes is longer than you think! I would also recommend doing this over several sittings to get your maximum memory retrieval going - even if it takes a couple of days, it'll be worth it. Then, we will use this list of experiences and thoughtsto narrow your choices down to the one topic idea that you will use for your college essay. Brainstorming Technique 1: Think About Defining Moments in Your Life What is your happiest memory? Why? What was good about it? Who and what was around you then? What did it mean to you? What is your saddest memory? Would you change the thing that happened or did you learn something crucial from the experience? What is the most important decision you’ve had to make? What was hard about the choice? What was easy? Were the consequences of your decision what you had imagined before making it? Did you plan and game out your choices, or did you follow gut instinct? What decision did you not have any say in, but would have wanted to? Why were you powerless to participate in this decision? How did the choice made affect you? What do you think would have happened if a different choice had been made? What the most dangerous or scary thing that you’ve lived through? What was threatened? What were the stakes? How did you survive/overcome it? How did you cope emotionally with the fallout? When did you first feel like you were no longer a child? Who and what was around you then? What had you just done or seen? What was the difference between your childhood self and your more adult self? What are you most proud of about yourself? Is it a talent or skill? A personality trait or quality? An accomplishment? Why is this the thing that makes you proud? Kevin was inordinatelyproud of his full and luxuriant head of feathers. He hatedbeing called a bald eagle, always posting on his Facebook that the "bald" is short for "piebald," or multicolored. Brainstorming Technique 2: Remember Influential People Which of your parents (or parental figures) are you most like in personality and character? Which of their traits do you see in yourself? Which do you not? Do you wish you were more like this parent or less? Which of your grandparents, great-grandparents, or other older relatives has had the most influence on your life? Is it a positive influence, where you want to follow in their footsteps in some way? A negative influence, where you want to avoid becoming like them in some way? How is the world they come from like your world? How is it different? Which teacher has challenged you the most? What has that challenge been? How did you respond? What is something that someone once said to you that has stuck with you? When and where did they say it? Why do you think it’s lodged in your memory? Which of your friends would you trade places with for a day? Why? If you could intern for a week or a month with anyone – living or dead, historical or fictional – who would it be? What would you want that person to teach you? How did you first encounter this person or character? How do you think this person would react to you? Of the people you know personally, whose life is harder than yours? What makes it that way – their external circumstances? Their inner state? Have you ever tried to help this person? If yes, did it work? If no, how would you help them if you could? Of the people you know personally, whose life is easier than yours? Are you jealous? Why or why not? Svetlana was always jealous of climbers whose mountaineering careers weren't limited to flowers and small shrubbery. Brainstorming Technique 3: Recreate Important Times or Places When is the last time you felt so immersed in what you were doing that you lost all track of time or anything else from the outside world? What were you doing? Why do you think this activity got you into this near-zen state? Where do you most often tend to daydream? Why do you think this place has this effect on you? Do you seek it out? Avoid it? Why? What is the best time of day? The worst? Why? What is your favorite corner of, or space in, the place where you live? What do you like about it? When do you go there, and what do you use it for? What is your least favorite corner of, or space in, the place where you live? Why do you dislike it? What do you associate it with? If you had to repeat a day over and over, like the movie Groundhog Day, what day would it be? If you'd pick a day from your life that has already happened, why would you want to be stuck it in? To relive something great? To fix mistakes? If you'd pick a day that hasn't yet occurred, what would the day you were stuck in be like? If you could go back in time to give yourself advice, when would you go back to? What advice would you give? Why? What effect would you want your advice to have? For Matilda, the main challenge of time travel was packing. Just how do you fit one of those giant Elizabethan ruffle collars into a carry-on? Brainstorming Technique 4: Answer Thought-Provoking Questions If you could take a Mulligan and do over one thing in your life, what would it be? Would you change what you did the first time around? Why? Or, if you could take another crack at doing something again, what would you pick? Something positive – having another shot at repeating a good experience? Something negative – getting the chance to try another tactic to avoid a bad experience? Which piece of yourself could you never change while remaining the same person? Your race? Ethnicity? Intellect? Height? Freckles? Loyalty? Sense of humor? Why is that the thing that you’d cling to as the thing that makes you who you are? Which of your beliefs, ideas, or tastes puts you in the minority? Why do you think/believe/like this thing when no one else seems to? What are you most frightened of? What are you not frightened enough of? Why? What is your most treasured possession? What would you grab before running out of the house during a fire? What is this object’s story and why is it so valuable to you? What skill or talent that you don’t have now would you most like to have? Is it an extension of something you already do? Something you’ve never had the guts to try doing? Something you plan on learning in the future? Which traditions that you grew up with will you pass on? Which will you ignore? Why? Finnigan couldn't wait to introduce his future children to his family's birthday tradition - lemons. Brainstorming Technique 5: Find a Trait or Characteristic and Trace It Back What are three adjectives you’d use to describe yourself? Why these three? Which of these is the one you’re most proud of? Least proud of? When did you last exhibit this trait? What were you doing? How would your best friend describe you? What about your parents? How are the adjectives they’d come up with different from the ones you’d use? When have they seenthis quality or trait inyou? What everyday thing are you the world’s greatest at? Who taught you how to do it? What memories do you have associated with this activity? Which aspects of it have you perfected? Imagine that it’s the future and that you’ve become well known. What will you become famous for? Is it for something creative or a performance? For the way you will have helped others? For your business accomplishments? For your athletic prowess? When you make a speech about this fame, whom willyou thank for putting you where you are? What do you most like about yourself? This is different from the thing you’re most proud of – this is the thing that you know about yourself that makes you smile. Can you describe a time when this thing was useful or effective in some way? Thinking about her punk crewcut always made Esme smile. That hair was made to rock. Want to build the best possible college application? We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in. How to TurnYour Brainstorming List Into an Essay Topic Now that you have a cornucopia of daydreams, memories, thoughts, and ambitions, it's time to thin the herd, prune the dead branches, and whatever other mixed metaphors about separating the wheat from the chaff you can think of. So how do you narrow down your many ideas into one? Use the magic power of time. One of the best things you can do with your stack of college essaytopics is to forget about them. Put them away for a couple of days so that you create a little mental space. When you come back to everything you wrote after a day or two, you will get the chance to read it with fresh eyes. Let the cream rise to the top. When you rereadyour topics after having let them sit, do two things: Cross out any ideas that don't speak to you in some way. If something doesn't ring true, if it doesn't spark your interest, or if it doesn't connect with an emotion, then consider reject it. Circle or highlight any topics that pop out at you. If it feels engaging, if you get excited at the prospect of talking about it, if it resonates with afeeling, then put it at the top of the idea pile. Rinse and repeat. Go through the process of letting a few days pass and then rereading your ideas at least one more time. This time, don't bother looking at the topics you've already rejected. Instead, concentrate on those you highlighted earlier and maybe some of the ones that were neither circled nor thrown away. Trust your gut instinct (but verify). Now that you've gone through and culled your ideas several times based on whether or not they really truly appeal to you, you should have a list of your top choices - all the ones you've circled or highlighted along the way. Now is the moment of truth. Imagine yourself telling the story of each of these experiences to someone who wants to get to know you. Rank your possible topics in order of how excited you are to share this story. Really listen to your intuition here. If you're squeamish, shy, unexcited, or otherwise not happy at the thought of having to tell someone about the experience, it will make a terrible essay topic. Develop your top two to four choices to see which is best.Unless you feel very strongly about one of your top choices, the only way to really know which of your best ideas is the perfect one is to try actually making theminto essays. For each one, go through the steps listed in the next section of the article under "Find Your Idea's Narrative." Then, use your best judgment (and maybe that of your parents, teachers, or school counselor) to figure out which one to draft into your personal statement. Handing out trophies toyour top three ideas is entirely optional. How to Make Your Idea Into a College Essay Now, let's talk about what to do in order to flesh out your topic concept into a great college essay. First, I'll give you some pointers on expanding your idea into an essay-worthy story, and then talk a bit about how to draft and polish your personal statement. Find Your Topic'sNarrative All great college essays have the same foundation as good short stories or enjoyable movies – an involving story. Let's go throughwhat features make for a story that you don’t want to put down: A compelling character with an arc. Think about the experience that you want to write about. What were you like before it happened? What did you learn, feel, or think about during it? What happened afterwards? What do you now know about yourself that you didn’t before? Sensory details that create a â€Å"you are there!† experience for the reader. When you’re writing about your experience, focus on trying to really make the situation come alive. Where were you? Who else was there? What did it look like? What did it sound like? Were there memorable textures, smells, tastes? Does it compare to anything else? When you’re writing about the people you interacted with, give them a small snippet of dialog to say so the reader can â€Å"hear† that person’s voice. When you are writing about yourself, make sure to include words that explain the emotions you are feeling at different parts of the story. An insightful ending. Your essay should end with an uplifting, personal, and interesting revelation about the kind of person you are today, and how the story you have just described has made and shaped you. Draft and Revise The key to great writing is rewriting. So work out a draft, and then put it aside and give yourself a few days to forget what you’ve written.When you come back to look at it again look for places where you slow down your reading, where something seems out of place or awkward. Can you fix this by changing around the order of your essay? By explaining further? By adding details?Experiment. Get advice. Colleges expect your essay to be your work, but most recommend having someone else cast a fresh eye over it. A good way to get a teacher or a parent involved is to ask them whether your story is clear and specific, and whether your insight about yourself flows logically from the story you tell. Execute flawlessly. Dot every i, cross every t, delicately place every comma where it needs to go. Grammar mistakes, misspellings, and awkward sentence structure don’t just make your writing look bad – they take the reader out of the story you’re telling. And that makes you memorable, but in a bad way. Hint: writing that's flawless definitely did not wake up like this. The Bottom Line Your college essay topicneeds to come from the fact that essays are a way for colleges to get to know the real you, ayou that is separate from your grades and scores. A great way to come up with topics is to wholeheartedly dive into abrainstorming exercise. The more ideas about your life that tumble out of your memory and onto the page, the better chance you have of finding the perfect college essay topic. Answer mybrainstorming questions without editing yourselfat first. Instead, simply write down as many things that pop into your head as you can – even if you end up going off topic. After you've generated a list of possible topics, leave it alone for a few days and then come back to pick out the ones that seem the most promising. Flesh out your top few ideas into full-blown narratives, to understand which reveals the most interesting thing about you as a person. Don’t shy away from asking for help. At each stage of the writing process get a parent or teacher to look over what you’re working on, not to do your work for you but to hopefully gently steer you in a better direction if you’re running into trouble. What’s Next? Ready to start working on your essay? Check outour explanation of the point of the personal essay and the role it plays on your applications. For more detailed advice on writing a great college essay, readour guide to the Common Application essay prompts and get advice onhow to pick the Common App prompt that’s right for you. Thinking of taking the SAT again before submitting your applications? We have put together the ultimate guide to studying for the SAT to give you the ins and outs ofthe best ways to study. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Managing change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Managing change - Essay Example Clearly, there is a separation of vision within the executive leadership group mandating an immediate necessity to unify this group by way of establishing a singular strategic goal for securing the banks continued growth and obtaining policies which enhance internal productivity. A common purpose derived of senior-level unity of vision is a missing element from the organizational climate and this level of division is having a profound trickle down effect on the banking staff which further creates a disorganized and uncertain culture. Further, the rigid top-down leadership hierarchy of command established within the bank prevents empowering staff to utilize their vast skills through self-managed contributions. The breakdown of communication in the Australian Regional Bank can best be defined in the organizations lack of development regarding customer relationship management and this collapse of communication is impacting productivity on all levels. Despite the banks history of substantial successes, radical change in terms of internal practice is proposed in order to move forward as a cohesive business entity. Developing a common purpose within the executive leadership group should be recognized as a primary objective in order to establish a clear path forward in terms of how the company intends to sustain growth in its industry. While some new executives continue to resist the direction proposed by the Chief General Manager, others are attempting to mimic opposing successes established in the executives previous career position. This division amongst leadership is substantially visible to the bank employees, creating a sense of confusion, doubt, and mistrust in terms of perceived manager/employee relationships. Lack of management visibility and support, especially for companies experiencing a transitional phase, will directly affect employees perceptions about whether or not the company is well-managed (Boles & Sunoo, 1998). Faith in

How did radio and movies change people ideas and how were they used Essay

How did radio and movies change people ideas and how were they used for spreading propaganda - Essay Example They use to spend their leisure time listening to radio with their families. Radio deserves the credit for initiating the irreversible process of globalization and bringing the west together (Pease & Dennis, pp. 87-89). However, there are various events where radio was used to spread propaganda and false news. This happened during the Second World War when the prime mode of communication was Radio. Furthermore, radio also created a sense of false reality in the hearts and minds of the American people and made them close-minded, ignorant, and disillusioned. People use to remain the in state of denial and that is what made it so difficult for the American people to accept the great depression of 1930s (Vowell, pp. 45-51). Without any doubts, movies, along with many other forms of media have played a crucial role in changing the mindset of people in the west. An expert once said, â€Å"What was wrong yesterday has become acceptable today and what has become acceptable today would becom e right tomorrow† (Ross, pp. 23-39). We are living in a society where people are tolerating many things, which were banned a few decades back.

Plunkitt of Tammany Hall Essay Example for Free

Plunkitt of Tammany Hall Essay â€Å"There’s an honest graft and, I’m an example of how it works†¦I’ve seen my opportunities and I took ‘em† (3). An excerpt that defines the confident and political leader: George Washington Plunkitt. As a brilliant and successful businessman Plunkitt managed to use his method of machine politics to win the heart and commitment of people and political power. In the novel Plunkitt of Tammany Hall, author William L. Riordon, Plunkitt’s political reporter who records the many lectures Plunkitt presented at Tammany Hall. The book emphasizes on Plunkitt’s advocacy for political control and the political machine that helped him gain wealth and a political seat in Tammany Hall. In novel, Plunkitt defends the political machine by explaining the difference between â€Å"honest graft† and â€Å"dishonest graft†. Many accused the political leaders of Tammany Hall of gaining wealth from graft. Plunkitt describes the difference between the two terms. He describes â€Å"dishonest graft† as â€Å"blackmailin’ gamblers, saloonkeepers, and disorderly people† (3). In other words, the corruption of gaining political or business power used from bribery. Plunkitt’s term for â€Å"honest graft† has to do with the example of purchasing and selling off land for business projects. For example, if the town begins discussing a specific piece of land to be used for a community park, Plunkitt would buy that piece of land, inflate the price, and sell the property to the project developer. Plunkitt finds his way of profiting â€Å"honest†; I call this taking advantage of ones political power. As an â€Å"honest† Irish- American Plunkitt knows how to take advantage of the game and he will continue to play it until sand turns into stone. With the ability to win over voter’s hearts and gain political support Plunkitt comfortably knows how to keep a seat in Tammany Hall. One of his, again, â€Å"honest† tactics, Plunkitt knows how to target specific types of voters. In the chapter â€Å"To Hold Your District†, Plunkett claims how to target the lower class people. He would start house fires so that the poor would not have any clothing or food. Then Plunkitt would act as a friend to the people giving them quarters for clothing and food to win the heart of the people. In other words, he was gaining a vote. Plunkitt would even hand out candy to children to promise to make sure their parents were voting for him in elections. As a corruption to society, Plunkitt knew how fake the political act and win people over with friendships. According to Plunkitt in order to become a politician in Tammany Hall one must know how to bluff. Everything was about winning a vote, whether it was taking someone to a baseba ll game or handing out candy to children. What ever it took. As a business and political man, Plunkitt knew the political game inside and out. With corruption, he managed to continue to remain in office for countless years. Even though Plunkitt’s grammar was inferior to a professors’ or college graduate, it had nothing to do with being a political powerhouse. A politician had to have common sense and know how to gain ones trust, even if it meant dishonesty. By selling himself and taking advantage of political and business opportunities with â€Å"honest† or â€Å"dishonest† graft, Plunkitt attentiveness always kept himself in front with wealth and politically.

My Feelings on English language :: essays research papers

My feelings about the English language, including both grammar and literature, have changed several times throughout my life. These changes took place as I was influenced by my family and by the different teachers that I have had throughout my academic career. As a young boy, I knew very little about the English language, but the instruction which I have received throughout my academic career has worked to shape my feelings about the English language. My parents began reading to me when I was very young. When I was only six months old, my parents bought me a number of plastic books. Using simple picture books, my parents taught me to recognize pictures of objects and how to associate those objects with their specific names. I learned how to talk when I was only a year old, and my parents continued to read to me in order to help me build up my vocabulary. I specifically remember my mother reading Sesame Street books to me. When she read to me, she used a different voice for each of the characters. I heard the same stories read to me so many times that I began to memorize them. I was able to recite my favorite stories before I could read them for myself. While I was unable to read, my skills with the English language were developing as I learned and used the words that I heard my parents read to me. My parents, my first teachers, made learning the English language an enjoyable experience for me at a young age.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I began attending preschool at the age of three, and I have a number of memories from that period in my life. My preschool teachers made learning about the English language fun. They ingrained in me the letters of the English alphabet using a number of techniques. I remember gluing uncooked macaroni noodles onto construction paper in order to form different letters of the alphabet. The letters or words that we learned were usually associated with a fun story or with a specific color. The teachers also read a great deal to me and my fellow classmates. Story-time became something that I looked forward to. Because my preschool teachers made learning fun, I looked forward to learning more about the English language at a very young age. My parents further reinforced what I learned in preschool by continuing to read to me at home.

Obesity and Cancer Risk

According to the National Cancer Institute, obesity is a condition in which a person has an abnormally high and unhealthy proportion of body fat. Obesity is measured by calculating a person’s BMI. Years of research prove that there are connections between obesity and cancer risk. Research shows us that an increase in body weight increases insulin levels in the blood, which promote the development of certain tumors and tumor regulators. Fat cells also produce adipokine hormones, which stimulate cell growth.Leptin, which is abundant in obese people, acts on a receptor on the brain where a person exhibits appetite and promotes cell proliferation, or cell growth. Essentially, excess body weight is the catalyst for hormones in the body to not function properly while additionally promoting cell growth, which is the major cause of cancer spread. In 2007 research found 34,000 new cases of cancer in men and 50,500 new cases in women due to obesity. It is estimated that 1:5 cancer relat ed deaths are due to overweight and obesity.Obesity is associated with several cancers in the body, including in the esophagus, pancreas, colon and rectum, kidney, thyroid, gallbladder, breast (after menopause) and endometrium (the lining of the uterus). Weight gain affects the body’s immune system, certain hormones including insulin and estrogen, and factors that regulate cell division. Scientists in the American Cancer Society admit that research is limited in learning whether or not weight loss can reduce cancer risk.There is growing evidence to suggest that a reduction in weight may diminish the risk of breast cancer, after menopause, as well as more aggressive forms of prostate cancer. However, obese people who lose weight often reduce certain hormone levels that relate to cancer risk, such as insulin and estrogen. Cites: National Cancer Institute http://www. cancer. gov The American Cancer Society http://www. cancer. org The PubMed Data base http://www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pubmed

Political, Social, Economic, and Intellectual Life

Between the time period of 1840 and 1860, slavery played an influential and pivotal role in the development of a new southern lifestyle. In the struggle for dominance in America, slavery was the South’s stronghold and the underlying cause in much of their motives for many of the economic instigations along with the affirmative political actions. By dominating the everyday southerner’s life, slavery also dominated the economic and political aspects of life during the height of the slavery period.By the 1840’s the Southern economy had become almost entirely slave and and agriculturally dependent. Without the dependence of slaves in the south, a person was to remain landless, poverty stricken or struggling to sustain life through the means of a minute, ineffective farm. However, even though slaves dominated the southern economy, slaveholders only included about 2 to 3 percent of the population, and most owned less than ten slaves. This small percentage of fortunate individuals were the few people successful in a slave based, cash crop, agricultural, Southern economy.In turn, the Southern economy was controlled and dominated by those who did and did not have slaves, which generated the political ideology and political atmosphere formed as a result of the utter reliance on slavery controlling all aspects of everyday life. ?Slaves in the south were the main contributors to the South’s economic success. The invention of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin made possible the wide-scale cultivation of short-staple cotton.All professionals worked diligently with one another to make sure each function, from production to distribution, was properly executed on the plantation, and that an ample supply of cotton was always present. An organized network of commerce never developed in the South, as the high demand for cotton in Europe, primarily Great Britain, and in North America, more slaves were needed in the south to continue to produce the lucrative cash crops, booming the southern economy and the need to create and reform the cash crop business.The the new cotton crop and other rising crops like rice and tobacco led to the increasing demands that were higher than the current production rate. In order for them to generate a more lucrative business, the south used slaves as a labor source to produce crops, which had the largest impact on the southern lifestyle. This in turn boosted the south's economy, which allowed the the southern life to thrive and create a distinction between themselves and the other economies of North America. Whilst slaves dominated the southern economy, slaveholders only accounted for about two to three percent of the southern population.This small, yet powerful percentage of individuals were the people successful in agricultural business and the driving force behind the usage and continuation of slavery in the South. Without slaves there would be no cotton, tobacco, or sugar production and without these integral items, the Southern economy would absolutely collapse. The South depended on slaves to fuel their economy which in turn allowed for slavery to dominate the economy and be the sole resource of the South. ?Between 1840 and 1860 many political issues, debates, and actions were inflamed by the presence of slavery.As America grew, both in population and in size, the South wanted more slave states and the North wanted more free states to increase their hold in politics and sway decisions in favor of what put them in a position for the greatest success. One important act that provoked the slavery dominated political world of 1840 to 1860 was the Kansas and Nebraska Act, composed by the highly acclaimed Democrat Stephen Douglas. This act was successful in repealing the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and called for popular sovereignty in Kansas and Nebraska which under the Missouri Compromise had been free, as dictated by federal law.The Missouri Compromise was originally an act to se ttle disputes about free states and slave states entering the Union in an attempt to keep the balance of free states and states that permitted slavery equal. To repeal this was to almost beg for revolution; hence the term â€Å"Bleeding Kansas† which included the John Brown riots and caused political and social unrest in these areas affected by the law. The Compromise of 1850 was another feeble solution to the predominate problem of run-away slaves and the recurring issue of slavery in new territories.This Compromise created stronger fugitive slave laws which satisfied Southern slave catchers and enraged Northern abolitionists. Millard Fillmore, President at the time, was inept in favoring any side and felt that this compromise would be the driving force that would keep the already fragile union together. The compromise also made California a free state, and the area won in the Mexican Cession would be subject to popular sovereignty, and lastly, dictated that there would be n o slave trade in Washington D. C. but it would remain a slave state to keep the proper balance. The weak and extremely controversial compromises would would only further split the nation on the topic of slavery and create a greater schism within the topic. From 1820 to 1860 slavery was a recurring topic in Congress and the House of Representatives. Slavery is even considered to be the cause of the Civil War and in the end, was grasped as the main reason for bloody fighting. All political issues during this time could not be discussed without the topic of slavery behind it. Read also: Theories Actually Seen in Practice in Ojt

Greed Essay - Enron and Northern Rock Corporate Collapse The WritePass Journal

Greed Essay - Enron and Northern Rock Corporate Collapse Abstract Greed Essay Enron and Northern Rock Corporate Collapse ). Created as a result of a merger between the North East Building Society and the Northern counties Permanent Building Society and the Rock Building Society, the Northern Rock Building Society was in an ideal position to create and further their own business interests. A key area of concern for investors was the fact that Northern Rock derived its capital from depositors until the deregulation efforts of the 1980’s (Marshall et al, 2012). With the relaxation of oversight, it became possible for entities such as Northern Rock to consider and implement alternate solutions for revenue increase that included heavy investment in the stock market and mortgage industry. Complementing the perception of leadership and dedication to the market were statistics that cited Northern Rock as one of the leading mortgage lenders during the period of the early 2000’s (Mclean and Elkind, 2003). With a wish to capitalize as much as possible on the conditions of the growing market, which i ncluded the American mortgage market prior to 2008, Northern Rock leadership opted to invest heavily in the subprime market that generated so much profit during this period (Dawley et al, 2012). This argument suggests that the old industry region that was home to the company’s operations had a direct impact on the initial success and eventual failure of the Ban. This initial overview demonstrates that there was a real drive to produce revenue on the part of both of these companies, which in turn fuelled their need to succeed at any cost. In both cases, Enron and Northern Rock began with a legitimate business foundation, yet desired a continual increase in power and revenue which led to poor decisions and policy implementation. In a very real way, this brief illustration suggests that the success factor prompted these companies to act in the selfish and rash manner that brought about their downfall. 2.2 Companies 2.2.1 Enron The manner in which leadership creates, endorses and implements a company policy is a critical component to any entities day to day operations (O’Connell, 2004). In this case Enron leadership including Ken Lay, Jeffrey Skilling and Andy Fastow were primarily credited with first leading the company to incredible heights, and then engineering the massive failure due to their own incredible greed. Perhaps a leading indicator of the manner of leadership Ken Lay found appealing lay in his continual support of the oil trading company headed by Borget that was deemed acceptable as long as there was a profit, regardless of method (Swartz and Watkins, 2003). Organizational culture built on greed and corruption will continue to breed these same elements throughout any organization (Solomon et al, 2004). In this case Enron leadership’s goal of creating a nature gas stock exchange was driven by the desire to increase market share and revenue. In the beginning this form of innovatio n and aggressive marketing were deemed acceptable, but with subsequent discoveries of accounts including M. Yass, or My ass, created by Borget there was an acknowledgement of corruption (Fox, 2003). Despite Enron initially endorsing Borget and his practices as the scope of the losses mounted, Ken Lay actively denied any wrong doing, taking advantage of the lack of information that he cultivated. The lack of any serious form of financial oversight allowed Enron to create questionable forms of accounting and bookkeeping that extended their perception of propriety (Solomon, 2004). During deregulation effort of the late twentieth century, there was serious contention on the part of the business community that there was a need to reduce regulation in order to benefit the consumer. Leadership at Enron eagerly campaigned on the notion that deregulation would actively increase the capacity for the worker (Swartz et al, 2003). Blaming regulation for higher electricity the lobbyists were largely successful in their drive to remove any meaningful oversight in the industry. This push included a state by state approach that allowed Enron to utilize their regional positions to great advantage, thereby ensuring a smoother experience (Boje et al, 2004). Skilling created concept of an asset lite strategy, or not actually owning the assets, simply bundling and selling the energy, which in turn provided Enron with a potential method to drastically increase revenue with little to no paper trail (Solomon et al, 2014). The summer of 1998 witnessed a bonanza for Enron as there was a perception of volatility that enabled them to drastically capitalize on the market, leading to the perception that Skilling was a genius (Swartz et al, 2003). During this period following deregulation many of the Enron’s greatest profits were made by employees finding loopholes and exploiting these accounting or business practices to the utmost in order to increase revenue (Arnold and Lange, 2005). Again, this policy of attempting to end run regulation only promotes the false ideal that the company or its employees was smarter than the system. Enron has been credited with employing many questionable accounting techniques during their period of operation in order to bolster expectations (Gordon, 2002). This drive to provide a continuous profit for the company led the leadership to adopt accounting practices that did more to obstruct the revelation of negative data in order to maintain profits. A combination of being at the right place in the form of evolving deregulation and belonging to a culture of greed and corruption created the atmosphere that prompted these increasingly poor accounting practices (Macey, 2003). At the heart of Enron’s trouble rests a lack of strong corporate governance and an increasing disregard for public regulation and investor welfare (Vinten, 2002). Beginning with methods that merely bent the rules, the accounting practices at Enron had to become larger in order to account for the burgeoning debt that was being created (Parker, 2005). This form of creative bookkeeping suggests that there was a strong knowledge that operations at the company were not only limited in scope, but there was a need to make as much money as possible at any cost. This form of accounting was illustrated in the Mark to Market accounting expansion that served to misinform investors on accurate valuations, thereby increasing Enron’s value (Shelly, 2011). While essentially legal, the stretching and reinterpretation of the rules allowed Enron to create a wide margin of profit on paper. Further, the use of limited partnership and outside parties increased the level of secrecy and uncert ainty that surrounded every Enron valuation process including the Credit Default Swaps and Collateralised Debt Obligations (Swartz et al, 2010). These measures became necessary in order to provide the company with the means to maintain expectations, bonuses and pensions. From the outset, Enron was out to make money (Jennings, 2002). Each innovation was aimed at delivering the most revenue to the leadership, not the investors. Each decision and example of culture illustrates the greed and ambition of those behind the Enron debacle. In the accounting profession a fair presentation is regarded as an accurate representation of a working operation, creative accounting is identified as flexible practice that best serves the interests of the clients, with fraudulent accounting made up of those that blatantly step outside the law (Buckley, 2011). Enron has displayed an initial fair value accounting method that degenerated into a fraudulent accounting method with evidence that paints a portrait of unrestrained greed, propped up by poor regulation and aided by tacit indulgence of success. There is a clear need to conduct ethical business in order to sustain opportunities (Gill, 2009). This was does not seem to have happened in the case of Enron. This evidence suggests that no matter how Enron had attempted to compensate for poor practice, there could have been no other plausible outcome than failure. 2.2.2 Northern Rock Initially specialising in residential and commercial mortgages Northern Rock quickly became an industry frontrunner under the leadership of Adam Applegarth in 2001(Marshall et al, 2012). This form of leadership actively profited from the prior methods of operation, utilizing the past profit to invest in the present stock market, primarily the growing sector mortgage securities. Linsley and Slack (2013) argue that prior to 2001 Northern Rock projected a ethic of care, which in turn was cited for the intense feelings of betrayal following the collapse of the Bank. There was a sense that leadership of the Bank was overly ambitious in their efforts to capitalize on their existing assets by putting all of the previous savings at risk (Marshall et al, 2012). This suggests that the clientele of Northern Rock expected their leadership to take greater care and substantially less risk. Three primary points including Northern Rocks previous existence as a building society, the local or regional nature of the bank and the appearance of the Northern Rock Foundation bolstered the perception of a caring institution that was out to serve the populace (Linsley, 2013). With the change in policy brought about by a new leader, there was a palpable sense of anger and disillusionment with both Northern Rock and the direction of their investments. It very much seems as if was this effort from the previous eras, the caring and attentive attitude that served to amplify the negativity as the bank began to crumble under the weight of poor leadership and management. With the onset of the subprime collapse in the United States and the massive international recession that followed, it became impossible for Northern Rock to meet its financial obligations, which in turn prompted the failure of the bank (Linsley et al, 2013). The innovative nature of the investment pattern such as the ‘Together’ investment scenario set out by Northern Rock was a stark departure from the mutualisation process of previous eras (Nesvetailova and Palan, 2013). With the ambitious investment goals set out by Applegarth, it became necessary for the bank to move from the 75% per cent income from depositors to a much more modest 25% with the remaining balance being accounted for by investment and loans (Nesvetailova, 2013). As reflected by consumer discontent with the policy decision, the entire process became disliked and heavily blamed for the eventual run on the bank. The new pattern of investment required Northern Rock to pursue securitization in a fashion that created special purpose vehicles in order to allow these securities to become liquid and thereby tradable (Deegan and Unerman, 2011). This process allowed Northern Rock to obscure their accurate worth by essentially hiding these accounts offshore (Scott, 20 08). With an accounting practice that was creative and innovative at the time, Northern Rock utilized this method in order to expand their projected revenues, thereby further enhancing their operations. In order to continue lending at the bank level, mortgages could be sold, or further funds borrowed on the mortgage securities, which in turn kept Northern Rock liquid initially (Gaffikin, 2008). This culture of greed no matter the cost fuelled the leadership drive to not only continue this practice, but expand it to incorporate up to 50 per cent of the Northern Rock operational platform (Deegan et al, 2011). Depending too heavily on any volatile market has the potential to put any operation at risk at any time (Domhoff, 2013). This evidence suggests that Northern Rock was substantially impacted by the subprime mortgage collapse and the inability to borrow money from the lenders. With a business model that was directly dependant on the interbank lending process, this sudden halt of funding was a severe and crippling blow, only enhanced by the need for the bank to have these funds on hand in order to shore up fading public support. The perception of dismay and lack of trust only increased as Northern Rock found itself undercut by rivals with better loan rates (Deegan et al, 2011). With no ready pool of funding available and no one to purchase the securities, some of which were frozen due to questionable value, the internal situation deteriorated to the point of collapse nearly overnight. Regulation and lack of effective constraints in the financial process has been cited as an element of the Northern Rock collapse (Nesvetailova, 2013). There was a sustained feeling that the explosive pattern of growth quickly overwhelmed any regulation effort, which in turn led to unsatisfactory testing and performance assessments. The caring culture that once benefited operations at Northern Rock was transformed to increased discontent with the announcement of the government bailout, which in turn fuelled the run on the bank (Deegan, et al, 2011). This evidence suggests that it was the very elements of safe investment that had given Northern Rock the opportunity for investment initially and that the prudent course of action would have been to maintain a pattern of considerate investment rather than an all-out bid for industry leadership. With the nationalization of the Northern Rock entity, the government became the only remaining investor, shouldering the substantial loss that had once been a thriving multi-generational company (Deegan et al, 2011). 3 Conclusion Both Enron and Northern Rock exhibited similar and distinctly different traits as this study as illustrated. Each of the companies possessed leadership that was very focused on success and revenue. This culture of greed and ambition served to initially propel both companies into positions of leadership which was demonstrated by their drastic increase in value and recognition during the early phases. While both companies began with fair trade accounting methods, there were driving forces behind each entities operation after that period. Enron began to employ outright fraud in their accounting practices, in some cases going so far as to completely create fictional assets in order to maintain viability. In contrast Northern Rock employed creative accounting methods to legally utilize their existing assets to invest in the subprime mortgage market. While Northern Rocks leadership made poor choices, there was no element of blatant fraud as perpetrated by Enron. There was a distinct organisational culture gap between Enron and Northern Rock. The ethic of care environment enacted a perception of interest in the consumers of Northern Rock aided the long term business efforts and sustained operations over generations. Enron was focused on profit and the means to increase profit from the point of inception, creating management techniques that encouraged a liberal interpretation of any regulation, placing revenue generation above the need to present a high level of honesty during operation. A similarity that binds both companies together was the leadership intention to use the open market to increase their net assets. Further, there was a directed action by both management institutions to hide the debt from the consumer and investors in order to prop up their image and brand. Once considered pioneering, creative and innovative the combination of deregulation, massive growth and complex rules provided a wide range of opportunities that these compa nies chose to exploit for their own gain. Each of these entities found itself in the position that required them to borrow money in order to meet expectations. Lacking the means to borrow money was the death knell for both of these enterprises. Northern Rock found itself caught in the subprime mortgage collapse and Enron found itself the focus of scrutiny concerning their assets and true valuation. In the end both Enron and Northern Rock exhibited poor policy decision as well as experiencing bad luck. While there is no guarantee in the business world, large scale deception and fraud will eventually come back to roost. It was the utilization of questionable practice, greed and ambition that served to derail these companies, teaching us all that honesty is indeed the best policy. 4 References Arnold, B. and De Lange, P. 2004. Enron: an examination of agency problems.  Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 15 (6), pp. 751765. Boje, D. M., Rosile, G. A., Durant, R. A. and Luhman, J. T. 2004. Enron spectacles: A critical dramaturgical analysis.  Organization Studies, 25 (5), pp. 751774. Buckley, A. 2011.  Financial crisis. Harlow, England: Financial Times Prentice Hall. Dawley, S., Marshall, N., Pike, A., Pollard, J. and Tomaney, J. 2012. Continuity and evolution in an old industrial region: the labour market dynamics of the rise and fall of Northern Rock.  Regional Studies, (ahead-of-print), pp. 119. Deegan, C. and Unerman, J. 2011. Financial Accounting Theory: European Edition, 2nd Edition, McGraw Hill. New York, NY. Domhoff, G. W. 2013.  The myth of liberal ascendancy. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers. Fox, L. 2003.  Enron. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. Gaffikin, M. 2008. Accounting Theory: Research, Regulation and Accounting Practice, Pearson Education. New York, NY. Gill, M. 2009, Accountant’s Truth: Knowledge and Ethics in the Financial World, Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1(1). Gordon, J. N. 2002. What Enron means for the management and control of the modern business corporation: some initial reflections.  The University of Chicago Law Review, 1(1) pp. 12331250. Gordon, R. W. 2002. New Role for Lawyers: The Corporate Counselor after Enron, A.  Conn. L. Rev., 35 p. 1185. Jennings, M. M. 2002. Primer on Enron: Lessons from a Perfect Storm of Financial Reporting, Corporate Governance and Ethical Culture Failures, A.  Cal. WL Rev., 39 p. 163. Khan, M. A. 2011. The Reasons Behind a Corporate Collapse: A Case Study of Enron.Available at SSRN 1923277. Linsley, P. M. and Slack, R. E. 2013. Crisis management and an ethic of care: the case of Northern Rock Bank.  Journal of business ethics, 113 (2), pp. 285295. Macey, J. R. 2003. Efficient capital markets, corporate disclosure, and Enron.  Cornell L. Rev., 89 p. 394. Marshall, J., Pike, A., Pollard, J. S., Tomaney, J., Dawley, S. and Gray, J. 2012. Placing the run on Northern Rock.  Journal of Economic Geography, 12 (1), pp. 157181. Mclean, B. and Elkind, P. 2003.  The smartest guys in the room. New York: Portfolio. Nesvetailova, A. and Palan, R. 2013. Minsky in the Shadows Securitization, Ponzi Finance, and the Crisis of Northern Rock.  Review of Radical Political Economics, 45 (3), pp. 349368. O’Connell, B. T. 2004. Enron. Con:â€Å"He that filches from me my good name†¦ makes me poor indeed†.  Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 15 (6), pp. 733749. Parker, L. D. 2005. Corporate governance crisis down under: post-Enron accounting education and research inertia.  European Accounting Review, 14 (2), pp. 383394. Richardson, S. 2011. From the Invisible Hand to CEO Speak: Enron and a Rhetoric of Corporate Collapse. Russell, D. 2013. Critical Studies on Corporate Responsibility, Governance and Sustainability, Vol. 3Business and Sustainability: Concepts Strategies and Changes.  International Journal of Law and Management, 55 (1), pp. 7476. Scott, W. R. 2008 Financial Accounting Theory, 5th Edition, FT Prentice Hall. Solomon, J. and Solomon, A. 2004.  Corporate governance and accountability. New York: John Wiley. Swartz, M. and Watkins, S. 2003.  Power failure. New York: Doubleday. Vinten, G. 2002. The corporate governance lessons of Enron.  Corporate Governance, 2 (4), pp. 49.

How to Choose the Right Book Cover Dimensions in 3 Simple Steps

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Hobbe's Conception of the State - Essay Example A proper insight into Hobbes’ concept of the state and its relationship with liberty, law, power and right of the State has been provided within the scope of this paper. Hobbes’ Leviathan was written and shaped in the backdrop of the Civil War that took place in America and thus the book is centred on thoughts based on the existence of a strong central or sovereign authority according to which only a single individual or body may possess all the power and impose rights on the people. Hobbes opposed these views and spoke about how life would be without such a government in place and this utopian condition was named the ‘state of nature’. ... ng to Hobbes, is the perfect situation for such a society where the various people may come together in the form of a social contract and live together in what may be formed as a civil society. A society is a place where every individual should be able to obtain his or her own rights and the law should be free and flexible enough to accommodate the needs of every individual living within that society. However, the State was not such a place and thus Hobbes longed for the non prevention of socializing among human beings and postulated a civil society. Life prior to the theory was a very anarchic form of life where there was no leadership prevalent among the people because of which Hobbes thought that things were going haywire. Thus, he preached that there should be a sovereign authority that dictates terms because he thought that this would benefit the people at large. The social contract thus became an ‘occurrence’ as per which people came together to form a civil societ y or a State so that they could exercise their rights as per the law that was laid down by the contract. There were rules and regulations that bound the people from the State and curbed their rights as and when needed. Hobbes thought that this form of living at least prevented people from living in a brutish or hellish sort of place that they existed within earlier. This therefore, led to the coming of a State or a sovereign entity which helped to protect the rights of every individual living within that society. Thus, Hobbes talked about the relationship between an absolute power that ruled the State and the State as a forum for individuals to exercise their rights within. Liberty is a very moral concept of freedom that is provided to individuals existing within a land; in this case, Hobbes thought

Business Development Plan and CRM: Thomas Cook Group

Business Development Plan and CRM: Thomas Cook Group 1.0 ABSTRACT Customer relationship management(CRM) consists of the processes a company uses to track and organize its contacts with its current and prospective customers. CRM in its broadest sense simply means managing all customer interactions. In practice, this requires using information about ones customers and prospects to more effectively interact with its customers in all stages of its relationship with them. We refer to these stages as the customer life cycle. The customer life cycle has three stages: Acquiring customers Increasing the value of customer retaining good customer BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT The specialist area o fbusiness development comprises a number of techniques and responsibilities which aim at gaining new customers and at penetrating existing markets. Techniques used include: assessment of marketing opportunities and target markets intelligence gathering on customers and competitors generating leadsfor possible sales advising on, drafting and enforcing sales policies and processes follow-up sales activity. Project work: Learning of the major products and services of Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. Major Clients Major Competitors Acquiring a larger market share Learning about Customer Relationship Management Objectives Acquiring new customers. Retaining existing customers To have larger market share Limitations: Sometimes it is very hard to get an appointment with a corporate client as they have tough schedules. Meeting the right person in the organization is not an easy task who has the decision making power. Lack of transparency by companies in providing their data. Time period constraint was there for carrying out analysis. 2. INTRODUCTION 2.1 Company Profile Thomas Cook Group plc is a leading international leisure travel group, created by the merger of MyTravel Group plc and Thomas Cook AG in June 2007. Thomas Cook Group plc is a fully listed company on the London Stock Exchange. Thomas Cook (India) Limited is a part of Thomas Cook Group. It remains as a subsidiary of TCIM Limited, an unlisted private company, incorporated under the laws of England and Wales having its Registered Office at Peterborough, England, U.K. and holding 55.87% of the post Rights Issue paid-up equity share capital of the Company. Thomas Cook UK Limited (TCUK) apart from holding 21.45% of the post Rights Issue paid-up equity share capital of the Company, also holds 100% holding in TCIM Limited. Thus, TCUK indirectly holds 77.31% of the present paid-up equity share capital of the Company. 2.2 Thomas Cook (India) Limited During the year 2008, the Company successfully consolidated various businesses across Thomas Cook (India) Limited and its subsidiaries. The Company derived the synergy benefits in 2008 arising out of various initiatives like network harmonization, closure of non-core and loss making units, manpower realignment, and contributions from tourism boards for marketing spends, re-negotiation with vendors due to increased bargaining power. The one-time cost of integration amounted to Rs. 69.8 million. Thomas Cook organized a 19 city Summer Holiday Sale, a pan-India Holiday road-show offering the best Holiday deals. The roadshows were very successful giving a boost to the Domestic Business. The year 2008 was focused on Domestic Tourism with its launch through the brand name: My India, My Way. During the year, packages catering to the needs of different segments of customers were created. the Company was the first Travel Company to offer Indian Rail Bookings online in partnership with IRCTC on its portal. Further, the Company also integrated with Hotels4u real time on www.thomascook.in giving its online customers first hand access to over 30,000 hotels in the Hotels4u inventory. The Company also tied-up with Axis Bank for pre-paid forex card which offers exchange upto 7 currencies. Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. is the largest integrated Travel and Travel related Financial Services Company in the country offering a broad spectrum of services that include Foreign Exchange, Corporate Travel, Leisure Travel, and Insurance. The Company launched its Indian operations in 1881 and is celebrating its 127 years of world-class service in India. Thomas Cook (India) operates in the following areas of business, namely:Leisure Travel, Corporate Travel Management, MICE, Foreign Exchange, SWIFT Network, Travel Insurance, Credit Cards, Pre-Paid Cards, Life Insurance and E-Business. Post March 31st 2008, Thomas Cook (India) Limited (TCIL) is a part of Thomas Cook Group plc UK (TCG). On March 7th 2008, TCG announced its decision to acquire TCIL from Dubai Investment Group. Thomas Cook Group plc is one of the largest travel groups in the world with a market capitalization of approximately US$6 Billion. In June 2006, Thomas Cook (India) acquired LKP Forex Limited and Travel Corporation (India) Pvt. Ltd. (TCI).TCIL presently operates in over 61 cities across almost 166 locations in the country. The company has overseas operations in Sri Lanka which is a branch of TCIL and Mauritius which is a subsidiary of Thomas Cook (India). The Company employs over 2,500 resources and is listed on both the Bombay Stock Exchange as well as the National Stock Exchange. Thomas Cook (India), over the years has received several prestigious awards such as the Golden Peacock Award for excellence in Corporate Governance and the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Golden Award for Best Travel. Recently, the Company won the Best Tour Operator at the CNBC Awaaz Travel Awards 2008 and was also accredited the P1 rating which is the highest financial rating given by Crisil. 2.3 Financial Facts of the Company Revenues as on December 31, 2010 as declared in the annual report was Rs 2588 million crore. A dividend of 37.5% on the equity share capital had also been the proposed dividend on the equity capital and preference Capital absorbs Rs. 93 million for dividend and Rs. 16 million for Dividend Tax. 2.4 Listing of Shares THOMAS COOK INDIA LIMITED is listed on two Stock Exchanges in India viz. Bombay Stock Exchange Limited, Mumbai and National Stock Exchange of India Limited, Mumbai. 2.5 Principal Bankers: State Bank of India ICICI Bank Limited HDFC Bank Limited IDBI Bank Limited Deutsche Bank Standard Chartered Bank The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Apart from this Thomas Cook has won the following awards: Best Travel Agency Award2004 given by TTG Asia Part of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) for the 5th year in succession. The Golden Peacock Award for Corporate Governance, for the second time in a row. The Criteria for this award are transparency, excellence in conducting business, various levels of management, social and environmental responsibility, ethical business practice and Consistent creation of value for all the stakeholders. The National Tourism Awardfor 2001-2002 2002-2003, winning the second rank in category 1 for the company that achieved the highest foreign exchange earnings from Ministry of Tourism. National Tourism Award Best MICE Operator2006-07 National Tourism Award 3rd prize Inbound Operator2006-07 The Association of Business Communications of India(ABCI) where the company won the first prize for its website www.thomascook.co.in Awarded The Best Outbound Inbound Tour Operator of the Year award at the Hospitality India Awards 2006 hosted by Hospitality India. Recipient of the prestigious Government of India Ministry of Tourism award for Excellence in Conference Tourism Best Travel Agency India for the year 2008by TTG Asia Part of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Best Tour Operator by CNBC Awaaz in 2008 Best Outbound Tour Operatorin the 4th Hospitality India Explore the world Annual International Awards 2008 2.7 SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths Image Overall presence Customized services Efficient sales staff High focus on customer satisfaction Handling last minute transactions Weakness Inability to fully cover each market Not aggressive in advertising Opportunities Unexplored Market Hotels in Manesar Threats Other players in foreign exchange market. 3.0 INDUSTRY ANALYSIS 3.1 About Foreign Exchange Market In todays world no economy is self sufficient, so there is need for exchange of goods and services amongst the different countries. So, unlike in the primitive age the exchange of goods and services is no longer carried out on barter basis. Every country in the world has a currency that is legal tender in its territory and this currency does not act as money outside its boundaries. So whenever a country buys or sells goods and services from or to another country, the residents of the two countries have to exchange currencies. Foreign exchange market is described as an OTC (over the counter) market as there is no physical place where the participants meet to execute the deals. The largest foreign exchange market is in London, followed by the New York, Tokyo, Zurich and Frankfurt. The market are situated throughout the different time zone of the globe in such a way that one market is closing the other is beginning its operations. Therefore, it is stated that foreign exchange market is functioning throughout 24 hours a day. 3.2 Need for Foreign Exchange If an Indian company exports cotton fabrics to USA and invoices the goods in the US dollar. The American importer will pay the amount in US dollar, as the same is his home currency. However the Indian exporter requires rupees i.e. his home currency for procuring raw materials and for payment to the labour charges, etc. Thus, he would need to exchange US dollar for rupee. If the Indian exporter invoices their goods in rupee, then the importer in USA will get his dollar converted in rupee and pay the exporter. From this we can infer that in case goods are bought or sold outside the country, exchange of currency is necessary. 3.3 Following are the major bifurcations: Full fledge moneychangers these are the firms and individuals who have been authorized to take both, purchade and sale transaction with the public. Restricted moneychanger these are shops, hotels, etc that have been authorizes only to purchase foreign currency towards cost of goods supplied or services rendered by them or for conversion into rupees. Authorized dealers these are the ones who can undertake all types of foreign exchange transaction. Banks are the only authorized dealers. The only exceptions are Thomas Cook, Western Union. 3.4 Participants in foreign exchange market The main players in foreign exchange market are as follows: Customers: The customers who are engaged in foreign trade participate in foreign exchange market by availing the services of banks. Commercial Banks: They are the most active players in the foreign exchange market. Commercial banks dealing with international transaction offer services for conversion of one currency into another. They have a wide network of branches. Central Bank: In all countries Central Bank have been charged with the responsibility of maintaining the external value of the domestic currency.. Generally this is achieved by the intervention of the bank. Exchange Brokers: Forex brokers play a very important role in the foreign exchange market. However the extent to which the services of foreign brokers are utilized depends on the tradition and practice prevailing at a particular Forex market centre. Overseas Forex market Speculators 3.5 Major Competitors The major players in the foreign exchange market VKC FRR WEIZMANN FCM TT FOREX CENTRUM RR SEN MERCURY 4.0 SERVICES 4.1 Holidays Inbound Inbound Tourist refers to tourists/ travelers coming to India. Inbound tour operators promote India as a tourist destination. TCIL organizes tours for foreign tourist visiting India. TCIL organizes Individual tours, group tours and Conferences. Various services offered in inbound business are accommodation, ticketing, roundtrip, excursion, land arrangements, airport transfer etc. These services are procured from providers of these services like hotels, airlines, transporters, guides etc. within India. Customers are typically individuals and are sourced by overseas principals, tour operators or travel agents. TCI, one of the subsidiaries is among the leaders in inbound tourism and works closely with tour operators worldwide. TCI has a widely distributed network of travel agents and tour operators worldwide. It has around 20 offices in India and a total of 11 offices in USA, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Spain, China, Korea, Japan and Australia. TCIL also acts as a ground handling agent domestically for Charter flights coming from international destinations. TCIL also offers customized individual holidays, group escorted holidays, MICE (Meeting, Incentive, Conference and Exhibition) arrangements and emergency medical assistance. Inbound travelers handled by our Company are primarily from Europe and USA.TCIL enters into business arrangements with the foreign tour operators for servicing their customers when they arrive in India. 4.2 International Holidays Outbound tourist refers to Indian Nationals traveling out of India. TCIL offers outbound tour packages across approximately 50 Countries. Outbound packages include various services like air tickets, visa, travel insurance, airport transfer, hotel accommodation, sight seeing, etc. International Holidays is further classified into following categories: Group Escorted Holidays: These are ready made packages where a group of travelers is escorted by a Tour Manger. Customised Individual Holidays: Tailor made packages based on individual requirements MICE: Dealers/Employees are sent on tour by Corporates. Sales agency amongst others for Star Cruise, Rail Europe, Globus, Cosmos Tours, Greyhound, Amtrak, Rocky Mountaineer Vacations, Japan Rail and Costa Cruises 4.3 Domestic Holidays Domestic Travel refers to Indian Nationals (Tourists, Business Travelers, Students, Leisure travelers) traveling within India. Various services offered are accommodation, ticketing, roundtrip, excursions, land arrangements, airport transfer, etc. These services are procured from service providers like hotels, airlines, transporters, guides, etc. TCI, one of our subsidiaries specializes in special interest and incentive tours, conferences and air charter / cruise ship ground operations. It operates its own Taj Mahal Tour and Delhi City Tour and is a General Sales Agent (GSA) for the Palace on Wheels and the Deccan Odyssey. TCIL is an active member of various industry and professional organizations. 4.4 Air Tickets Book your Air Tickets for your travel with TCIL either offline or online through the sitewww.thomascook.in.   Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   TCIL offers a complete range for flights, right from Low Cost to Full service Airlines, to choose from. 4.5 Rail Tickets Book your Rail Tickets for your travel with Thomas Cook either offline or online through the sitewww.thomascook.in. You can choose either Indian Rail Tickets that are available via IRCTC or International Rail Tickets via Rail Europe. TCIL offers a complete range for Rail Bookings, International or Domestic. 4.6 Corporate Travel Corporate Travel forms a dominant share of overall travel business of our Company. TCIL manages the travel budgets of several large national and multinational companies. The large scale of operations enables it to effectively manage travel budgets of several Multi National Companies, Blue-Chip companies and Multinational banks to their advantage. The Company provides Integrated Travel Management / Advisory Services to more than 300 Corporates. TCIL provides customers a complete basket of products for all their travel needs: Air Reservations Hotel Reservations Land arrangements which includes sight seeing, car rental, transfers etc. Passport / Visa Service Conference / Incentive tour arrangements Foreign Exchange Insurance The branches specialize in offering tailor-made Travel Policies for each corporate, thereby bringing savings on spend. Based on requirements and volumes of business, corporate are serviced either by having a dedicated relationship team visits clients office regularly or having a dedicated expert travel consultant with Centralised Reservation System located at the clients site as an implant. 4.7 Meetings, Incentives, Exhibitions Conferences Experience:This refers to the experience of the travelers right from the time they board the airline to the foreign destination till the time they come back. The travel here is a REWARD for the dealers/employees of the company who have done well over a period of time. The company (as well as the employees) expects the trip to be an enjoyable, hassle free and fun filled experience. Thomas Cook understands their concern and provide them this experience through our:- Experienced, dependable and extensively traveled Tour Managers, who are available with the group 24 X 7, provide their personalized services to the group and at times, act as crisis managers. In contrast, the other tour companies often send their ticketing person as the tour manager. The requests for special Dietary requirements are taken care of completely. The Indians are very particular about the food they eat (e.g.) Jain food. It is made sure that the clients get the same, irrespective of the location they are traveling to. The sightseeings that are offered are often exotic and different from the rest of the tour operators. Customer Focus/Customer Centric/Exceptional Service:This primarily refers to the experience of the corporate with the sales representatives. There is a huge extent of customization in case of a MICE trip in terms of destinations, hotel requirements, conference needs, sightseeings to be covered, gala dinner venue, team building activities etc. The prime focus is always to cater to our customers specific needs and the intent is to delight the customer by always delivering more than promised by us/expected by them. Dependable:This comes out of the reputation of the company (TCIL) and the vast experience of handling a large number of MICE movements in the past. The fact that TCIL has trusted business partners (suppliers) for every destination and that there is always an experienced tour manager with the group ensures that the clients feel secure when they travel with us. Moreover, the reputation of the company ensures that there will be no let up in the service quality and there wont be any trivial financial issues. Reservoir of Knowledge:The experienced employees of the MICE business make sure that they function as a travel consultant to the client rather than being a travel agent to them. It is believed that with the expertise, TCIL is in a position to provide multiple options to our customers. This is especially true in case of clients who have a budget constraint. Once the client is provided with multiple options along with the pros and cons for the same, they are in a much better position to take a decision regarding the destination as well as the services that they expect us to provide them. Value for Money/Cost Effective: TCIL is committed to provide quality service to its clients and they do not believe in any compromise on the same (0% Compromise). It is made sure that the experience that our clients get is of a greater value than the cost that they pay for it. If TCILs cost is more than the competition, then there is ALWAYS a very strong reason for the same (which could be better quality of hotels, better airlines, EXTRA inclusions etc.). Product Innovation:Over the last decade or so, the MICE industry has been booming. Since then, some of the companies have been traveling each year (with multiple incentives/conference tours). They are always looking out for new destinations for the incentive trips. TCILs endeavour is to be ahead of the competition at all times and product innovation is one way of doing that. TCIL has promoted new destinations at different points of times which have traditionally never been thought of for a MICE trip. E.g. Jordan, Japan, Macau, Canada. Moreover, within the same destinations, TCIL has managed to change the product mix by changing the venues for Gala Dinner (at cruise, Desert Safari etc.) or including some exotic sight seeings or providing some out of the box team building activities or in any other way. Wide Reach:TCIL is confident of providing our customers with the best of the services at any destination that they wish to visit. This is due to the vast resources of the company and due to the number of trusted business partners that we have all over the world. One Stop Shop for MICE needs/Integrated travel services:Its the firm belief that once the customer enters one of our offices, all his travel needs will be catered to. TCIL provides the customer with the forex services, insurance cover and a travel card. Moreover, TCIL can service their visa requirements better than any other tour operator because of our goodwill and the relationships that we have with the various embassies/consulates. We have the ability to provide the customer with a 360 degree experience on a consistent basis. Work with Play:This is particularly true in case of the corporates who have an offsite for a conference/meeting. TCIL ensures that after a hard days work, they have a relaxed and fun filled evening. This can be done by sending them on a night cruise or by treating them to a Gala Dinner with free flow of liquor and a Live DJ. In one of the cases, we had sent a couple of VJs and RJs (RJ Taraana) from India who made sure that everyone from the group was involved in the fun activities. 4.8 Thomas Cook Credit Card Salient Features: Thomas Cook Titanium MasterCard features in brief: The card has been specially designed for frequent travelers. Attractive 6 reward points for each spend of Rs.100 on the card on Thomas Cook products Free Delivery of Foreign Exchange within city limits Rs. 5,000 discount on any Thomas Cook GIT product 1 Free Air ticket to a domestic destination on the issuance of new card Complimentary travel inconvenience insurance policy Access to MasterCard travel lounges at Airports across the world Redemption of reward points for Thomas Cook holiday packages, hotel stays, air tickets, airline upgrades, etc Conversion of Thomas Cook reward points to frequent flyer miles convert the reward points earned on card to frequent flyer miles on select domestic airlines. Positioned as a comprehensive travel card Assured gifts for the joining fees free air ticket / discount voucher Higher reward points for card swipes at Our Companys outlets Redemption of reward points against Thomas Cook products encouraged 4. 9 Travel Insurance Insurance business of being carried out through our 100% subsidiary Thomas Cook Insurance Services (I) Ltd. (TCISL). TCISL is a corporate agent of Tata AIG General Insurance Company Limited. TCISL entered insurance distribution in 2001 and offers the following products and services: TravelCare (Overseas Travel Insurance)- Travel Care offers security for travelers which covers travel insurance, hospitalization, loss of documents, Repatriation of Remains, emergency Cash Advance or any other crises which requires assistance. FamilyCare- An Overseas travel Insurance cover for entire family of 4-5 persons with single overall sum insured. ScholarCare (Overseas Student Insurance)- A customized product for all students studying abroad which ensures timely assistance in case of unexpected surprises in a foreign land. CorporateCare (Overseas Corporate Travel Insurance)- For Companies where employees travel abroad frequently on work, we have customized group policies. All foreign trips undertaken by employees in a year are covered under a single policy. TCISL provides all insurance products at all our outlets, leveraging on ability to cross sell insurance products to our Travel and Forex customers. 4.10 Foreign Exchange Thomas Cook India is the largest non banking authorized Dealer in India providing an array of foreign exchange products and services to various customer segments in India, Srilanka and Mauritius It has the largest network of branches with 144 locations across 53 cities in India including 28 airport counters in major cities working 24 x7x 365 days. It also has a vast presence in Mauritius with 12 locations including international airport and also in Sri Lanka at 3 major locations. It has been awarded the best foreign exchange company by CNBC Awaaz for the year 2008 and 2009. 4.11 Service Strategy of Thomas Cook To deliver exceptional service to all internal and external customers By Being  Ã‚  Ã‚   By Providing  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   By Ensuring Proactive   Professional Service  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Personal Care Speedy Flexible Transparent Reliable Creative 5.0 FOREIGN EXCHANGE Thomas Cook has been granted an authorized dealers license (category II) by RBI to deal in foreign exchange through its designated branches. Under this license, we have been, inter-alia, granted permission to undertake the following activities: 1. Retail purchases of foreign currencies and travelers cheques. 2. Bulk purchases/sales of foreign currencies from/to authorized dealers, money changers and franchisees. 3. Release / remittance of foreign exchange for the following activities: a. Private Visits b. Remittance by tour operators/travel agents to overseas agents/principals/hotels c. Business Travel (including for Central and State Government officials) d. Fee for participation in global conferences and specialized training e. Payment of crew wages f. Film Shooting g. Medical Treatment abroad h. Overseas Education i. Remittance under educational tie up arrangements with universities abroad j. Maintenance of close relatives abroad k. Stall rentals and participation fees in connection with participation in overseas exhibitions / fairs 4. Import and export of foreign currency and export of encashed Travelers Cheques 5. Maintenance of foreign currency accounts with banks abroad and undertaking forex cover operations in India and abroad. The activities permitted by RBI are carried out only at the specific locations permitted by RBI. As an Authorized Dealer, we are a member of the Foreign Exchange Dealers Association of India. Our Company provides the foreign exchange and payment solutions for: Individual travelers Foreign exchange for leisure outbound travelers Foreign Exchange for migration, employment, medical treatment Remittances for students studying abroad, gift remittances etc Encashment services inward remittances for inbound tourists visiting India, Non Resident / Resident Indians. Corporates Travel money and remittances for business travelers. On site support for inbound tour conferences. Film production houses traveling for shoots abroad. Remittances of tour proceeds for tour operators. Institutions Bulk purchases and sales of foreign currencies from Banks, Non Bank Retailers and Money Changers. Our business model revolves around leveraging its position as an Authorized Dealer with systems, ability and experience of handling large volumes of forex transactions for both wholesale and retail customers in a highly cost-efficient manner. 5.1. Network The strong network enables TCIL to attract large wholesale clients such as public and private sector banks, FFMCs and RMCs to use our services. TCIL has a strong network of approximately 160 offices in 55 cities and 100 RMCs Hotel Franchisee. The Company has foreign exchange counters at the international airports of Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Cochin and Trivandrum which are open 24 hours and 365 days a year to cater to the needs of the international travelers. It also has a round-the clock Foreign Exchange counter at the New Delhi Railway Statio