Charting a New Course for Schools Essay Example for Free

Charting a immature Course for Schools EssayMarc Tuckers article, Charting a New Course for Schools, highlights the close to urgent chores that the Ameri back education organisation currently faces. He mentions the need to reform the education system in order to fence in todays global economy. Tucker pointed out the deficiencies of the educational system in the country today. Furthermore, he stressed on the need to carry through changes to the system. The power focused on information that evidently shows why there is an urgent need to overhaul the educational system. According to Tucker, the report of New thrill on the Skills of the American Workforce, Tough Choices or Tough Times, provides an overview of the current status of the American fag force. It shows how the American workers are lagging behind workers from developing countries in terms of skills and abilities. Also, Tucker points out that workers from developing countries possess the same skills and knowledge as American workers and yet are paid lower wages. This poses a problem for American workers since it is a given that any business man would choose to lower costs for the same quality. American workers are losing their edge in the labor market due to the antediluvian education system of the country. The dilemma for American workers is this, they must either give up their current standard of living or they must improve themselves in terms of skills, talents, and abilities. The latter, according to Tucker, is the reason why a revamp of the countrys education system has convey a necessity. Tucker points out two criteria that the United States must meet in order for its workers to continue commanding their high wages and maintain their standard of living. The author says that first, American workers must match the best academic performance in the world. At the same time, Tucker said, the country must offer workers that are the most creative and advance(a). The article as well as highli ghted the characteristics of a premium worker or the worker that deserves to be paid premium wages. According to the author American workers should call on premium workers in order to receive the current wages that they are receiving. He described a premium worker as someone who has a high level of preparation in the general areas of reading, speaking, mathematics, history, literature, fine arts, and science. Furthermore, a premium worker should be comfortable with new ideas and abstractions. He must also be creative and possess the imagination to come up with meaningful and useful products for the company. Premium workers must also possess the ability to solve problems by using their knowledge from various fields. Lastly, Tucker described a premium worker as someone who is a team player and can well adapt to the various changes around him. Premium workers are products of a good and up-to-date educational system. This is the current problem of the education in the country as the c urrent system is no longer adept with the conditions of today. To tackle this problem, Tucker suggested seven steps that can be taken to reform the American educational system. First, Tucker suggested charting a new course for student progression through the system.This requires a total reorganization of the system and opening of new educational opportunities as the students progress. Secondly, the author pointed out the need to reinvest resources where they are most needed and where they will be most efficiently used. This means that available resources should be allocated to areas of the system which can produce the greatest amount of rewards for the students. Another step is to initiate a universal preschool educational system. Tucker viewed preschool education as the foundation of school-based learning.If students are to become highly-skilled workers, they must have a good education foundation and preschool education is the integral aspect of such foundation. For teacher recruit ment, Tucker suggested that schools recruit those coming from the crystallize third of the college class. This will ensure highly-educated and competent teachers. Moreover, Tucker suggested the adoption of high-performance management modes to improve schools and districts. Also, he pointed out the need to provide strong funding to disadvantaged students. Finally, he proposed the rebuilding of standards, assessment, and curriculum to reflect todays needs and tomorrows requirements.In general, Marc Tuckers article discusses the problems of the antiquated American educational system and its severe effects on the countrys labor force. I believe that there is indeed a pressure need to revamp the current educational system. Education in the country today no longer meets the needs of the economy. The labor force that the educational system produces is insufficient in terms of skills and abilities.The workers lack the necessary skills that warrant the wages they get. It is for this reaso n that American and international firms seem to turn to developing countries for their labor needs. If American workers are to remain deserving of the wages they receive, they must become more competent and highly-skilled. It is my opinion that the only way that the country will produce highly-skilled, creative, and innovative workers is to change the educational system. The system should focus more on the development of skills necessary for the various employment needs today.It is the right of every citizen to be correctly and adequately educated in order to survive. The current system can no longer provide the educational needs of the people. The primary reason why people go to school is to prepare them for work. Since workers currently receive sub-standard education, they lack the skills and abilities that the labor market needs. Evidently, the only solution to this dilemma is, I believe, to revamp the educational system.

Data analytics Essay Example for Free

selective information analytics EssayData analytics is a method used by makeups to gain competitive vantage over other companies in their specific market. It is a scientific process of mining and analyzing the database pick uped by organizations more or less their customers and their products in order to generate more(prenominal) profit or to build the marketing strategy of the company (Loveman, 2003). For example, a travel agency may be competent to use the information they gather about customer characteristics and correlate it with their traveling destinations and be able to use that information to market new packages or destinations. Data analytics is a combination of programming, statistics and intuition, although legal age of it is based on actual data or evidence and gut feeling is only used to point to the right direction of analysis and utilization. Data analytics is more than just having a large database of customer characteristics and behaviors but it also takes a skilled statistician with an eye for marketing and consumer psychology to be able to make use of relevant information.For example, an organization may have access to the electric consumption of individual households but it cannot be useful if it does not impress the consumer behavior the company is targeting. In order to compete on analytics, an organization must have a rich source of data about their customers and their market. This would expire the company a huge breadth of data that would paint an accurate picture of the kind of customers and market the company has as well as think its standing in the business. Data analytics is data mining and analysis and before this could be carried out, the organization has to have access to these data.Next, the organization must have a trained employee to manage and mine the database as this kind of job requires a highly specialized and trained individual who has a very good design of statistics and analytics. Some organizations have se t up a special team or even a whole unit or department that is in charge of data management and mining while key individuals in each aspect of the business could ask the said team to work on different ideas and angles to test whether their ideas are feasible or not.In this way, the organization need not spend its finances and workforce in something that is not profitable. Third, the organization must have the right equipment for job, a super computer to manage the database, software or programs that would dissect the database and to come up with more creative and innovative ways of using the said information. Lastly, there should be a team who will have the responsibility to put into good use what has been found and to monitoring device whether it has met its objectives or not (Davenport, 2006).Aside from those mentioned, the most important thing to be able to compete with analytics is to have the desire to know and learn more about the customers and how that knowledge can be used to develop new strategies which does not only work but will help place the company on top.ReferencesDavenport, T. (2006). Competing on analytics. Harvard Business Review, 84, 98-107 Loveman, G. (2003). Diamonds in the data mine. Harvard Business Review, vol. 81 5, 109-113.

The UK Construction Industry: Impact of the Recession

The UK spin Industry Impact of the RecessionINTRODUCTIONChapter 1 Background Information agree to the Department for Business Enterp opening and Regulatory Reform (BERR), the UK complex body part patience has 250,000 staunchs employing 2.1 million people, and contributes 8.2 percent of the nations Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Construction companies provide employ for every skill level from labourers to arc bamects as soundly as the opportunity to give-up the ghost for every size of firm from family run businesses, to major contractors. Its efficient operating theater and competitiveness is also essential to the fulfilment of the Governments commitment to improve public services and infrastructure. The delivery of rising schools, hospitals, affordable hold, eco homes, all depend on the winner of the wind domain to deliver.Key issues the manifestation industry is facing in 2009With cartroad-backs, uncertainty and much red tape it looks as if 2009 leave alone be a cha llenge. To say the stratum has been one of rumpus and change is an understatement. The reeling financial foodstuffs and the swelling sense of gloom overshadowing the general sparingal outlook eat, naturally, a corollary in the tress industry always a lag barometer for the economic humour.And the uncertainty is far from over. If some experts ar correct, we may be witnessing just the initial battering of the storm. Mervyn King, regulator of the Bank of England, has admitted it is likely that the country is heading for a prolonged and painful ecological niche.In the brook twelve months, the national and globular situation has worsened. So in this light, below ar the authors predictions for the biggest issues that UK locution forget face.SkillsThe deferral is forcing employers to look at restructuring and, ultimately, redundancies.For an industry that has enjoyed a boom for years, this is going to be a immense change of mindset employers affect to be very c atomic m ilitary issue 18ful they manage both redundancies properly or we will see an emergence in litigation in this area.However, and perhaps perversely, the industry will continue to suffer major skills shortages, particularly in the South-east, where 2012 is a tremendous opportunity, but one which casts a skills shadow.This time, dispatch management skills will be in short supply, due to lack of training facilities or lack of investment in education sponsoring from bend companies, sooner than labour, where the situation regarding migrant workers who may be returning to their native countries will continue to remain unclear into 2009. Sectors like caring, which still needs a push- bring store of people will attract all the labour force.Temporary workersAgency workers are soon to be given similar rights to permanent staff. It is proposed that the law will change in 2010. The new law will mean that after 12 weeks on assignment, an agency worker will be entitled to correspond treatmen t meaning the same basic working and employment conditions as a comparable permanent employee, including equal pay, notice and holiday entitlement.For an industry that employs a huge volume of temporary workers, this is going to be an administrative and financial challenge that will really become itself felt in 2009.Health and prophylacticThe recent downward trend in construction-related injuries may well be over, and 2009 could see a significant increase since contractors will be looking to cut down costs on training and overlooking basic safety mensurations. in that location are suggestions that considerably different levels of adherence to health and safety rules are due to the rapid influx of migrant workers. Different people be collapse and act in different ways although all working for UK construction companies. There are some people who are very meticulous about their work and adhere to each and every smallest safety precautions while there are differents who can conside r petty measures as time wasting. If evidence of this emerges in 2009, we could expect the industry to experience a crackdown from the HSE.We expect to see increasing clutch of Local Authority maintenance work, which will hit small contractors and subcontractors the hardest.The Government is talkinging about major investment in new schemes. The consequence is that, up to now allowing for more loaning, spend will have to be clawed back from somewhere.It seems inevitable that this will be from maintenance. This will be counter-productive, as maintenance work which puts money into the pockets of smaller contractors, quickly is usually the fastest way to stimulate the economy. dwelling habitation grammatical constructionFor what seems like forever, the Government has been hugely vocal about its arse for three million new homes by 2020 and 10 ecotowns by 2020.As Construction News reported, caparison minister Margaret Beckett is already re-articulating these as ambitions and fanc ys, rather than firm commitments. (from www.cnplus.co.uk/story.aspx)It would seem inevitable that ambitions might be downplayed further and acquire future aspirations before long. This will provide more worry for subcontractors who rely on the mowowship-building orbit for some of their work.The fact that the UK is still suffering a major shortage of housing particularly affordable housing, regardless of falling house prices does mean, however, that this semantic hoodwink will only be a 2009 phenomenon.Top 20 Construction Companies Q2 2009The Top 20 construction companies league table, by construction news, ranks the UKs 20 biggest construction companies by turnover and profit, as follows. The table is updated quarterly, and was goal updated inJune 2009. New InfrastructureNew infrastructure output in the 12 months to the offshoot quarter of 2009 was 7 per cent higher compared with the previous 12 months and the first quarter of 2009 was 2 per cent higher compared with the pr evious quarter. The outlook is becoming increasingly gloomy as the worsening economy hits the chapiter. London escaped the worst of the construction behinddown for much of 2008. Indeed, the rank of underlying work starting on site omit by just 3 per cent in 2008.But construction starts in London fell sharply in the fourth quarter of 2008 as the worsening economic conditions took hold. The value of underlying construction starts has continued to slide during the opening months of 2009, with starts during the three months to February 35 per cent down on a year earlier. With financial and property related firms reducing their workforces, umpteen another(prenominal) developers have put planned construction projects on hold.The value of underlying bit starts, which accounted for about a quarter of the value of underlying construction starts during 2007, fell 21 per cent last year. That said, some developers are still pressing forward with major office projects. Tighter mortgage co nditions and sustained pessimism in the residential housing market are now severely impacting private housing construction in London.Having held up well during the first half of 2008, sphere of influence starts in the majuscule are now following a similar trend to the rest of the country. The value of underlying construction starts was 150 million in the fourth quarter 2008, down 73 per cent on a year earlier.Construction prospects in London are becoming increasingly gloomy. The value of projects in the pre-construction pipeline has fallen away sharply, with underlying training approvals falling by 36 per cent in value during the fourth quarter of 2008.Large projects are a significant feature of construction activity in London. At first glance the preconstruction pipeline for large projects looks promising. However, given the current economic climate, there is likely to be a higher than normal proportion of planned large projects to be either detain or abandoned. This is due to the fact that the government is planning to spread its restricted allowable budget across several other vital sectors such as education and health. Nonetheless we should breathe a sign of relief when looking at big projects such Cross rail where preliminary work have begun this year and construction starting in 2010. We should also be looking at temporary relief projects such as the Olympics which need to be spotless by mid 2012. These important projects are acting like a lifeline for major construction companies, while waiting for the bad economic climate to change a bit. Overall, construction starts has significantly deteriorated in 2009, which has affected small contractors a lot but there is still a glimmer of hope for major firms with very few massive projects.Chapter 2 History of recessionThe word recession has several meanings. The simplest one could be, a recession happens when our neighbour losses his or her job, and it is a depression when we are made redundant. Econom ic textbooks tell that a recession is what happens when the economy shrinks for six months on the trot. GDP is apply to measure the size of the economy, and when the figures go negative for ii successive three months periods (or quarters) the technical definition is met (from http//business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article5753844.ece).When recessions are prolonged past several months, they become depressions. Unlike recession there is no widely accepted textbook definition of a depression, although some say it comes when GDP shrinks by a centre of 10 per cent. It will feel distinctly like a depression if a recession goes on for more than a year. After two years, talk of recessions is sure to be replaced by ultra-glum references to depression.Credit crunch timetableYear 2007In February HSBC gives an early sign of the crisis to come when it warns of higher than expected mortgage defaults in its US business.In August BNP Paribas suspends three funds exposed to sub-pr ime mortgages. European Central Bank pumps 95 billion into the markets.In September Northern Rock seeks hand brake funding. First run on a UK bank for more than 140 years.In October UBS, of Switzerland, is the worlds first major bank to announce losses from sub-prime-related investments, totalling $3.4 billion.Year 2008In February Northern Rock is nationalised.In March Bear Stearns, the US investment bank, seeks emergency funding and is sold to JP Morgan in a cut-price deal, sparking week of turmoil in stock markets.In April Nationwide records first annual house price fall for 12 years.In September Lehman Brothers, the US investment bank, goes bust. Bradford Bingley is nationalised.In October The Icelandic banking system collapses. Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and HBOS are partly nationalised.Year 2009In January UK officially enters recession.In March Base rate cut to 0.5 per cent.The creed crunch refers to a sudden shortage of funds for lending, leading to a resulting decl ine in loans available.A Credit Crunch can occur for confused cerebratesSudden increase in affaire rates (e.g. in 1992, UK government increased rates to 15%)Direct money controls by the government (rarely used by Western Governments these days)A lack of liquidity in the capital marketsThe recent credit crunch was drive by a sharp rise in defaults on subprime mortgages. These mortgages were mainly in America but the resulting shortage of funds spread throughout the rest of the world.Steps to 2007 / 08 Credit CrunchUS mortgage lenders sell many inappropriate mortgages to customers with low income and poor credit. It is hoped with a booming housing market, the mortgages will remain affordable. much there was lack of controls in the sale of mortgage products. Mortgage brokers got paid for selling a mortgage, so there was an incentive to sell mortgages withal if they were too expensive and high hazard of default.To sell more profitable subprime mortgages, mortgage companies bundled the debt into consolidation packages and sold the debt on to other finance companies. In other words, mortgage companies borrowed to be able to lend mortgages. The lending was not financed out of saving accounts, for example.These mortgage debts were bought by financial intermediaries. The idea was to spread the risk, but, actually it just spread the problem.Usually subprime mortgages would have a high risk assessment rating. But, when the mortgage bundles got passed onto other lenders, rating agencies gave these risky subprime mortgages a low risk rating. Therefore, the financial system denied the extent of risk in their balance sheets.Many of these mortgages had an introductory period of 1-2 years of very low interest rates. At the end of this period, interest rates increased.In 2007, the US had to increase interest rates because of inflation. This made mortgage payments more expensive. Furthermore, many homeowners who had taken out mortgages 2 years earlier now faced ballooning mortgage payments as their introductory period ended. Homeowners also faced lower disposable income because of rising health care costs, rising petrol prices and rising food prices.This caused a rise in mortgage defaults, as many new homeowners could not afford mortgage payments. These defaults also signalled the end of the US housing boom. US house prices started to fall and this caused more mortgage problems. For example, people with 100% mortgages now faced negative equity. It also meant that the loans were no longer secured. If people did default, the bank couldnt guarantee to find the initial loan.The number of defaults caused many medium sized US mortgage companies to go bankrupt. However, the losses werent confined to mortgage lenders, many banks also lost billions of pounds in the bad mortgage debt they had bought off US mortgage companies. Banks had to write off large losses and this made them reluctant to make any further lending, curiously in the now dangerous subprime sector.The result was that all around the world, it became very difficult to repeal funds and borrow money. The cost of interbank lending has increased significantly. Often it was very difficult to borrow any money at all. The markets dried up.This affected many firms who had been exposed to the subprime lending. It also affected a wide build of firms who now have difficulty borrowing money. For example, biotech companies rely on high risk investment and are now struggling to get copious funds.The dimmed down in borrowing has contributed to a slowing economy with the possibility of recession in the US a real problem.Credit Crunch in the UKUK mortgage lenders did not lend so many bad mortgages. Although mortgage lending became more relaxed in the past few years, it still had more controls in place than the US.However, it caused very serious problems for Northern Rock. Northern rock had a high percentage of risky loans, but, also had the highest percentage of loans financed throug h reselling in the capital markets. When the subprime crisis hit, Northern Rock could no longer raise enough funds in the usual capital market. It was left with a shortfall and eventually had to make the humiliating step to asking the Bank of England for emergency funds. Because the Bank asked for emergency funds, this caused its customers to worry and start to withdraw savings (even though savings werent directly affected)As a result of the credit crunch, the UK has seen a change in the mortgage market. Mortgages have become more expensive. Risky mortgage products- like 125% mortgages have been removed from the market.UK Banks continue to face problems. HBOS (Owner of Halifax) struggled to finance its balance sheet. Like Northern Rock, it financed an expansion of lending by borrowing. Now money markets have frozen up, they couldnt raise enough money to maintain liquidity.Falling House prices. Now that mortgages are difficult to get, demand for houses has slumped. Therefore, house p rices have fallen. Lower house prices mean many face negative equity. Therefore, mortgage defaults now cost banks even more (because they cant get back the initial loan.Bradford Bingley was nationalised because it couldnt raise enough finance. The BB had specialised in buy to let loans, which are particularly susceptible to falling house prices.How long will the Credit Crunch Last?The credit crunch could last a long time. This is becauseHouse prices are still falling in the US, reducing the value of mortgage loansMany homeowners still face rising interest rates, when their introductory periods come to an endIt can be difficult to regain confidence in the financial marketsA recession in the US and global downturn could cause a further rise in bad loansThe cheerfully named Profile of Depression shows the fall in UK economic growth, as careful by GDP, following some ofthe pick out slumps of the past century. It compares these to todays crisis.It illustrates the level of fear among e xperts about the financial hurricane that has disabled Britain -the Noughties bust had, until very recently, actually been worse than the commodious Depression of the 1930s (although it was less Great in Britain than it was in the US, where GDP shrank by more than 25%).LITERATURE REVIEWChapter 3 Effects of recession on UK construction IndustryFirst of all, some uncomfortable facts and figures4,500,000 people on council house waiting lists300,000 construction jobs in danger across the sector90,000 predicted job losses for Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) builders71 percent fall in workload for the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) private house builders61 percent FMB companies expecting lower workloads in 2009 quarter one60 percent FMB companies reporting fall in workloads for fourth consecutive quarter52 percent FMB builders precedent they will be making staff cuts over the coming months16 percent house price fall to date8 construction companies going into insolvency e very day7.5 percent fall in building prices in the last quarter of 2008.The construction industry has been particularly badly hit as a result of the credit crunch and the down turn in the housing market. The industry is facing its biggest challenge for many years. The indicators are that many will struggle to survive in the current market, with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) predicting the loss of over 300,000 jobs within the industry and with 52 percent of FMB members warning that they will be making staff redundant over the coming months.There is currently a crisis in the housing market with many first time buyers unable to get a mortgage let alone afford a first home. Alongside this there are more than 90,000 families aliveness in temporary accommodation and 1.6 million families on council house waiting lists the case for building new homes is therefore very clear. However, news from the National House Building Council shows new home starts being at their l owest level since 1924.The authors feel that current proposals to deal with this desperate situation dont go far enough in tackling the real problems affecting the UK construction industry and the wider housing sector. If the UK construction industry is to have any realistic chance of surviving this recession, these 10 delineate issues need to be addressed to kick start the building industry.The effects of the recession are affecting all aspects of the UK national economy. In December 2008, the construction sector shrank at its fastest pace since records began. The most considerable decline was registered in house building, while the civil engineering and commercial sub-sectors also fell at record rates during that month.As well as the decline in the housing construction sector, the housing market has also slumped. According to the Halifax, house prices fell 16.2% in 2008, the biggest annual decline since it began keeping records in 1983. This has made buying a home more affordable when set against earnings than at any time since April 2003. However, getting a mortgage is difficult for many. Data from the Bank of England showed the number of mortgage approvals fell to 27,000 in November 2008, representing at least a nine-year low (from BBC News, 2 January 2009, www.news.bbc.co.uk).Roy Ayliffe, Director of Professional Practice at the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, said Once again, the housing sector bore the brunt of the crisis as purchasing managers reported significant reductions in new business. Amidst a climate of doom and gloom, firms were forced to axe more jobs in preparation for what is set to be another year of trouble and turmoil. (from Times Online, 5 January 2009, www.timesonline.co.uk)The UK government has plans for public spending and it is hoped that these will include major construction projects, such as roads, schools and other public buildings. This would help the construction industry and those companies that supply the const ruction industry to ensure continued employment for many.Businesses in the construction industry therefore need to ensure they remain competitive during this difficult economic climate. At the same time, they need to prepare the business to be able to take advantage of any future upturn in the market.Everyone knows the downturn has hit the industry badly. But research commissioned by The Construction News from Emap Glenigan shows the true extent of the contraction, how it breaks down by sector and region, and what the likely outcome for the rest of the year will be.Parts of the industry private housing, offices and industrial are badly affected by the deteriorating economic conditions and the credit crunch. The situation is brighter for those with jobs in infrastructure and the Olympics, although neither of these will be enough to sustain overall industry activity.Historically, economic growth below two per cent has been associated with falls in construction output. Last month, GD P growth for the second quarter was revised down to zero. Consensus forecasts suggest prospects for growth will slow even further in 2009.The gloomy economic conditions have led to a sharp fall in the flow of new projects in the pre-construction pipeline. Glenigan expects construction starts in the UK will fall by five per cent in value during 2009.Private housing has been most affected by the credit crunch. The reassessment of risk by the banking sector has arguably led to more appropriate criteria for accessing credit. However, as a result the asset price bubble in the housing market has burst.This is causing a long-term contraction in demand since prospective buyers can no longer borrow as much to finance house purchases. Inevitably, those in private housing construction will have to find a way to either cut per unit costs or, more likely, adjust to a new, much lower, level of housing demand.The impact of the credit crunch on other private sector parts of construction industrial , offices, sell and hotels is different. These sectors have not suffered from the asset price bubble evident in private housing. However, investment in each of these sectors is affected by the prevailing economic conditions.As such, the immediate outlook is bleak but, with the Olympics on the horizon, construction prospects for the sector should start to improve in the latter half of 2009, when all major works will need to be started in order to be ready for 2012.The Government has had an ambitious construction-related spending programme across a number of sectors. knowledge and health in particular will benefit from an increase in the value of construction projects this year.But the Government is not immune to the economic slowdown. The compactness of Northern Rock has already put the Governments finances under drive. Falling retail gross revenue, rising unemployment and a decline in the profitability of UK firms will slash tax receipts and add to its difficulties.Looking for ward, the poor state of Government finances may jeopardise some of its proposed construction schemes. Major infrastructure projects will continue to help buoy the UK construction industry. Projects such as the widening of the M25 motorway and Crossrail are set to provide a boost to the sector. Ongoing projects such as Thameslink and the Edinburgh tram line will continue to contribute to the sectors workload for some time yet. Outside transport, the sector should also benefit from increased capital expenditure by water and electricity utilities.At present, the macroeconomic and sector-specific conditions are having a much bigger impact on the UK construction outlook than regional factors.Regional variationsDifferences in the composition of construction sectors within each region explain much of the variation in the regions respective prospects.For instance, regions where industrial construction is relatively significant, such as the West Midlands and Yorkshire and Humberside, will s ee the value of construction starts contract this year. The North-east, which has relatively less exposure to private housing than other regions, is faring better.Construction orders down 9% as property market slumpsNew orders in the British construction industry have continued to plunge as building firms are battered by the credit crunch.The Office for National Statistics said that orders fell by 9% in the three months to November, compared with the previous three months. They were 27% down on a year-on-year basis.The figures showed that new construction orders were particularly weak in November itself, diving 38.6% year-on-year.The private housing sector was a major casualty, with new orders down by 55% compared with a year ago. All the UK house builders have dramatically reined in their activity and cut jobs as the housing market has slumped.Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, said the data showed that the construction sectors recession deepened markedly in the fourth quarter of 2008. He sees humble prospect of conditions improving soon.With housing market activity and prices likely to remain depressed for some considerable time to come and the commercial property sector in dire straits, the construction sector looks set for extended weakness, despite some support from the government bringing forward some public construction activity and infrastructure spending as part of its fiscal stimulus package, Archer said.Accountants Grant Thornton said that the construction and property sector was set to be the worst casualty of the economic downturn in 2009, plummeting by 75% in profitability and 71% in turnover from the same period last year.Clare Hartnell, head of property and construction at Grant Thornton, said Profitability and turnover within the construction and property sector are significantly driven by sales and market value 2008 was a turbulent year as credit dried up and confidence plummeted, causing house prices and t he number of properties sold to fall sharply. The decline in the residential market consequently has had a knock-on-effect on the construction sector, where problems have been exacerbated by huge debts as many proposed developments have been put on hold.http//spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tnuPqsRPvjute_-qBacPptQoid=4output=imageThe year 2009 is set to be a trying year to say the least. Part of the reason for this is the current state of the economy. Lack of available credit will have an adverse effect on the ailing construction and property sector.http//spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tnuPqsRPvjute_-qBacPptQoid=6output=imageThe June Glenigan Index reveals that promised government funding has finally begun to filtering through to project starts. In particular a rise in educational, health and social housing projects starting on site have helped steady the Index, cutting the year-on-year decline to 20%.Workload trends InfrastructureInfrastructure saw the value of underlying planning approvals (covering schemes under 100M) fall sharply last year. Whilst the fall appears to have dampened the flow of project starts, with the value of underlying project starts during the first five months of 2009, 13% down on a year earlier, the overall prospects for the sector are bright. With the help of the new infrastructure planning commission, it is hoped that new planning consents for key projects can be accelerated.Impact of the recession on supply chainThe construction industry has got the largest supply chain, compared with other industries. It ranges from mere nails to large modular constructions. It has been a major endorser since the dawn of this industry and has risen in vigour and strength over the years. Its integration with our industry has created a revolution that triggered the rise of new technologies powered by their contribution. This general introduction, gives us a fair knowledge of the value of supply chain to the construction industry.When this unexpecte d recession struck the markets with tremendous force, the construction industry felt the tremor, and its repercussions were felt throughout its branches. As the properties and developments went down, demand dropped, which in-turn left the developers with no option but to suspend majority of their works. The great feeders supply chain took its toll. assume for their products vanished. Then the only rule of law that applies is Survival of the fittest, i.e. the one who could bring best deals could survive (both in price and Quality) and others would go bust. By and large the prices soured. lesson with an example would clearly explain what the authors are trying to convey. Major components of our industry are cement, ready-mix, rebar and structural steel. Their price variation could indicate the trail recession took.http//spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tnuPqsRPvjute_-qBacPptQoid=2output=imageAll major supply resources have dropped in price dramatically one or the other time, to merel y survive this recession rather than making profit. One of the major suppliers, now are for the ODA. Even they are experiencing the crunch. All the pre-allocated works, which assured definite return, are re-examined to align with the new prices. This has created friction, and even few of them moved on for adjudication. ODA has awarded contracts to around 1036 suppliers, most of which are small to medium sized businesses. This is a government initiative to prop up the tenderness class players, and there-by securing best deal contracts. Similar public investments could be seen in the health and education sectors, which form large part of the construction order-book and keep the pressure off.The main issue here is the growing trend of irresponsible pricing to win the scarce bids. That is, pricing below the cost. Many experts have warned of the return of industrial dispute culture of the 1980. This could ruin the objective.Recessionary impact was clearly felt when private investments d ried up and forced the government twice to dip into the casualty budget. Due to this ill demand, there has been deterioration in construction product manufacturing. All heavy side manufacturers and 91% of light side manufacturers reported that sales had fallen unprecedented results have been collected, research shows

Strategic analysis and proposal for IKEA

Strategic analysis and proposal for IKEAThe name IKEA comes from the initials of Ingvar Kamprad, I and K, positively charged the first letters of Elmtaryd and Agunnaryd, which ar the names of the farm and village where he grew up.Ingvar kamprad came with a unique idea to offer home furnishing products with good design and spurn prices than other competitors. But he didnt want to compromise with the quality. So he used simple cut costing solutions. He tried to find every opportunity to reduce costs. Thats how IKEA concept began.IKEA is a home furnishing company with a fully integrated leave chain, including its own industrial groups Swedwood and Swedspan. The IKEA Group, directly or indirectly, likewise owns retail centres, always with an IKEA store as unique anchor tenant. The IKEA Group works in four basic areas range strategy product break awayment, production, supply and retail. The parent company of the IKEA Group of Companies, INGKA Holding B.V., is owned by Stichting IN GKA Foundation in the Netherlands. The Stichting INGKA Foundation was established in 1982 by the founder of IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad, to create an willpower structure and organization that stand for independence and winning a longterm approach. It has two purposes to reinvest in the IKEA Group and to fund charity through the Stichting IKEA Foundation.The lineage idea is center on the concept of help create a better life everyday life for many spate.IKEA is a renowned mankind(prenominal) home article of article of furniture and household products retailer which is privately owned. IKEA was started by Ingvar Kamarad by 1943. Now the company owns more(prenominal)(prenominal) than 300 stores in 35 countries with more than 130,000 workers around the world. The company sell now a day more than 10000 products and the 190 billion copies of catalogues distributed around all over the world. We skunk see how IKEA expanded by having more stores each year.Figure 1 IKEA stores expanding .To offer a wide range of well-designed, operative home furnishing products at prices so minuscule that as many people as possible will be able to feed them. That is the business idea of IKEA. This concept of the IKEA is the base of their business operations which includes product designing, manufacturing, transportation, retailing and assembling.When IKEA develop their products, their starting designate is the idea that, even with a thin wallet, people lowlife create a beautiful home with well designed, functional, safe and rosy products. To understand the different living situations and needs of people all over the world is the key to success of IKEA.IKEA website had 712 million visitors and 676 million store visitors in 2010. And 197 million copies of catalogue were printed in 29 languages. Total sales in last year 2010 were 23.1 billion Euros as stated in graph and IKEA food service turnover is 1.1 billion Euros.Figure 2 Annual sales in billion Euros. (FY2010)Every single c ompany tries to use unique, distinctive and effective business strategy which will help them to stay in very free-enterprise(a) market and especially in the global market. We will use different tools to suffer a strategic analysis of IKEA. The analysis will be use SWOT analysis, Porters five forces model.SWOT analysisSWOT analysis is strategic be after tool which helps business to focus on key issues. This tool helps to identify and evaluate of the strengths and weakness of a firm inbornly, curses and opportunities of external environment. Strengths and weakness is such(prenominal) internal aspects of the company which can be controlled. Usually these refer to marketing, finance, and manufacturing. In same way threats and opportunities are external aspects which cant be controlled. These refer to environment, local issue, government policy and others.Strengths WeaknessOpportunities ThreatsInternalExternalFigure SWOT analysis.StrengthsIKEA is one the leading strong global brand in household furnitures in its global operation which attracts consumer group and ensure the same quality and range with almost 10000 products in their all 300 worldwide stores. IKEAs interest in how peoples lives at home is the source of all their business. The key to the success of IKEAs business, understanding of peoples different living situation and needs of all people around the world. Their starting point of developing a product is how people can decorate their house with a thin wallet without compromising the quality. IKEA offers a wide range of functional household furniture in a low price that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.IKEA is completely committed to their vision to create a better everyday life for the many people. This commitment even extends to their suppliers. IWAY is the way of purchasing IKEA products. Buying lot and large volume for long time keeps the price down from suppliers. And suppliers feel secured also. Most of IKEA products c ome from supplier direct to store. That means low cost and little carbon footprint. Increasing use of renewable and smarter use of raw materials helps them to keep the price low. Customers contribute in keeping low price by collecting, taking home and assemble product by themselves. Initialization of flat packing and pain little assembling made it possible. Now a day people can design their kitchen wardrobe and others household furniture themselves by IKEA computerized tools.OpportunitiesIKEA statesThere is a true business potential for IKEA in providing solutions that enable customers to live a more sustainable life at home. IKEA is developing effective solutions for customers in order to support them recycling or reusing used products, aiming at no products ending up at landfill and the recycled materials used in producing new IKEA products.IKEA Increases use of renewable and smarter use of raw materials helps them to keep the price low. By initialize of flat packing and easy as sembling help the customer to take their product home and assemble themselves. These all business policy of IKEA is juts to ensure a quality product in low price but if we look deeply we can see that IKEA using their strengths to take advantages of opportunities. Now a days all over the world everyone is concerning intimately carbon footprint, greener products, low cost products. IKEA is making best out of these opportunities.Now a day demand is growing for low priced products. Current pecuniary situation made consumers trading down from expensive stores.All most everyone is concerning about carbon footprint. IKEA most of product comes to store direct from supplier by which they gradually phase out wooden pallets and use of the most spaces of transport. Using of less transport which is less carbon emission. They keep redesigning products so that they take less space. This way they save costs and contribute to environment also. Other business may be has to change their business pol icy because of these global concerning. But IKEA is taking advantages of these opportunities.WeaknessEach single company tries to find out their weakness and try to resolve them. IKEA is a global brand with 300 stores globally. So the sizing and its scale of global business can be a problem. It could be hard eventually to keep up with their standard and quality.IKEA suppliers are in such country where government doesnt implement the legalization to control working conditions. It can affect business supply chain. On the other hand IKEA need low cost raw materials but good quality for their products. But because of global warming and other financial and environmental issues it could be hard to get the supply.Threatsuphill a new household company with low price and its own food in the market will be a strong threat for IKEA. Though emerging a new company with such range and scale is not so easy, but by keeping their standard IKEA can held their carriage.Porters five factorsPorters fiv e factors is a strong analytical tool. It helps us to understand business strength of current competitive situation and the strength of the position we are moving into. The outcome of this framework is five important factors which determine the competitive intensity, as it may in use of when creating strategy, plans or making decisions regarding investment about a business.Figure Porters Five Forces model.Powers of buyersIKEA make sure to satisfy their customers in every aspect by providing quality service. IKEA is global brand for household furniture for reasonable prices. The management of IKEA tries to keep the standard globally so their customer is happy about the quality and the prices. Furniture and other household has small alternate and consumers has limited choices which makes IKEA unique in his competitive market. Low price strategy is other way to response buyers needs.Powers of SuppliersWe have to consider power of supplier for our competitive situation. To ensure the q uality and low price business policy IKEA must have rough supplier who can supply according to the demand. IKEA set some rules for their supplier. IWAY is one of it. All suppliers should follow these set of rules. IKEA get the contracts with supplier for a long time. In this way supplier and IKEA both feel more secured. If something happens with the supplier IKEA also got time for supplement. So in this case supplier got limited powers.Competitive rivalryIKEAs furniture competitors offer different functionality and design. However, the IKEA still holds the first position in his competitive market through his quality and low price policy in Sweden and globally also. Flat packing policy saved a lot in price and easy for customer to carry out.New entrantsThere is less chance to enter

Tourism Crisis Management Techniques Tourism Essay

Tourism Crisis Management Techniques Tourism EssayToday the inescapable media exposes even so the most impromptu security guard to our current man of hazard, incident and crisis from Northern Africa and the Middle Easts political unrest and upheaval, to earthquakes in New Zealand, Turkey and Haiti, cyclones and floods in Australia and the Global Financial Crisis in 2008. It was in one case believed that whichever countries supremacyled the populaces oil reserves would forever win however with the realisation that the supply is not ever ending many UAE States oftentimes(prenominal) as Dubai and Abu Dhabi feature rancid to tourism to secure a go on future income into the state. Tourism is facing an ever increasing threat from crises coming in all shapes and forms, causing it to astonish under ones skin even more necessary to develop effective chance prediction and bonkment plans with an instantaneous retrieval strategy to mitigate the force of any crisis. The const itution of the tourism environment pass oning be verbalizen highlighting its global importance whilst introducing different ca drills and types of crises supported with numerous modelings. Alongside this the hardships faced by the manufacture and the techniques use to minimise the impact will too be realisen.The typesetters cases of the first decade of the 21th century may lead one to believe that it is a bleak sequence for the tourism manufacture and a recessive time for the overall tourism environment however even despite the current economic crisis, to which tourism is not immune, the World Tourism Organization forecasts 1.6 billion global tourists by the year 2020. The importance of world tourism is reflected by The World Travel and Tourism council, whose figures show that the contri howeverion of the Travel and Tourism Economy to GDP was 9.3% in 2010 and will rise to 9.7% by 2020. Cabrini (2010) expressed that tourism is not only important economically it also impor tant for human development as it provides income to most of the worlds poorest people. The extraordinary growth of tourism requires increasing attention from all stakeholders on its sustainability and contri providedion to world development. Over time, an ever increasing number of references pitch opened up and invested in tourism development, turning modern tourism into a key number one wood for socio-economic progress through the creation of jobs and enterprises, infrastructure development and the export revenues earned.It is believed that the majority of the tourism in the world is international however the commodious majority of international travel takes place at bottom the travellers own region, with ab disclose four show up of five world arrivals originating from the same region. As economic development permeates through the Chinese middle class, so does the demand for newly destinations with, in 2010, China having the worlds puffyst domestic tourism market. Their et hos can be summed up by the British journalist, novelist and poet Gilbert Keith Chesterton, the undivided object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land it is at last to set foot on ones own country as a foreign land. The severe a runwaye respiratory syndrome epidemic in 2003 was one of the most serious public health crises of a decade having the potential to hard ill-treat or even freeze the tourism industry in China. Crisis lotment techniques which argon strategies, physical processes and measures which are planned an put into force to prevent and contend with crises (Glaesser, 2006) were immediately enforced and after initially stalling and prevaricating causing the tourism industry to suffer for more than three months, the Chinese government managed to control SARS before it became a global catastrophe. This accomplishment required political will, national mobilisation and a series of support policies such as the exemption of administrative, operation and construct ion taxes, the provision of discount loans and quality assurance deposits to travel agencies (Dombey, 2004). China also developed its own practice of domestic tourism policies such as promotional campaigns like the 2009 China domestic travel fair in April 2009, partnerships like the collaboration between provinces themselves and national and provincial tourism administrators they also implemented fiscal policies, investing around US$140 million and price cutting where Beijing started to issue two million free tickets of scenic vagrant to domestic tourists along with longer national holi years (Li, S.N 2010). Source markets for international tourism are still by and large concentrated in the industrialized countries of Europe, the Americas and Asia and the Pacific, however, with rising levels of spendable income, many emerging economies concur shown fast growth over recent years.Tourism as a product is itself a function of lay on the line, which is a perceived probability of nega tivity associated with a tourists behaviour or destination choice. Risk is not a tangible aspect of travel it is what tourists perceive and experience during the process of purchasing and consuming tourism related services and while being at the destination (Cooper et al, 2008). Travel risk has a great influence on a tourists decision and if the risk perceptions are too high than a destination can suffer greatly as risk averse tourists, who have a diminishing marginal utility, are deterred from the visiting. Tourism is an economic firmament whose response to negative events is like no other, it has an above average sensitivity and is more susceptible to shocks and disruptions due to it being a highly perishable sector, requiring consumers to travel to a destination and the environment in which the destination is in.Tourism can be seen as a vulnerable industry for that its particular size and structure means that a large amount of little companies will be needed to provide a touris m experience that are all interdependent on one another. As tourism is a global industry even a country not directly related to a crises can easily be stirred, for representative even though 9/11 occurred in the US thither was a snowball effect which caused not only the worst impact on the worldwide tourism industry since World war II, but also demo how terrorism was able to trigger a slowdown of the whole worlds economy (Ali 2010). A greater number of countries are interlinked and have a degree of inseparability meaning that you cant separate a tourism experience from its place of production with Buhalis (2000) believing a destination is an amalgam of tourism services and experiences also having to get tourists to the destination increases the level of risk by increasing volumes of people. The places in which tourism is located also increases its vulnerability, such as coastlines, and that the powerfulness of one natural disaster such as the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami whipped ou t all tourism amenities and accommodation, with world nations needing to provide over US$14 Billion in caution for damage regions (Jayasuriya 2010). Ski resorts are also another example, as mountains themselves are more hazardous than urban areas, but crisis management techniques, actions interpreted by firms in an attempt to control the progress and outcome of a crises (Laws 2006) are regularly imposed such as controlled avalanches. This example highlights that fundamentally crisis management should be embraced in a management system rather than as a threat moving outside(a) from it being a management reactive response. Tourist places are also affected by climate transmute, nowhere more so than the Seychelles and Maldives in the Indian Ocean which are both economically dependent on tourism, with the latters very existence being really threatened with rising sea levels. Tourism is also very sector specific relying heavily on transport and any disaster in this industry will have a great effect on tourism with the ash could over Europe in April 2010 grounding flights and closing airports. Crisis management strategies were instigated no more impressively so than KLM who took the chance to adopt social media to manage this crisis by using its Facebook page. It addressed every single wall post promptly providing much timely information to customer service with regards to re-booking, headed reports and post specific information (Tan 2010). Tourist destinations are also often seen as soft targets for terrorism as tourists are easy to spot and stand out from natives in any area. They are essentially a big target in a small area for example in October 2002 a some bars in the tourist district of Kuta in Bali was targeted killing 202 people. If terrorist have a political motive targeting tourist is a influential way as on that point will be a mass influence on the media.Tourisms importance can also be seen in its intra and inter linked constitution in figure 3, w hether its with other tourism organisations and destinations or with governments and other industries. envision 3 The tourism environmentFor example a British tour streetwalker may use an Australian flag carrier to fly to Singapore and utilise a local transfer company to get to the Hong Kong based promised land hotel. Leipers (1979) model of tourism takes into account all these stakeholders and includes all the elements intrinsic for a tourist to travel. Its power is inherent as it places tourism in the context of respective(a) external environments such as society, politics and economies which are fundamental for crisis management as these mustiness all be assed when one takes place. A typical large scale disruption will force complex movements away from previous relationships which will then usually tend towards stability and equilibrium with Keown-McMullan (1997) noting that organisations and the way in which they interlink will undergo significant changes even when they are successful in managing a crisis side. During and after a crisis, the destination and its organisations also have to manage their ongoing relations with others in its network of partners. It is often the case that many services will have to be cancelled at very pithy notice, but, apart from the contractual obligations between partners, there are more fundamental issues of trust and reciprocity. Support organisations are also likely to make considerable efforts beyond their contractual responsibilities to assist in surgeing with the problems that result from a crisis. Competitors often come unneurotic and provide extra resources to support a fellow fellow member of the tourism industry.There has been an increase in the number of natural catastrophes from 20 in the 1950s to 91 in the 1900s and over 1000 in the 2000s (Glaesser, 2006) such as earthquakes in New Zealand in 2011 and Chile in 2010. Their impact on the world especially on the tourism industry has been heightened due to continued exponential population growth, climate change and human technological achievements. Tourism can also be plunged into crises due to manmade circumstances such as war, the 2000 putsch in Fiji, disease and epidemic, the 2001 Foot-and-mouth outbreak in the UK and SARS across Asia 2002-2004, transport, the Air France Concorde crash in 2000, political and economic, the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 and recent events in Northern Africa and the Middle East, acts of terrorism, 9/11 and the bombings in Bali in 2002.It may be thought that the words crisis, disaster, catastrophe and hazard are all synonyms for severally other however they all have very different meanings. Catastrophes are negative events which in contrast to a crisis have a clear unavoidable outcome thus missing a crisis ambivalence of development and restructuring opportunities ex post. A hazard can be thought of as a bring low level problem that would not in itself deter tourists from a destination but could b e the swaying factor in a decision which was already equivocal for example for a risk averse or neutral tourist. Smith (1995, from Ritchie 2004) believed that a disaster would spring from a hazard and that there are no such things as natural disasters only natural hazards with a disaster being the realisation of a hazard and its impact on society. A disaster and crisis can be similar as they both involve an event, natural or manmade, which impacts with such severity that the affected community, organisation or group has to do by taking exceptional measures. There is often confusion when a crisis results as cause from a disaster with Falkner (2001) make the distinction that a crisis has some degree of being self inflicted through problems such as inept management structures and practices or a failure to adapt to change whilst a disaster has an element of no control as an enterprise is confronted with a sudden unpredictable catastrophic change. Some places may be associated with gr eater travel risk than others and thus even without an actual crisis taking place travellers may be deterred from that destination.In the context of tourism the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has defined a tourism crisis as any unexpected event that affects traveller confidence in a destination and interferes with its ability to continue operating normally and Sonmez (1998) as any occurrence which can threaten the normal operations and conduct of tourism related businesses, damage a tourist destinations overall repute for safety, attractor and comfort by negatively affecting visitors perceptions of that destination and, interrupt the continuity of business operations for the local travel and tourism industry by the decrease in tourist arrivals and expenditures. These two definitions rivet on the direct impact of the event itself however Beriman (2003) expressed a tourism crises as a situation requiring radical management action in response to events beyond the internal contro l of the destination, necessitating urgent adaptation of selling and operational practices to restore the confidence of employees, associated enterprises and consumers in the viability of the destination. Glaesser (2006) saw a crisis as an undesired, extraordinary, often unexpected and timely limited process with ambivalent development possibilities. It demands immediate decisions and countermeasures in order to influence the except development again positively for the organisation/destination and to limit the negative consequences as much as possible. A crisis situation is determined by evaluating the serious-mindedness of the occurring negative events, which threaten, weaken or destroy competitive advantages or important goals of the organisation. In order to pursue the effectiveness of crisis management techniques on impact mitigation, we shall focus on the latter two definitions as they not only focus on the direct impact but also the ex post responses. Figure 6 below highlig hts the impact of any crisis showing that numerous parties would be affect due to tourisms interlinked nature.Figure 6 The various spheres of activityIn spy that our environment appears to have become increasingly tumultuous and with the number of crisis increasing, Richardson (1994) suggested that this may not only because we live in a more complex and move world but because we have more powerful technology that has a real capacity to generate disasters, which complicates the process of isolating cause and effect relationships. and then the boundaries between natural and manmade disasters are becoming increasingly blurred which needs to be taken into account in any analysis and critical evaluation.Ali (2010) highlighted that tardily crisis management in the tourism industry seems to have received more attention in the generic fields of management and crisis management, whereas Henderson (2003) believed that despite the expanding literature in the field, the interaction between crisis and tourism in its multiples forms still appeared under-researched in comparison to other dimensions with scope for further scrutiny in pursuit of a collapse understanding. Sonmez (1998) argued that although there has been a large advocation of the necessity of crisis management efforts, few have explored solutions and preventative solutions possibly due to the grandeur of the task. Ritchie (2004) insisted that due to the different paradigmatic positions in crisis management, research must explore the attitudes and opinions of mangers and policy makers in both the nonpublic and public sector in order to test different models and concepts in the field. To see how crises are managed and whether the methods employed are effective we must understand that there are many different stages. genius of the most extensive works through with(p) was by Faulkner (2001) who developed a disaster management framework in tourism that provided a six-phase process. The first is the pre-event phase in which disaster contingency plans, scenarios and probability assessments play a major role in the disaster management strategy. Although the actual timing, location and severity of natural disasters cannot be accurately predicted it is possible to make up ones mind from the past to pre-plan emergency procedures and to mitigate the severity of such events by adopting appropriate building codes, escape routes and alternative measures. A study conducted by Boudreaux (2005) discussed the impact of the family line 11, 2001 attacks on participants crisis facility. It was stated that there has been a new vehemence on the security of their facilities and the use of government sanctioned training or meetings to support crisis preparation and highlight public safety. The second is the prodromal phase where the disaster is imminent and warning systems and command centres are established with contingency plans being initiated. The role of a crisis manager here is not reactive, but instead a proactive approach where information can be found in various places, such as internal and external audits, government legislation and industry publications. The third is the emergency phase in which the disaster effects are felt and actions are necessary to protect people in the tourism destination. A prime example of this was immediately after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in which tourists and locals had to fell for their lives seeking safety in any types of buildings with sizable ground clearance and authorities constructing shelters for disaster ridden South East Asians. The fourth is the intermediate phase in which ill-judged-term and immediate needs of people have to be addressed by emergency and rescue teams with a clear media communication strategy also being crucial in this phase. An example of this was post Hurricane Katrina in the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season in which the US government alongside domestic and international aid agencies set up c ommunity shelters and organised food, water and sanitation programs. The fifth stage is the long-term (recovery) phase in which the damaged infrastructure has to be rebuilt, and environmentally damaged areas have to be reconstructed. A prime example is the 2010 Haiti earthquake in which Renois (2010) estimated that 250,000 residencies, 30,000 commercial buildings and 16,500 schools had collapsed or were severely damaged which all needed to be rebuilt. The final is the resolution phase corresponding to Finks (1986) where routine is restored or a new, improved state occurs. This stage identifies a clear end to the crisis although organisations view this as the goal, it is not one to be rushed to. An organisations premature conclusion that Finks (1986) third chronic stage has ended can leave them vulnerable to the resurgence of the crisis. delinquent diligence in the earlier stages of the model must be practiced to control such a regression does not occur. Having explored crises in g reat detail we shall now move to see how they are handled in order to limit their damage.Crises occur on a scale spectrum that ranges from local through to global and in todays world, crisis and disaster management is a major requirement for all businesses, defence and government organisations. How efficiently any crisis or disaster is handled depends on the decision making capabilities and the resources available. While technical expertise can improve crisis avoidance or minimise the disruption resulting from a crisis erect management is also need to deal with both the needs of those affected and the adverse publicity which might result. Policy makers are faced with the challenge of how to respond to such crises sometimes in the absence of any disaster management framework. Good crisis management is partly about the ability of organisations to learn from experience and that of others and partly about the willingness of leading organisations to carry out research and then pass on information which is required for effective pre-planning. Dreyer (2001) believes that it is of prime urgency to assess the crisis early(a) enough and to adopt existing crisis plans within the affected area and then later in the operational crisis management stage the goal is to manage the ongoing crisis and to limit damage. It is clear that a strategic approach to crisis planning and management is needed to help retain the confidence of travellers and the travel industry and to minimise the negative impact of crises on destinations. The goal is to get tourists back to affected destinations as quickly as possible and with good crisis management techniques this can be speedy. Regardless of crisis type, the techniques for dealing with it are similar. According to the UNWTO, good communications based on the principles of honesty and transparency together with communications, promotion, security and market research are the key to a successful strategy for crisis management.The early rep orts of a respiratory disease in one part of China didnt alarm the tourism industry in most countries and the first few days reports of the Foot and Mouth outbreak in the UK generated some concern but primarily for agriculture. In both cases measures were taken as a reaction which triggered an impact on tourism. The latter caused all footpaths and bridleways to be closed effectively closing the countryside to tourists and the latter made the travel advice given by governments and the WHO (World Health Organisation) made consumers and airlines change their plans. A large consequence of a crisis will be a substantial drop in sales volumes, for example the drop in swage for airlines alone as a result of the Gulf War was estimated at 2 billion dollars (Blake and Sinclair 2003). Terrorist attacks in Egypt during the 1990s also caused tourist to stay away which meant that in the space of a year, the revenue from the international tourism industry for this destination dropped by 1 billion US dollars. This was topped by the events of 9/11 in the USA, which caused not only the worst impact on the worldwide tourism industry since World War II, but also demonstrated how terrorism was able to trigger a slowdown of whole worlds economy. These examples illustrate how the tourism industry as an economic sector is challenged by negative events. It is consequently important to analyse negative events from every angle, to systematically identify critical success factors which are elements that organisations should focus on during a tourism crisis and integrate them to ensure effective strategic corporate orientation between different stakeholders, ensuring a most effective recovery plan.Lynch (2004) provides steps for tourism organisations that should be taken to mitigate the effect of a crisis over a three phase model, the first few weeks, three months and three years later. During phase one resources and media messages must be organised, statistics and scenario planning mus t be undertaken, mechanisms of communications within the tourism industry and customers must be established as some methods may have been destroyed and a wish list uniting all parties around a few key things articulated consistently. This time is likely to be frenzied but is most important for the provision of human life. In phase two certain new realities will have influenced everyones thinking and there will be an urgent need to get customers travelling again. This is about tactical marketing to make sales and rebuild confidence, for example do you price cut or add value. The main things to focus on are making the case for financial support, lobbying for other measures which will help business with cash flows e.g. deferral of tax payments and providing good quality information to policy makers on how the crisis is developing. In the next three years (phase 3) it is necessary to wind down the crisis teams, promote the destination and focus on the return of the customer especially traditional customers. Systems changes will be now be being implemented and as we know new relationships will have formed which need to be nurtured.A recurring theme in crisis management is that of recovery and getting tourists back to the area and this is mostly influenced by the medias response and so Beirman (2003) defines four steps in the marketing management of a destination crisis with the emphasis on how the crisis is managed in terms of the carriage projected. The first two steps are identifying the event or problem as a crisis or hazard with the latter just being a lower level problem that would not deter tourists in itself and establishing a crisis management team and defining roles, both which we have seen before. The difference is in the emphasis of the third step which is promoting the destination during and after the crisis, highlighting the importance of the media again in the recovery of a destination as crisis management is as much about dealing with human perce ptions about the crisis and the management of a crisis as it is about physically resolving the crisis (Health, 1998 in Miller and Ritchie 2003). The last is monitoring the recovery and analysing the crisis experience in order to learn from the situation and improve their techniques.There are numerous crisis management frameworks or models available for companies and destinations to base their activity on. One suggested was by Heath (1998, from Ritchie 2009) known as the 4 Rs reduction (risk management), readiness, response and recovery. Another was by Hystad and Keller (2006, from Ritchie 2009) which involved the stages pre-disaster, disaster, post disaster and resolution. Santana (2003, from Ritchie 2009) nicely brought these similar strategies and others together and put together a two stage model of proactive crisis management consisting of signal detection, preparation and prevention and post crisis management involving damage bound and recovery. The pre-crisis stages normally involve scanning the environment using a PEST (political, economic, socio-cultural and technological) analysis or consulting the countries foreign office for advice. It can be challenging to train the danger precisely but even if you know what to look for provisions may not be implemented. In 2002 post 9/11 there was widespread international recognition that the tourism industry may be a soft target for terrorists which should have prompted tourism industry bureaucrats to consider the theory of an attack, however believing that Indonesian tourism enhances peace between nations the government were too optimistic that no incident would befall them (Andari, 2008). Even so there was no organisation learning, incapacity to improve or continuity in the institutions responsible for designing and implementing the recovery plans as they believed that it would never happen again, leading to private organisations doing a large bulk of the work, but in 2005 the second bombs struck (Andari 200 8). Quite often this first stage does not occurs as we have seen but also was the case in turkey 2001 where the research findings reveal that neither the government nor private organizations had any plans for dealing with the crisis before or after the event (Okumus 2005). A pre-crisis success method is in the form of examining and risk assessments using maps which help identify the most vulnerable parts of a destination for example landslide maps in Brazil and Chile, and flood maps in the UK and Australia. Successful mitigation can also help to reduce the loss of human life and damage through physical measures like dams and cyclone shutters and through diversification if an area relies too heavily on tourism like the Maldives. The importance of plan creation is dominant like emergency plans and warning systems which are now in place throughout South East Asia, building codes in earthquake prone areas the capital of the United Kingdom 2012 Olympic Games have also had stringent terr orist attack simulations.Responding to the crisis itself requires coordination and control with its handling being essential to mitigate a crisiss impact. The 2001 Foot Mouth Outbreak in the UK and 2005 Hurricane Katrina were poorly managed with the former suffering as tourism was not perceived as a stakeholder leading to the allocation of resources to the agricultural sector. This disaster for the tourism industry was not the disease itself but the actions taken to eradicate the farming crisis and the media images associated with these actions (Miller 2003). The latter became the costliest natural disaster in the history of the USA (Knabb, 2005) due to reasons like a slow response at the federal level given there was some warning and time to prepare and a lack of overall control as discrepancies as to which body were in charge. In this stage of a crisis the media play a huge part to whether the area will recover and prosper in the near future. In regards to the very early stages o f a crisis it is often not at all clear what the scale is, what the likely duration will be of solving it will be or exactly who has been affected. There may be many reporters on the ground, tourists who may phone or e-mail contacts often providing video clips of the situation which are inserted into news broadcasts in this way misinformation may spread. In the longer term, in managing the aftermath of a crisis when the immediate short term problems have been dealt with, the destination will turn to the media with a combination of advertising and public relations to communicate to their client base that the crisis has been resolved. This alongside marketing campaigns will be used to stimulate demand in order to fill some of the lost revenue. Essential is a quick response, consistency in the information given out and openness and honesty. The 1988 Lockerbie disaster and the two examples just discussed were examples of poor media communication however much better handled disasters wer e the 1989 Kegworth air disaster with the companys reputation actually enhanced ex post even though it was actually their fault and 9/11 with New Yorkers positive spirits documented and the city manager as the spokesperson for the city. The final stage is that of recovery and resolution which has already been discussed in Faulker and Finks frameworks. The key elements are media and marketing communication getting tourists back to the affected area, physical recovery like infrastructure repair and sharing best practices in the reflection and learning process.As well as negative outcomes, crisis and disasters also have potentially positive results such as stimulus for research and innovation, economic and human development and the emergence of new markets. Some crises are largely restricted to the tourism industry and arose from problematic characteristics in its own operations. The origins of other crises lay completely outside the influence of tourism sector managers, and many of th ese crises devastated large areas and killed, injured or damaged many sectors of the local population or key infrastructure and industries. Thus we have seen the ever changing nature of the world and its population making tourism organisations and destinations more susceptible to crises and disasters, a more vulnerable industry in general with the potential for major impacts. This creates vast challenges for the industry however by establishing the phases of a crisis, disaster management techniques and strategies can be implemented to mitigate the impact of these, more often than not, catastrophic events.

The Two Faced Salieri :: essays research papers

Now a madness began in me. The madness of a man splitting in half. Even though this was uttered by Salieri, its our life And yet we still dont know whats in it. You might not notice, but everyone in this world has two sides, one dark and the other light. The quote above also has two sides. On one hand he was a august court composer, on the other hand he was truly loathsomeness and was filled up with jealousy. Did Salieri control his two different sides or did he conceive in one side and invaded the other?In the following few paragraphs, I am going to prove to you how Salieri was a two faced person. Salieri was a noble, decent and a mature person. After his father died, God gave him what he needed and made him a court composer for the Emperor. He was simply a mannikin of virtue for other people. I kept my hands off woman. This was said by Salieri and this quote also proves that he was respectful and an honored person. teach students, many of them for free, sitti ng on endless committees to help poor musicians. This quote was also said by the court composer Salieri. This quote tells all of us that he was a really nice person and didnt want anything in return because God gave him what he needed the most. Let me celebrate your glory through and through music. This shows us that he was very dedicated to his religion and to God. I was the most successful musician in Vienna. Salieri was really happy when he knew he was the greatest composer of Vienna but when ever there is a good time for a person, there is also a bad. Salieris evil side took over part of his good side and this all happened when he arrived. The most famous composer named Mozart. Salieri like everyone else also had a bad side. He was really jealous when Mozart took over his dreams. Mozart was also a composer and he became well known in Vienna through his music. When Salieri first saw Mozart he thought how sewer such a vulgar man create such great music. Salieri was really mad at God for making such a noisome and a dirty minded person such a great composer.

The Conscience of Dorian Gray in Oscar Wildes The Picture of Dorian Gr

The Conscience of Dorian white-haired(a) in Oscar Wildes The Picture of Dorian GrayMuch of the criticism regarding The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde has dealt with Dorian Grays relation to his own portrait (Raby 392). While some may argue that the portrait represents a reflection of Dorian Grays character, this is only a superficial analysis of the novel and Dorians character. While Dorian Grays consecutive character never changes, it is his own perception of his character (his conscience) that is reflected in the changing face of his portrait. In essence Dorians picture becomes a mirror through which the true Dorian judges his own metamorphasis as the superficial Lord Henry Dorian attempts to embrace Lord Henrys teachings. Dorians duality of character causes a constant internal struggle within him, ultimately culminating in his own suicide. Initially, Lord Henrys doctrine of new Hedonism contrasts astutely with Dorians youthful innocence and passions. These initial feel ings are the readers first and clearest experience with the soon to be repressed true Dorian. The terminology, however, does not imply that Dorian has never been influenced before. This unblemished character simply represents Dorians self at the start of the novel, a state which he accepts as his own and is able to find peace in. From this first conversation, Dorians peace begins shatter when he learns of Lord Henrys philosophy and its implications for his own life. Dorian is described as a brainless, beautiful creature (3), appropriate since all Dorian has at this stage in the novel is his own initial, unvarnished feelings. Thus this pre-Henry stage is the only time in the novel at which Dorian expresses his true self outwardly. This brai... ...he Picture of Dorian Gray A Norton critical Edition. Ed. Lawler, Donald L. (1988). 405-412. Raby, Peter. Oscar Wilde. (1980) 164. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. DiMauro, Laurie. Vol. 41. Detroit Gale, 1991. 392-397. Spiv ey, Ted R. Oscar Wilde and the Tragedy of Symbolism. The Journey Beyond Tragedy. (1980) 57-71. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. DiMauro, Laurie. Vol. 41. Detroit Gale, 1991. 501-502. Summers, Claude J. In Such Surrender There May Be Gain Oscar Wilde and the Beginnings of festive Fiction. Gay Fictions Wilde to Stonewall, Studies in a Male Homosexual Literary Tradition. (1990) 29-61. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. DiMauro, Laurie. Vol. 41. Detroit Gale, 1991. 398-401. Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray Oxford Worlds Classics. Oxford Oxford University Press, 1998.