Saturday, February 22, 2020

BUSINESS ANALYSIS - JOHN LEWIS PARTNERSHIP Essay

BUSINESS ANALYSIS - JOHN LEWIS PARTNERSHIP - Essay Example Initially started as a draper store in Oxford Street London, the firm has been able to make critical progress over the period of time by making acquisitions of strategic nature. The very structure and organization of the firm therefore provides it a unique identity and organizational culture which has allowed it to develop and grow over the period of time. A closer analysis of the financial performance of the firm would suggest that it has been able to continuously register an increase in its profitability and revenues. Such consistent performance of the firm therefore indicates that it is one of the leading businesses with stable revenues and profitability. This report will analyse the strategic position of John Lewis Partnership, making direct reference to the key challenges and opportunities for the organistaion and the capabilities which John Lewis can utilise in addressing these issues besides critically evaluating the current strategy of John Lewis and comment on their appropri ateness to the competitive position. A Brief History of John Lewis Partnership John Lewis Partnership started as a draper store in Oxford Street, London in 1864 by John Lewis. The store later on went on to become the departmental store when Mr. Lewis started to purchase other stores and started to expand his business. The store thrived on the promise that the prices will be low as long as long as the prices of the neighborhood stores are low. This strategy seems to have worked for the store and store soon started to grow and generate higher levels of sales. In 1905 John Lewis purchased Peter Jones and made a change towards becoming a departmental store. It was during 1914 that John Lewis gave control of Peter Jones to his son who started the store on more modern footings and implemented new organizational changes including making employees as partners in the firm. 1 During 1955, firm opened first Waitrose store and the management also changed from Lewis family to Bernard Miller. How ever, after the retirement of Miller, the management of the firm was transferred back to the family. Management again changed during 1990s when Peter Lewis retired as Chairman of the firm. John Lewis’s major strategic change occurred with the launch of its online store during 2001 and the establishment of Ocado. Ocado was opened in order to deliver the grocessories purchased on Waitrose. (Wilson & Reynolds, 2006). John Lewis is now in the top 10 list of retailers in the country with more than 30 John Lewis Stores and 246 Waitrose supermarkets.2 SWOT Analysis SWOT Analysis of the firm is as follows: Strengths 1. Rich history of successfully operating for more than 200 years. 2. Overall organizational structure and democratic nature of the firm. 3. High level of employee motivation because of employee partnership in the business. (Russell, 2010). 4. Large and diversified network of stores and web stores. 5. Efficient and effective supply chain management system. 6. High brand r ecognition and value in the eyes of customers Weaknesses 1. Only caters to the mid and high end customers. 2. Privately owned partnership therefore restricting itself to procure cheaper funds from capital markets. 3. Largely concentrated into UK with no or very little presence abroad. 4. Too few departmental stores across the country i.e. less than 30 considering 200 years history of

Thursday, February 6, 2020

Single sex schools Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Single sex schools - Research Paper Example ols are better than co-ed schools mainly because of the following three reasons: 1) Research has shown that children, both boys and girls obtain better grades in single-sex schools 2) Children can be their self in single-sex schools and 3) They are more comfortable in single-sex schools as both the sexes feel and think differently. If one accepts this reasoning than co-ed schools may not be the right choice. But then again there is not enough evidence to prove that single-sex schools are better than co-ed schools. A detailed study of the advantages and disadvantages of both the types of schools may perhaps help in arriving at a conclusion. . I t is generally believed that children can be themselves in same sex schools and take part in activities that suit them. For instance they can enjoy poetry or be a part of a band instead of marching without worrying about what the girls might think. Similarly girls can take part in sports like football or hockey without the fear of being labelled as a tomboy. Gils are able to shed their shyness. Children feel comfortable exploring subjects of their choice especially the non traditional ones. Girls feel comfortable studying subjects like advanced science or carpentry whereas boys can participate in orchestras or study languages like Latin without fear of being ridiculed for exploring subjects that are considered non-traditional. They need not don stereotypical roles and are encouraged to be curious and fearless. In short single sex schools allow children to be themselves. Today children face a huge amount of pressure from all quarters to become adults even before they are prepared. Children are forced to grow up too quickly. Some children are more comfortable in single-sex schools as the social pressures are less here. A child can grow at his own pace. As boys mature later than girls boys need more time to grow and single-sex schools may allow them to grow at their own pace. The atmosphere in single sex schools is

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

The Global Economic Crisis Essay Example for Free

The Global Economic Crisis Essay The current global financial has spawned a renewed interest among economists and policymakers to identify its causes and to come up with possible solutions. There were a number of financial crises that have taken place in the 20th century, a considerable number of which elicited panic that the whole economy was at the verge of collapse (Karabell). Countries previously affected by economic crises seem to be rebounding, with improvements in credit ratings and returns of foreign capital. Despite the lessons learned from the past crises, it is inevitable for history to repeat itself. Moreover, not even the world’s strongest economy is immune from this terrible fate. The meltdown in the US mortgage industry started the series of unfortunate events that led to the massive economic crisis. The perception that real estate prices would rise encouraged financial institutions to loosen their standards to borrowers (Shiller 29). However, this economic slowdown was not contained in the mortgage industry. Months after the initial signs of such slowdown, bigger financial institutions have been hit of what has become a global financial crisis. It was like dominoes falling one right after another: The demise of Lehman Brothers tipped to the rush sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America, followed by the federal takeover of AIG (Duffy). Now that the U. S. government has granted a $7-billion bailout, the U. S. financial market shows promising potentials of recovery. Yet, none can be of infallible certainty as to its sustainability (Sahadi). It is impossible to account at this early point of time the effectiveness of the bailout. What is possible is to recognize what is happening and to take basic steps in the restructuring of the institutional foundations of the financial economy. These include taking short-run remedies to put a halt at least to the continuing detriments of the crisis and to employ long-term changes that would reduce, if not totally eradicate, the risk of another global financial crisis. Works Cited Duffy, Michael. â€Å"After the Financial Crisis, a Cleanup That Changes Everything. † Time Magazine. 22 September 2008. 28 October 2008 http://www. time. com/time/business/article/ 0,8599,1843213,00.html. . Karabell, Zachary. â€Å"In A Few Fateful Days. † Newsweek. 18 October 2008. 28 October 2008 http://www. newsweek. com/id/164593. Sahadi, Jeanne. â€Å"Bailout is law: President Bush signs historic $700 billion plan aimed at stemming credit crisis. † CNNMoney. 4 October 2008. 28 October 2008 http://money. cnn. com/2008/10/03/news/economy/house_friday_bailout/index. htm? postversion=2008100309 Shiller, Robert J. The Subprime Solution: How Todays Global Financial Crisis Happened, and What to Do about It. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2008.

Monday, January 20, 2020

Disintegration of Dick Diver in Fitzgeralds Tender is the Night Essays :: Tender is the Night Essays

The Disintegration of Dick Diver in Tender is the Night The exact nature of Dick Diver¹s descent throughout the course of Tender is the Night is difficult to discern. It is clear enough that his disintegration is occasioned by Nicole¹s burgeoning independence, but why or how her transformation affects him this way is less than obvious. Moreover, it is not at all apparent what is at stake, more abstractly, in this reciprocal exchange of fates. In this paper, I will propose a reading of this change that relates Nicole¹s strength to her naturalness, her identification with instinct and natural impulse, and Dick¹s strength to his civilization, his identification with the curtailment of natural impulse through psychiatry and prewar American civilization. The relationship between Nicole and Dick is such that what happens to the one must happen to the other. Both Nicole and Dick turn by the novel¹s end to impulse and instinct, but while Nicole does this by gaining an independent self-consciousness, Dick achieves this onl y through drinking. Throughout the novel Nicole is identified with the childish and animalistic wildness of instinct. This is most obvious in the uninhibited expression of emotion which characterizes her episodes of madness. We see, for instance, her frenzied laughter as she rides the Ferris wheel and causes her car to crash. As the car finally comes to a halt, "she, [Nicole], was laughing hilariously, unashamed, unafraid, unconcernedŠ.She laughed as after some mild escape of childhood" (192). And as a patient at the clinic, after having her affection for Dick rebuffed, we are told, "Nicole¹s world had fallen to pieces, but it was only a flimsy and scarcely created world; beneath it her emotions and instincts fought on" (143). As the story progresses, though, the expression of these impulses become less openly dangerous and abnormal and more linked to her growing sense of self. One more restrained way in which Nicole is identified with impulse is her use of money. Money in the story is a sort of materialized passion, the tangible expression of an appetite to possess and control. Money becomes more and more plentiful as the story moves on, such that by the beginning of book three, after Dick gives up his stake in the clinic, "the mere spending of it, [money], the care of goods, was an absorption in itself. The style in which they traveled was fabulous" (257).

Sunday, January 12, 2020

Communication Ethics

Vasquez, Maria Josefina Clara I. Purposive Communication 1BES2 Prof. Gloria Ward Communication Ethics The videos posted were about how people now a days are being unsocial, communication ethics, ethical issues and generation Z. Allison Graham's â€Å"How social media makes us unsocial† talks about the differences back then when it was simpler and how it has affected us now. According to (Transcriber, 2014) she said in her video, â€Å"I remember we had pagers time seemed a little simpler back then you get to be you may return the call you may not return the call.† And now she said (Transcriber, 2014) â€Å"I see families like this out to dinner all the time and it drives me nuts and I see couples on dates clearly together but on their cell phones.† You can see how back then there was no such thing as social media and now we are so dependent on this platform that we forget to socialize. Communication ethics is a term the most of us know because we need this in our daily lives may it be at school, home, or work. According to (Lipari, 2017) â€Å"Communication ethics concerns the creation and evaluation of goodness in all aspects and manifestations of communicative interaction.† For us to be able to have a healthy relationship with the people around us we need communication ethics because not everything that we say is acceptable to them vice versa. Even though we have communication ethics there are still ethical issues mainly in social media. In a YouTube video of Tyler Adams and Jenna Payne (2014) they shared 10 ethical issues in social media, but I will just input 5 Once you put something out there, it's there forever, Copyright, what you say can reach a lot of people, be aware of current events and trends, and Never lie or use misguiding information. These ethical issues are very important because one mistake can lead to another just like a domino effect. Generation Z are the ones who were born 1995 onwards while Millennials were born from 1980-1994 (Ahmad, 2018). According to (Beall, 2017), â€Å"Generation Z (also known as Post-Millennials, the iGeneration, Founders, Plurals, or the Homeland Generation) is the demographic cohort following the Millennials.† The Generation Z and Millennials have their own differences, in George Beall's article he wrote about 8 key differences between Gen Z and Millennials. Generation Z tends to be less focused than Millennials because this is due to the fact that by using social media the process for information is faster and this leads to low attention span (Beall, 2017). The videos posted was able to help me grasp the importance of communication ethics. It also made me realize how reliant I am to my phone and especially social media. The topics discussed was important because we use this daily from the moment we wake up until we fall back to sleep. It is important to know what we are supposed to do and not supposed to do. Social media is a way for us to connect with our family, friends, or even strangers (accan, n.d.). The social media platforms that most of us know is Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (accan, n.d.). These are platforms where you can share anything from posts to pictures or it can be used as a way to talk to your family, friends, or strangers. But even though social media helped us connect with people there is still a need to know how to be responsible in social media. Not everything that we delete in social media is deleted permanently it is still there. Social media is a platform to share ideas and insights it is not supposed to be used for bullying or sending hate messages. A research done by Sameer Hinduja, Ph.D. and Justin W. Patchin, Ph.D. (2009) on Safe and Responsible Social Networking was able to give ways on how to be safe in social media, they stated that the profile in social media should be private even though you know your friends well, secondly make sure that the pictures that you post is decent and not party pictures because this may be not good in your workplace, lastly don't put information on your social media that you want other people to know about because this could be used against you. Even though the videos posted on blackboard is helpful having readings about the topics is a need because it will add to the knowledge that we already know. The topic needs research because there are a lot of ways to be responsible in social media and there are also different ways to be ethical. All in all, the videos were helpful because there was enough information for someone to have a general background of the topics. These topics should be taught to students because our generation is reliant on our gadgets and social media and this topic helps everyone know thee do's and don'ts in social media. Communication ethics is a need in a daily basis because every day we socialize, and it is good to know how we are supposed to socialize with other people. BibliographyT. (2014, November 10). Transcriber.wiki. Retrieved October 12, 2018, from https://transcriber.wiki/?transcription=0f39ad0d7919c21e1074c253c43ae3d5Lipari, L. A. (2018, April 18). Communication Ethics. Retrieved October 12, 2018, from http://communication.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228613-e-58Adams, T., & Payne,J. (2014, September 12). 10 Ethical Issues in Social Media #CajigasSMLL. Retrieved October 12, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_fulKc5wh0&t=4sAhmad, I. (2018, February 27). Comparing The Differences BetweenGeneration Z and Millennials [Infographic]. Retrieved October 12, 2018, from https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/comparing-the-differences-between-generation-z-and-millennials-infographic/517903/Beall, G. (2017, November 06). 8 Key Differences betweenGen Z and Millennials. Retrieved October 12, 2018, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-beall/8-key-differences-between_b_12814200.htmlAccan. (n.d.). Introduction to social media. Retrieved October 12, 2018, from https://accan.org.au/files/TipSheets/Introduction to Social Media.pdfHinduja, S., Ph.D., & Patchin, J. W., Ph.D. (2009). Safe and Responsible Social Networking. Retrieved October 12, 2018, from https://cyberbullying.org/safe-responsible-social-networking.pdf

Saturday, January 4, 2020

Using the Spanish Verb Decir

Decir is the is one of the most commonly used verbs in Spanish; it typically is the equivalent of to say or to tell in English. Examples of Using Decir Usage of decir is straightforward for English speakers. Context will tell you whether say or tell is the better translation.  ¿Quà © dices? (What do you say?)Ella me dijo que iba a volver. (She told me she was going to return.)El presidente dice que su misià ³n central es relanzar la economà ­a. (The president says his prime mission is to relaunch the economy.)Yo digo que nuestro sistema de justicia es un cachondeo. (I say that our justice system is a joke.)A decir verdad no me gusta. (To tell the truth, I dont like it.)Nos decimos que nos amamos. (Were telling ourselves we love each other.) ¿Cà ³mo se dice airport en espaà ±ol? (How do you say airport in Spanish?) ¿Por quà © decimos sà ­ cuando queremos decir no? (Why do we say yes when we want to say no?) Grammar Involving Decir When someone is told something, the person to whom something is told is represented by an indirect-object pronoun. The logic behind this is that the thing being said is the direct object, while an indirect object represents the person affected by what is said. Le dije adià ³s. (I told him goodbye.) ¿Quà © le vamos a decir a la gente? (What are we going to tell the people?)Les decimos que no està ¡n solos. (Were telling them that they are not alone.) In general, decir que (to say that) is followed by a verb in the indicative mood, but no decir que is followed by a verb in the subjunctive. Dije que somos amigos. (I said that we are friends.)No dije que seamos amigos. (I did not say that we are friends.)Decimos que nuestro paà ­s tiene futuro. (We are saying that our country has a future.)No decimos que nuestro paà ­s tenga futuro. (We arent saying that our country has a future.) Common Expressions Using Decir Se dice que or dicen que can be used for the equivalent of it is said that or they say that: Dicen que nadie es perfecto. (They say nobodys perfect.) ¿Por quà © se dice que el mezcal es una bebida mà ¡gica? (Why do they say that mezcal is a magic drink?)Se dice que hay hadas en este bosque. (It is said that there are fairies in this forest.) Es decir can translate phrases such as in other words, that is to say, and meaning. Los espacios blancos dan la perspectiva de mas espacio es decir dan la sensacià ³n de ampliacion de los espacios. (The white spaces give the perspective of more space. In other words, they give the feeling of the spaces being expanded.)Hay muchos usuarios de Linux, es decir Ubuntu, Fedora, etc. (There are many users of Linux, that is to say Ubuntu, Fedora, and so on.)Machu Picchu recibià ³ a 1419,507 visitantes en 2016, es decir 3889 por dà ­a. (Machu Picchu hosted 1,419,507 visitors in 2016, meaning 3,878 daily.) Conjugation of Decir The conjugation of decir is highly irregular; it is irregular in every tense except for the imperfect. Changes are made to both the stem and the ending. Also, the present participle and past participles are diciendo and dicho, respectively. Here are the conjugations in the present, preterite, and future indicative tenses: Present: Yo digo, tà º dices, usted/à ©l/ella dice, nosotros/nosotras decimos, vosotros decà ­s, ustedes/ellos/ellas dicen (I say, you say, you/he/she says, etc.) Preterite: Yo dije, tà º dijiste, usted/à ©l/ella dijo, nosotros/nosotras dijimos, vosotros dijisteis, ustedes/ellos/ellas dijeron (I said, you said, you/he/she said, etc.) Future: Yo dirà ©, tà º dirà ¡s, usted/à ©l/ella dirà ¡, nosotros/nosotras diremos, vosotros dirà ©is, ustedes/ellos/ellas dirà ¡n (I will say, you will say, you/he/she will say, etc.) Spanish has several verbs based on decir that are conjugated in the same way. Among the most common are contradecir (to contract) and bendecir (to bless). Key Takeaways Decir is a common verb that means to do or to say.Decir is conjugated irregularly in most of its forms.Se dice que is a popular way of saying they say that.

Friday, December 27, 2019

My Critique of a Blogpost Essay - 571 Words

So I found this article via a Facebook friend. The following comment is what I wrote on that friends wall. I felt it only appropriate to allow the author to read and respond to my criticism. So, as black man whos, currently, very irreligious but was a Christian for 15 years, my perspective on this article may be different from that of the authors. While I think the author of this article has internalized the patriarchy inherent to many religious circles (be they Christian, Jewish, Muslim, etc), I disagree with the author even more on her understanding of the Bible. There are 4 things in particular that really irked me about this article. 1. The author totally misunderstands the story of Adam and Eve. The quote ...just remember what†¦show more content†¦3. The author is really arrogant! If you accept that God is omnipotent and omniscient and you accept that God created you, then you also accept that God created your freewill. And you also accept that not even God is powerful enough to go against your freewill. For this I call your attention to Deuteronomy 30:18-20 which says This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now CHOOSE life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Even in the Old Testament God makes reference to the fact that you have a choice and he is not at liberty to make that choice for you. The fa ct that the author can tell you how to express your freewill in choosing who you will and wont pursue romantically, or otherwise, but God cant belies the authors arrogance. 4. Finally, my last comment is simply a warning. Beware of anyone who tells you they know Gods will for your life. Again: if you accept that God is omniscient, then you accept that God knows his plan for your life. And if you accept that God is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, the