Netflix Business Risks Essay Example for Free

Netflix Business Risks Essay For a low monthly price Netflix allows their customers not only to streamline videos on their mobile devices and computers but also choose from a wide variety of DVD’s. This allows for the consumer to watch as much which is beneficial for someone that has a busy schedule and would like to go back and catch up where they left off. As with every business there are risks associated with the everyday operations and I will go into detail as to what the risks are that Netflix has encountered. Business Risk I was a Netflix customer back in 2010 and I was pleased with the low monthly rate associated with a Netflix membership. This option was wonderful with a houseful of children that had different likes in what they watched everyone was pleased. As I carefully monitored my monthly bank statements the low price was at a constant rate up until the middle of July 2011. My monthly fee of $8.50 went up to $16.00 which nearly doubled. More than doubled. I made the honest mistake of not taking into consideration the economic downturn and what risks were associated with such a good deal. As the saying goes, if it is too good to be true it must be. With a household of 7 I had to outweigh the pros and cons of paying an additional $8.00 a month. While comparing the previous membership price along with the new membership price there was no return on the company’s part. I was still able to view movies via streaming online as well as DVD’s in the mail. So why did the the price jump? Pogue (2011) states, â€Å"This, as you can imagine, is not a popular decision. This isn’t a cost-of-living increase. This isn’t inflation. It’s a 60 percent overnight price increase — that gives you nothing new in return.† Not only was I the only irate customer. Netflix felt this chain of reaction across the globe, the consequence of a 60% price increased caused Netflix to lose 800,000 customers in their third quarter. Operational Risks Netflix’s Chief Executive Office Reed Hastings made the decision in splitting Netflix into two separate companies. One of the companies will be specifically for streaming movies on demand and the other company will be called Qwikster specifically for the DVD business. Blodget (2011) states, â€Å"And we can also certainly understand why, from the companys perspective, it makes sense to split the DVD and streaming businesses into two separate companies: Theyre different businesses, with different cost structures and different delivery, marketing, licensing, and management challenges, and they will be easier to run better if theyre managed separately.† Split in Two. It only makes sense to create two companies that would help them focus on their main objective. Since Qwikster will be for the dvd section library they have to take into consideration the costs of shipping out a dvd, the quantity of inventory in the warehouse as well as inventory turnover. Online streaming does not the same costs associated since the consumer is just a click away from watching at their convenience. Consumers are sometimes forced in choosing the DVD’s because as I have experienced myself some of the older and newer versions of movies are not available to stream online. For example, Willow was an all-time favorite of mine during my childhood, while checking the streaming library I came across the movie but once I had clicked on the title it showed it was only available via DVD. I have a very bad habit in returning the Netflix dvd given there are no additional shipping costs associated with the dvd, but the downfall for Netflix is that there is one less dvd out in the world and the inventory won’t be replenished until I return this movie. Financial Risk Netflix domestic online streaming has a committed amount of customers while domestic dvd are hit the worst. Netflix membership plans include $8.00 a month for unlimited streaming, for an additional $8.00 more a month customers can add unlimited DVD’s, and if the consumer is interested in Blu-ray disks then they would add an additional $2.00 on top of dvd price bringing it up to $10.00 for Blu-ray’s. Hurley (2012) states, â€Å"Nevertheless, gross, operating, and net income margins have been sliding steadily and substantially for several years. Moreover, Netflix continues to rely on subscriptions to its DVD’s-by-mail service to prop up net income. Although management officially altered corporate strategy to place emphasis  on streaming services rather than DVD-by-mail services and there are more than twice as many streaming subscriptions as by-mail subscriptions.† Strong Force. In December 2012 it was announced that both Disney (DIS) and Netflix (NFLX) announced a deal that would allow Disney shows and movies to be available to only Netflix’s subscribers. The result of this announcement resulted in Netflix stock rise to 15%. This is great news for consumers like me who is a Disney fanatic, now I will have a reason to stay with Netflix so that I can watch Disney movies with an unlimited amount of time. Conclusion When the price increase occurred back in 2011, I did cancel my membership because I was still feeling the economic downturn in my household. I would rather use that $18.00 towards filling up my gas tank rather than watch TV, in my eyes needs are more important than wants in my household. In mid-2012 I had a career change that resulted in a higher income. I now had a little extra play money to apply to a want that I once had and since Netflix allowed my children to be satisfied and allowed for some quiet time on my end, I went ahead and renewed my subscription. Being on Netflix for a few months I can say that I was extremely stoked when the announcement of Disney and Netflix working together. References Blodget, H. (2011). With all respect to Reed Hastings, the Netflix-Qwikster split bad for customers. Retrieved from http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/respect-reed-hastings-netflix-qwikster-split-bad-customers-160148340.html Hurley, D. (2012). Could Netflix bounce in 2013? Retrieved from http://www.wealthlift.com/blog/netflix-bounce-2013/ Pogue, D. (2011). Why Netflix raised its prices. Retrieved from http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/14/why-netflix-raised-its-prices/

The supermarket industry in UK

The supermarket industry in UK The supermarket industry in UK In UK, there are a huge amount of large supermarkets and people in British are usually go to these kinds of supermarket once a week, for example, Tesco, Sainsburys, ASDA. Even though the supermarket industry in UK is not as well as the supermarket industry in America; however, it is an important part for people who living in British and a large part of supermarket is adopt the chain structure to operate and it is all over the town. Therefore, the marketing mix of the UK supermarket industry can be shown as in four parts. The price in the UK supermarket industry have connection between each firms because the price rigidity. Turning to the place of the UK supermarket industry may build in suburbs or in the city which may benefit for the consumer to choose and it have developed the service which can shop on the internet. And the promotion of the UK supermarket, they may use some advertisement in the website and billboard. This essay will be structured as four parts which is the backgrou nd of the supermarket in UK, the characteristics of oligopoly, the advantages and disadvantages of the market structure for consumer and conclusion. Moreover, the supermarket in UK can be described as an oligopoly market so that the competitive in the UK supermarket industry is very altitudinal. The characteristics of oligopoly can be divided into four parts which is non-price competition, price rigidity, L-shaped average cost curves and collusion. The structure of the oligopoly market is there is a small amount of interdependent firms which compete with each other and it can be used barriers to entry to the industry. Furthermore, the oligopolistic firms may focus on the firms which relative to their industry to consider the supply. (Anderton A, 2004) The important characteristic is the clash between cooperate and self regard. The oligopoly group will produce less goods and gather the price which higher than the marginal cost. Thus, each sellers activity may have a great influence to the other firms profit. (Mankiw N, 2009) In addition, the supermarket industry in UK is similar with the oligopoly structure. Firstly, oligopoly is dominated by few large companies which mean collusion that plan the device and make profit together. Even though the UK supermarket industry is very competitive and beneficial; however, there are four main firms in the industry which play an important role and the other firms will focus on the niche market to exist. The four firms are known as Tesco, ASDA, Sainsburys and Morrisons which are running grocery structure. The big four have become an oligopoly market structure that they have combined share of 76% of the market at the end of 2008. (BBC news, 2010) This can be seen as barriers to entry to the other various smaller companies. According to the BBC news (2010), there are about 50 UK supermarket chains have defunct. Furthermore, the price between each firms have made a price rigidity which will retain a permanent level. The supermarket market structure in UK can be seen as oligopoly market and it have brought the benefits and disadvantages for consumer. Firstly, according to the Tutor2you (2007), non-price competition has play an important role in the sales of supermarket. Because of the highly competitive of the supermarket industry in UK, firms will increase market share and use tactics to sale promotion, such as store loyalty cards, banking and other financial service and extension of opening hours. (Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4694974.stm) This figure can be shown that Tesco was dominant in the supermarket share research. Moreover, BBC news (2006) list that Tescos market share remains rising and not only this supermarket but also other supermarkets have an upward tendency such as Sainsburys. It can be seen that the measure that Tesco have use is successful to assist the company. Besides, each firm will bring out there preferential measures and provide to the consumers which can allow them to choose and every measure may have their attraction. Secondly, oligopolistic firms are very superior in the market regularly and production capacity is generally larger which means that the firms have ability to resist the risk and have advanced management technique. It is beneficial to consumers because it have indemnity that consumers can buy with confidence. However, it also bring disadvantage for consumer in two ways. First of all, one of the characteristic of the oligopoly market is interdependence between each company which means one of the companies may consider the reaction of the other firms in the marketing such as making price and some investment decisions. It may obtain the suitable profit that each oligopoly firms would satisfactory with it. Moreover, for the consumer, it may decrease the preference and the price will become indeterminacy because the price may fluctuate by the oligopoly firms. The firms may combined together and gain the monopoly price which can acquire monopoly profits. (Tutor2U, 2007) Firms may also bull operation and it is far beyond the real value of the product. It is bad for consumer because it will und ermine the interest of its consumers. According to the Top retailing (2008), because of the rising price of fuel and food which allow people seek the cheaper price. All in all, based on the characteristic of the UK supermarket and the advantages and disadvantages of the market, the oligopoly structure should pay more attention to the measure which can give people the benefit while they can make the profit. The non-price competitions which can allow consumer seek a high quality and service among the similar price between each supermarket. Company should not in their own interest but also consider the consumer that it should have many considerations such as technical and geographical to improve and perfect the system such as different discounts to the customers. Moreover, company can make a research to identify competitive suppliers, understand the information of supply market and efficient commodity strategy. 4. Reference Anderton A. (2004) Economics (3rded.) Ormskirk, Causeway Press Ltd. [Assets date: Feb, 4th] BBC news (2006), Business Economics (2009), UK supermarkets, oligopolistic competition Oligopoly watch (2003), British grocery oligopoly Structure of industry, the economics of supermarkets Author: Robert P. [Asset date: Feb, 4th] Top retailing (2008), Grocery share Author name: Nesbitt L. Tutor2U (2007), Oligopoly [Asset date: Feb, 5th]

Theories for Philanthropy: History and Background

Theories for Philanthropy: History and Background It is easy to motivate people to attend fundraising events just ask them to turn up and they will, because its the right thing to do. Discuss Introduction Philanthropy is the act of donating money, goods, services, time or effort to support something that is socially beneficial, has a defined objective, and no material reward to the donor. Whilst the majority of people see this as individual charity, the other side to giving without material reward is fundraising and corporate philanthropy. There is a view amongst some organisers of fundraising events that little extra motivation is needed for people to attend they will simply attend because it is the right thing to do. Of course, there are also those who see philanthropy as only occurring where there is some gain outside of money for the donor, especially when it comes to corporate philanthropy. Instead of being about the ‘right’ thing to do, it is more about the perception of doing the ‘right’ thing as a marketing and PR weapon. [1] This essay will examine the roots of philanthropy and look at some of the motivational factors involved. This will involve loo king at marketing techniques, psychological and philosophical theories as to why people give. The aim of this discussion is to provide recommendations to fundraising event managers to help them better promote their events in light of the motivations discovered. The first section will look at the history and background of philanthropy. History and background of philanthropy The earliest forms of philanthropy can be traced back to religion and the ideas of giving and charity within Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The idea of charity in these texts looks at helping the poor and those in need no matter what their faith or situation. This idea of charity set the beginnings for the secular concept of philanthropy. Where charity and philanthropy differ somewhat is that charity has a commitment to the poor and helpless, whereas philanthropy is not so closely linked to the poor.[2] However, religious faith is still a strong motivator behind philanthropy even today because it instils the belief that giving is the ‘right’ thing to do and an important part of faith. In this sense, it could be said that people need no more motivation than their faith to give to fundraising events. However, faith cannot explain all aspects of philanthropy for those who are not religious or where faith is not an important element.[3] Philanthropy developed into a concept in the seventeenth century to do with being kind and humanitarian, which in the 18th and 19th centuries was then to do with being actively involved in humanitarian projects, such as helping the insane or prisoners, and the abolition of slavery. However, it was towards the end of the nineteenth century that philanthropy began to mean the donation of money to causes that would benefit all levels of society and not just the poor. The emphasis of philanthropy has shifted from just helping the poor to helping all areas of society. The government is now seen as the primary carer for those under or around the poverty line, whilst philanthropists look to benefit society as a whole. This of course does not mean that the poor do not or cannot benefit from philanthropy, but that the goal of philanthropy is now wider than helping just those who are poor.[4] The modern version of philanthropy is very much to do with injection of money into causes and raising funds to help develop socially worthwhile projects. Philanthropy is not just about pouring money into something and forgetting about it, but about giving money so that results can be achieved. In fact, if results are not achieved through the donations then generally the donations to that particular project will be reduced. This is a method that wealthy individuals and organizations use to keep projects accountable and to have a measure of social control.[5] This social control may often be in the interests of the philanthropist and so it begs the question as to whether this is the only motivation behind modern philanthropy. If this is the case, then perhaps the idea that motivation to do the right thing is enough is no longer a valid way to promote or achieve fundraising. The next section will look at some competing theories of motivation with regards to philanthropy to see if this q uestion can be answered. Philosophy and models of motivation One idea of motivation behind corporate philanthropy is obviously that it improves the image of an individual or business whilst also providing an opportunity to shape society in a certain way. In modern philanthropy there is no doubt that this is a part of motivation, but in many ways it acts no differently to idea of ‘doing right’. An individual who gives because they believe it is the right thing to do will give in the same way as an individual or organisation who gives because they perceive that others think it is the right thing for them to do. Corporate philanthropy is a part of business culture today, and companies see it as an important marketing tool – to be seen as an ethical, responsible and socially aware company that looks to give back to the community and to society.[6] Also, there is the other side of fundraising that as a company funds are needed to be generated to be given by philanthropists, and so a good company that can benefit society will have a fundraising strategy. Mullin believes that the key to good fundraising is less to do with motivational factors and more to do with detailed strategic planning and advertising of the event is the key to its success.[7] For Mullin, fundraising works very much like any product with a life cycle of fundraising that determines where and when the best opportunities for gaining funding are within each project or event. Wendroff also believes that the key to successful fundraising is attention to detail and planning, and that there is no real need to look into motivational factors as much as there is to employ proper marketing and organization of the event. If this is taken care of then people will donate because of the feeling that this is a worthwhile cause portrayed by the quality of the event.[8] However, there are a number of other theories with regards to the motivation behind fundraising that can help fundraisers. Sargeant and Jay believe that the motivation for philanthropy comes from push and pull factors. People give not just for one reason but for a wide variety of reasons depending on the social climate, empathy and sympathy for a cause, potential for results from the donation and other factors. These push and pull factors are complex and it is believed that more research into why people give and also why they stop giving is important. If this is not undertaken then organisations are in danger of spending too long developing ‘techniques’ to gain funding rather than really knowing why people want to give and how to then present their project.[9] Other theorists see motivation behind giving as being somewhat different. The philosopher Immanuel Kant sees giving as a simply matter of duty, and that the act of philanthropy is an example of duty to our society. Kant doesn’t believe that humanitarian acts or charity are the motivations behind philanthropy, but rather the shaping of duty, society and law are the motivations behind donation. Whilst Kant’s view may appear somewhat cold and does not take into account the human or sympathy aspect of donation, there is evidence that modern philanthropy does on some level work like this. People give money because they feel it is their responsibility to help society with what they have, and this fits in more with a sense of Kantian duty than being charitable.[10] Despite this, Kant’s view is perhaps too narrow and does not take into account the fact that part of giving is certainly to do with personal feelings towards a specific project. Even if someone feels it might be ‘right’ or their duty to donate, they are less likely to do so if there is no personal fit with the project and understanding of its social worth. Perhaps the view of John Stuart Mill is a better explanation of motivation in this case. Mill’s idea is that people donate because they see it as the rational way of making society most efficient. Giving their wealth to help socially beneficial organizations means that they are helping to maximise utility within society. Whilst this theory also seems extremely well thought-out and neat in that it would be great to think that philanthropists and donors need only learn about a project’s benefit to society to give, it again seems that there is more to motivation than this. It also seems unlikely that all donors clearly see this ‘bigger picture’ and that their wealth being offered to others in this way really is helping the overall efficiency and utility of society. If this were the case then philanthropists would all give to very similar and large-scale projects that could benefit as many people as possible – clearly this isn’t the case.[11] Motivational factors and current climate The problem with all of these theories is that they seemingly take a narrow view on motivation to try and pin down why people donate so that fundraisers can develop techniques to increase funding. However, the situation should probably not be looked at in terms of strict individual motivational factors but rather in terms of the current climate of donation and philanthropy on a local, national and global scale. For instance, whilst values in the UK and US on many topics are quite similar, levels of philanthropic donation are much lower in the UK (less than 1% of GDP) than in the US (2% of GDP).[12] Understanding why different national markets vary in level of donation can help fundraisers to understand why people are donating in a particular area or during a particular time period. The US and the UK differ in their giving policies, with US philanthropy very much to do with ‘charity begins at home’, and that self-interest, social appreciation and public statement of giving are important motivational factors. However, in the UK the act of philanthropy is much more to do with the notion of ‘charity for all’ and the sense of duty that doing something socially worthwhile is important. This is done in a more private way and is not so much linked to personal interest or social acceptance. Despite the US and the UK being quite similar they have very different motivations for giving, and this shows how important it is to know the area and culture that the fundraising is being carried out in. This is perhaps more important than knowing individual motivational factors, because these are likely to change depending on the current climate and market conditions. Certainly, since September 11th and the bombings in London the attitude towards giving has changed as people look again to help others and make more of their influence and wealth than before. However, things are changing again as a worldwide economic slump means people are being more cautious, yet demand for funding is increasing as more is needed from individuals to help support the government.[13] In the current climate it looks like corporate donors will move away from corporate giving for PR, and move towards investing in communities to give them a strategic advantage in the future. With companies having less money and all individuals having to reduce their spending, it seems that currently the emphasis for fundraisers should be on showing worth and value to the companies and individuals who want to invest. Companies should also look towards diversifying their fundraising so that they can survive even if philanthropic donations are in decline.[14] Conclusion Although some people will always give money because they believe it is the right thing to do, philanthropy is no longer synonymous with charity. This means that fundraisers have to do more to get the funds they need than simply appeal to a sense of ‘right’. In an effort to find new techniques to generate funds, fundraisers have looked at the individual motivations behind philanthropy. Whilst the theories presented here all have their merits, individual motivations are too complex, unpredictable and diverse to base fundraising tactics upon. Instead, fundraisers should aim to base their tactics on the current economic climate as well as the fundraising climate within their locality or national culture. This is more likely to give general patterns that can be used to strategically improve fundraising. In the current climate, this means diversifying tactics and even looking to earn a certain amount of funds to offset the effects of the economic slump. Fundraisers should also emphasise the benefits to philanthropists with regards to social and corporate results, as anything that will give donors a strategic or social advantage in the future can be a factor in donation. In conclusion, it is no longer enough for fundraisers to rely on people’s sense of charity and humanity to generate funds. Instead, companies should focus on the worth and social benefit of their projects to attract investors in their particular region. Whilst individual motivational factors are complex and need more investigation, local and national trends can be used to develop fundraising strategies. Bibliography Bennett, R., 1997. Corporate philanthropy in the UK: altruistic giving or marketing communications weapon?. Journal of Marketing Communications, 3(2), pp. 87-109. Boney, R., 2008. Corporate donors adjust to economic slump. Philanthropy Journal, September 15th, 2008. Available at: http://www.philanthropyjournal.org/resources/special-reports/corporate-giving/corporate-donors-adjust-economic-slump Boswell, H., 2003. Motivations for Giving and Serving. (Online). Available at: http://www.learningtogive.org/papers/paper33.html (Accessed 15th November 2008). Bremner, R.H., 1996. Giving: Charity and Philanthropy in History. New Brunswick and London: Transaction Publishers. Johnson, G., and Scholes, K., 2002. Exploring Corporate Strategy 6th Edition. Prentice Hall. Matthewson, D.J., 2001. An analysis of John Stuart Mill’s Justification for Redistribution. Prepared for delivery at the 2001 Annual Meeting of the Western Political Science Association, Alexis Park Hotel, Las Vegas Nevada, March 15-17. Available at: http://faculty.fullerton.edu/dmatthewson/Final%20Mill.doc Mullin, R., 1997. Fundraising Strategy. Directory of Social Change. Sargeant, A., and Jay, E., 2004. Fundraising Management: Analysis, Planning and Practice. London: Routledge. Slim, H., 2001. Not Philanthropy But Rights Rights-Based Humanitarianism and the Proper Politicisation of Humanitarian Philosophy in War. Centre for Development and Emergency Practice, Oxford Brookes University. Available at: http://www.odi.org.uk/hpg/confpapers/slim_new.pdf Wendroff, A.L., 2004. Special Events: Proven Strategies for Nonprofit Fundraising. John Wiley and Sons. Wright, K., 2001. Generosity vs. Altruism: Philanthropy and Charity in the United States and United Kingdom. Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 12(4), pp. 399-416. Footnotes [1] Bennett, 1997, pp. 87-91 [2] Bremner, 1996, p. xii [3] Boswell, 2003. [4] Bremner, 1996, pp. xii-xiii [5] Boswell, 2003. [6] Johnson and Scholes, 2002, pp. 35-37 [7] Mullin, 1997, pp. 2-8 [8] Wendroff, 2004, pp. 195-198 [9] Sargeant and Jay, 2004, pp. 111-113. [10] Slim, 2001, pp. 2-5 [11] Matthewson, 2001. [12] Wright, 2001, pp. 399-400 [13] Boswell, 2003 [14] Boney, 2008

Women in the Workplace :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

Women in the Workplace If one takes a closer look at the issues surrounding the differences between the male and female roles in the workforce and in education, one will notice that women tend to be one step below men on the "status" or "importance" ladder. In American society, the woman has always been viewed in the traditional viewpoint of what role she should play in the home; that she is the homemaker or caretaker. Even when women break from the stereotypical role of "housewife" and join the workforce, they still are not given an equal opportunity at acquiring a job that is seen to be as advancing or of higher recognition, as they would like to have. Men usually already take those positions. Men are traditionally seen as being in the "supervisor" position in the home. They are the heads of the household, the breadwinners, and the women are behind the scenes, like the threads that hold everything together. The same can be said about the workplace. Men tend to hold administrative positions, while women usually have the positions that support the administrator. They are the secretaries and assistants that do the work for their male bosses and prepare things for them that later on only the administrator may receive credit for. " ‘Where,' asks the Englishman who is prominent in social welfare, 'are you're men? We see their names on the letter-heads of organizations, but when we go to international conferences, we meet almost entirely women.' 'Our men-oh, they are the chairmen of boards, they determine the financial policy of our agencies, but they leave the practice to women. They are too busy to go to conferences.'" (Mead 304). Also, women have traditionally taken positions in fields that require doing social good or having maternal qualities which is probably linked to the role women play in the home (the role of caretaker), such as being a social worker or teaching in schools. One would also notice that men tend not to have jobs in these fields, as it would go against the stereotype of the man in the position of authority. Never actually having to take care of children, but making sure there is someone there to take care of them.

Why we dropped the Atomic Bomb Essay -- essays papers

Why we dropped the Atomic Bomb The dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945 was a definite turning point in the Pacific War of World War II. Earlier that year, Germany had been defeated and the world then turned its attention to the Pacific war. Most history books state the argument that the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan was necessary to stop the war in order to save thousands of lives of American troops that were planning to invade Japan. "Had the bombs not been employed (so the "wisdom" goes), an enormous number of American troops would have perished in an inevitable amphibious operation against the Japanese mainland."(McManus 1) This paper will demonstrate that Japan was willing to surrender before the bombs were used, and there were other hidden reasons for using the bombs. If you ask a high school graduate what the result of the atomic bombs on Japan was, he or she would most certainly answer the immediate surrender of all Japanese forces. That should be satisfactory enough to not question the issue any further. If you ask the same student wether the Japanese would have surrendered without the bombs, he or she will hesitate and will probably not be able to give an answer. The reason for this is that the history text books at school teach students a black and white fact: the atomic bombs were the only way to make the Japanese surrender. According to Francis E. Kazemek: "most texts focus on abstract facts and figures, offering little discussion of the reality of the bombing."(Kazemek 2) The atomic bomb should not be considered as the only decisive factor for the Japanese surrender, but as the straw that broke the camel's back. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese empire continued to expand rapidly during the first half of 1942. Its empire extended from Manchuria and the Aleutian Islands to the north, New Guinea to the south, Burma to the west and the Marshall Islands to the east. Nevertheless, the tide turned against Japan when Germany was defeated in May 1945 and the Americans took over the Marian Islands in 1944.(Long 1) The Americans needed the Marian Islands as an air base to be able to bomb Japan directly. Winston Churchill wrote in his personal narrative of the Second World War, "The time at last had come to strike at the enemy's homeland."(Churchill 540) Before then, J... ...as with the war in the Pacific. The Japanese were not easy to fight and deal with. The fact that the Japanese wanted to have peace talks before the bombs were used makes it clear that there were different reasons for using the bombs. Ending the war with Japan as soon as possible was important to stop Stalin from claiming territories in the far east. The United States had seen what Stalin was doing in Europe, and did not want Stalin any stronger. The fact that the bomb had been successfully tested, and had cost the United States billions compelled the President to use it. The racist feelings towards the Japanese the decision to drop the bombs easier. Nevertheless, many people share what Brigadier General Paul W. Tibbet, pilot of the Enola Gay, had to say:"Those of us who gained that victory have nothing to be ashamed of neither do we offer any apology. Some suffered, some died. The million or so of us remaining will die believing that we made the world a better place as a result of our efforts to secure peace that has held for almost 50 years. Many of us believe peace will prevail through the strength and resolve of the United States of America."(Airmen Memorial Museum)

Hsm 541: Week 2 †You Decide

HSM 541: Week 2 – You Decide Krystal Richards Professor Alan Flower Middlefield Hospital has been a great healthcare facility to the Middlefield area. Middlefield Hospital consists of a 450-bed tertiary facility in a major urban area in the Northeast. The hospital is an integrated health system that provides the full array of inpatient and outpatient services. The hospital enjoys a reputation of quality care in the area. In recent years, there are areas of concern that need to be addressed.As I have been assigned the position as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Middlefield Hospital, I will provide strategies and recommendations needed for implementation to turnaround the hospital into a more positive experience not only for the patients but for the employees as well. My approach will implement a triad of care – access, cost, and quality. Middlefield Hospital has been a key staple within our market area of Middlefield. The hospital was able to build another facil ity on the other side of town.The new hospital offers much better facilities and the technology is state of the art. While visiting the new hospital, I noticed that the staff appeared much more invested in the quality of patient care and the patients also seem happier. As with new facilities, there comes lots of excitement. The quality of our old facility needs to be upgraded and needs some new type of organization. There needs to be a balance of power so that the new hospital is able to start performing better. This lies within the hospital medical staff, hospital administration, and hospital governance.With the hospital medical staff we need to take into account their pay for their performance on the work they do. This will in turn encourage them to want to stay with the hospital knowing they will have a steady long-term position. Hospital administration is another important thing to take into account since they work with the clients just as much as the medical staff does. From he alth insurance, to IT, to security everyone plays a key part in making sure that the patients feel comfortable. To mprove the performance, there need to be upgrades with the systems that the hospital uses to keep track of the patients information. I recommend using Epic as a tool to help keep all of the patient’s information confidential and easy to access with a click of a button. This will allow for every department to have access to a certain patient’s file whether to be from a doctor entering notes about the patient’s visit, to health insurance billing department making sure that copays and such are being paid and their accounts are kept up-to-date.The hospital governance plays an important role because of the need for funds to help keep the hospital. By providing more outside events to raise money for the hospital will be a great start to being able to fully provide for each patient that comes through Middlefield Hospital doors. Since the employee morale is going down, I think it is important to obtain a good relationship with the local university, Essex University, to provide jobs and internships to the students in the nursing program.This nursing program will make sure that our managers will be able to teach classes at the university and help train the students to be prepared to work in the hospital. This should address the problem of the employee turnover rate to decrease and bring down the number of nursing vacancies. Nurses are a very important part of the hospital because they are by the patient’s side more than the doctor can be, so they have to show compassion all of the time. This is not a hard characteristic for them to have because they already know how much helpful being a nurse can be.Also by providing better compensation packages to prospective employees might help as well. Middlefield Hospital needs the best of the best in terms of medical staff. Now that there is another hospital in the area, we need to make sur e that both hospitals can be top notch at all times. As with all plans and strategies, this is just the beginning. I believe that Middlefield Hospital will be on top in our marketing areas. By planting these seeds, I am sure that our hospital will continue to grow and become a valuable part of the community.

Colgate-Palmolive International Business Strategy Essay

1. Introduction What a â€Å"Colgate Smile† is a phrase commonly used as a compliment about one’s smile. It has been popularized throughout the whole world, due to Colgate’s good reputation as a successful business. Colgate, today being one of America’s most successful Fortune 500 companies, has a long history of evolution and complex adoption of various business strategies, which led to its current solid powerful position. As representatives of the Colgate-Palmolive Company, we are pleased to tell you more about the success story of our company through this report. In the first part, we will show how CP slowly internationalized and expanded globally by adapting various strategies to become one of the most powerful MNC’s, to then in the second part, give you details from an academic point of view with regards to the Bartlett and Ghoshal’s transnational strategy framework which the firm ended up adopting in order to most efficiently survive in and take over t he very competitive market. 2. Internationalization Strategy of Colgate-Palmolive 2.1 The assesment of the internationalisation of the company In 1806, William Colgate started a starch, soap and candles company in New York City and, after 207 years, Colgate-Palmolive stands as one of the oldest and truly  global consumer product company. Colgate-Palmolive owns 75 wholly owned subsidiaries in 75 different countries, and operates in more than 200 (Colgate.com, 2013). Colgate had a slow start – after founding the company in 1806 they remained in the American market for more than 100 years. During that time, they were expanding their operations and developing their strategies for the local market, and then in 1914, Colgate opened their first international subsidiary in Canada, a neighboring country, with both geographical proximity and cultural similarities. The company’s international growth was slow during the 1800’s but with all the technological developments that took place during the 1900’s and with the need to enlarge their global market share, Colgate went on its internationalization process. To mention briefly; in 1920 Colgate established operations in Europe, Australia, Asia and Latin America, eight years later, Colgate merged with Palmolive-Peet, and became Colgate-Palmolive-Peet, thus joining forces with another company aspiring for global dominance. In 1985, Colgate-Palmolive entered into a joint venture with Hawley & Hazel in Hong Kong, and ten years later, in 1995, after the end of the communist regime, Colgate entered Central Europe and Russia, thus expanding its operations into the fast growing countries of the region (Colgate.com, 2013). Figure 1. The expansion and internationalization timeline of Colgate-Palmolive As we can see from Figure 1., Colgate internationalized slowly at the beginning, but picked up a faster pace in the following years. Penetrating geographically close regions or markets that have similar culture and then expanding within that region identifies the company’s pattern for internationalization. First, they entered into Canada. Canada is the closet country to the USA, which is very similar culture wise. In addition, after the Canadian market, Colgate went to Europe and Australia. Europe presented a challenge since each country there had a completely different cultural preference. Thus, Colgate went on with the strategy of â€Å"think global, act local†. This gave the company an added advantage, thus enabling Colgate to understand the market needs, and therefore develop suitable products, different logistics/distribution chains, and different production systems than what originally they founded in their home country. Moreover, Colgate was acquiring different companies that presented a competitive advantage, or had products that Colgate thought were innovative and had a selling potential in different global markets. In addition to mergers and acquisitions, Colgate went for joint ventures, especially in the countries to Far East; these countries are China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and India. Therefore, Colgate-Palmolive has slowly progressed in its internationalization process, starting from neighboring countries, moving to farther geographical locations that had similar cultural preferences, and expanded accordingly. 2.2 The assessment of geographical characteristics of internationalisation Colgate-Palmolive’s geographic segmentation is formed mainly on the basis of each region’s economic, cultural and climatic conditions. Approximately 75% of Colgate-Palmolive’s sales derive from international operations; therefore succeeding in markets outside of the United States is of great importance. The first country outside the US borders, where CP decided to launch their operations and sales was the closest, both geographically and culturally, Canada. The next step in their internationalization process was to reach more distant countries, yet still of cultural and economic similarity – Australia and Western European countries, such as France, Germany and the United Kingdom (Colgate.com, 2013). After acquiring a strong market position in these markets Colgate recognized that the competition between the three main business actors in the field, which are Unilever, Procter & Gamble, and Colgate (Hauser Furstace, Inc., 1994), is becoming extremely fierce, that is why CP decided to shift the focus of their competitive advantage and target the, internally so called, ‘high growth markets’ (CP Annual Report, 1996). High growth markets, according to CP’s understanding, are the developing countries that possess a potentially high customer base. Colgate-Palmolive decided to enter Latin America (Mexico, as the geographically closest high growth market), expanding then to Asia (India in 1937, after the country’s independence from the colonization by the UK in 1930s, and Philippines – currently the 5th biggest Colgate market in Asia), Africa and Central and Eastern Europe (Poland, Baltic States). Colgate was one of the pioneers in recognizing that following the multi-domestic or international strategy of internationalization is not enough to maintain  their competitive advantage and that the company has to allow a certain degree of adaptation in order to comply with each country’s customer needs. Colgate-Palmolive is extremely dedicated to their worldwide brand, and does broad research in order to introduce the most accurate products into the right countries. For instance, in the 90s Polish CP product developers came up with the idea of the Colgate Herbal toothpaste and the Palmolive Naturals series after finding out that Polish customers prefer more natural cosmetics – after a successful introduction to the Polish market, CP decided to expand these lines of products further internationally (Broniewicz, 1997). Currently CP sells sixteen different kinds of toothpaste in the US, while in the UK they are selling twenty-two distinctive varieties (Colgate.com, 2012 ). 2.3 The outline of the main foreign market entry modes employed by the company As mentioned in previous paragraphs, after developing the business into a successful one in the US, Colgate decided it is time to become a MNC and conquer the market internationally. The first international cooperation was made in 1914 (Economictimes.indiatimes.com, 2013), over a hundred years after the company was first established, with a neighbor country, Canada. The choice was a safe one given the fact both countries are very similar culturally, politically, and are known to have the largest trade relationship in the world, hence there wasn’t much risk in this move (Kafchinski, 2013). Next, after the company’s first successful installation in a foreign (although similar) country, they got hungry for the success and wanted to continue the expansion. However this time, given the present strong competition in the industry in North America, CP decided to target other, mostly less developed countries in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa in order to take advantage of the â€Å"new entrant’s† position (New York Times, 2013). The 20’s were the years of considerable expansion into other continents. The first country was France, oldest ally of the US to its role in the American Revolutionary War, plus presenting an attractive and economically similar market. Perhaps the Canadian experience with Quebec, which is a French speaking/cultural province, enticed Colgate to move to France, where the firm’s second subsidiary was opened in 1920. Further that year, now having  the courage to enter further (for the moment westernized) markets, CP expanded to Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Mexico (Answers.com, 2013). We can observe that Colgate opted in expanding in culturally or economically similar countries in the first place (which reflects the Uppsala Model) to then have the strength and courage to enter further countries lik e Mexico. After the successful moves, they finished the year by expanding to more distant (physically/economically/culturally) countries: the Philippines, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, and waited till 1937 to move to India. It is clear to see that location, culture and economy, were essential criteria in deciding which countries CP would enter. In addition, Politics have also played its role as one of the main determinants of entry choices. For instance, Poland and other eastern European countries have been entered in the late 80’s, due to political reason that strongly affected the market’s availability in previous years. In 1995, CP entered Russia and other central European/fast growing markets (Colgate.com, 2013). Taking the example of Poland, Jerzy Starak, an energetic entrepreneur played a key role in developing the business in that new part of the world. He agreed to set a Joint Venture with CP (Starak initially owned 49% of shares, whereas CP owned 51%) as he thought th e business had a huge potential. Colgate-Palmolive chose to set a JV in Poland as it didn’t have much knowledge and social ties in the eastern European market, rather than going for a WOS, which would have been risky due to the lack of familiarity with the market, lack of information about the cultural and business practices, and very different turbulent, still communistic political and economic system. This strategic move allowed CP to gradually attain the necessary skillset to further penetrate the CEE countries – when CP decided to enter the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), the company was able to establish a wholly owned subsidiary in Riga, Latvia and then export CP products to Estonia and Lithuania through local distributors – all this could be possible due to the learning process of operating in the eastern European region (Ludzie.wprost.pl, 2013). 2.4 The overview of the enterprise structures and controls used by the company Colgate-Palmolive has a hierarchical organizational structure. In the top of this organizational structure is the chief executive officer, Mr.  Ian Cook, who has a bird eye view of the organization in all parts of the world. Five continental senior executives follow the CEO. These executive officers are in charge of different continental block Market, which are European, North American, African, Asian, and South American. Below the continental managers are the country managers who are in charge of respective countries in which Colgate-Palmolive has a presence. The company’s organization structure has also the human resource managers and the information technology executives. The justification that Colgate-Palmolive has a hierarchical organization structure is that all decisions are made by the strategic managers at the top of the organizational structure. The graphical analysis of CP’s organizational structure is presented below. Figure 2. Colgate-Palmolive’s Organizational Structure Colgate-Palmolive has a divisional organizational design. The international divisions of Colgate-Palmolive face diverse legal and cultural constraints in different continents of the world. Grouping international divisions develops specialized skills and abilities for dealing with international questions that do not arise in domestic operations. This divisional organizational design helps Colgate-Palmolive respond and adapt to differences in product types, product marketing and cultural differences of its various international locations. Divisional organizational design emphasizes people’s decision-making autonomy throughout the organization. An individual at various levels can become more involved in organization’s basic activities. Organization by following this structure puts more demands on individuals to deliver the highest level of business performance. On the other hand, the divisional organizational design has its shortcomings – it very often leads to repetition of services like local marketing and international marketing, local finance and international finance. This puts more financial pressure on the organization as it leads to greater operational costs and higher complexity of the entire system within the company. Based on the internal materials from CP’s employee workshop on the company’s strategy it can be stated that Colgate-Palmolive has harnessed a control analogy in five main areas, which can be further divided into two parts namely Strategic Thrust and their Management Process. The depiction of CP’s control structure is presented in Figure 3. below. Figure 3. Control Structure of Colgate-Palmolive 3. Evaluation of academic strategy frameworks for Colgate-Palmolive 3.1. Overview of the Bartlett and Ghoshal’s generic strategies framework In order to facilitate the understanding of the internationalization strategy of Colgate, it is essential to get oneself familiar with the Bartlett and Ghoshal’s generic strategies framework. According to the theory, in order to survive firms must do all that they can to respond to cost pressures affected by global integration and to the diverse customers needs which affect the demand for a greater degree of the local responsiveness. Bartlett and Ghoshal emphasize that the core competencies and skills of a company do not necessarily have to reside within the company’s home country; instead, multinational enterprises should develop their strategies from any of the worldwide operations (Hill, 2011). The two scholars developed four distinct strategies of entering a foreign market, which are: multidomestic, international, global, and transnational. Multidomestic strategy focuses on high level of local responsiveness and low level of global integration, whereas the global st rategy has an opposite approach of focusing on maintaining high level of global integration without taking into account the local responsiveness aspect. The international strategy does not require a great need for neither global integration nor local responsiveness. International strategy can bee seen mainly in the paper, textiles and machinery industries (Hill, 2011). Figure 4. Bartlett and Ghoshal’s generic strategies framework (Hill, 2011) Part of Bartlett and Ghoshal’s theory on multinational enterprises strategies, which we would like to focus on is the transnational strategy model. This model is an organized approach to internationalize into global markets while the firm works very hard to be responsive to local demand  while holding necessary central control over the global operations to ensure efficiency and learning within subsidiaries (Hill, 2011). 3.2 Evaluation of the Bartlett and Ghoshal’s framework on the company’s example After a thorough analysis of the internationalization process of CP, it has been found that the company followed in overall three out of four generic strategies, namely international, multidomestic, and transnational. At first, CP operated within the international strategy. CP entered markets which were of geographic or cultural proximity (Canada, France, Australia, etc.) in order to reduce the cost pressures, benefit from adapting and leveraging parent company competencies and have greater control over the foreign subsidies. The level of local responsiveness was relatively low, since the foreign customer base had similar taste and preferences, as well as the economic, legal and political structure of the host countries did not differ significantly from the ones in United States. As the competition in the industry was growing, CP realized that in order to maintain their strong position on the market they had to tap the market of high growth countries instead of focusing only on the developed ones, thus the shift of strategy towards greater localization and adaptation of offerings became inevitable. At that point CP focused on developing a more multidomestic approach to sense and exploit the local opportunities by building flexibility through resourceful and adjustable national operations. At the same time, Colgate-Palmolive never resigned from their international approach and headed slowly towards being a truly transnational business entity. After Colgate’s initial development in foreign markets through the international and multidomestic strategy, they eventually followed the transnational strategy where the company tried to achieve low costs through location economies, economies of scale, and learning effects, thus differentiating their products within different geographic markets and supporting the flow of information and skills between subsidiaries within the firm’s global network (Hill, 2011). CP recognized that entering the high growth markets is more challenging and simply replicating the company’s  products will not suffice, but a huge MNC like Colgate-Palmolive could not allow a complete shift from international to multidomestic strategy, that is why in order to develop global efficiency Colgate-Palmolive had to adapt the transnational model. We can observe that strategy in the degree of flexibility given to country managers and the fact that the company is always encouraging employees to share their ideas. A good example of that are the Colgate Herbal toothpaste and the Palmolive Naturals series introduced by Polish specialists on the Polish market and then introduced further worldwide. Figure 5. Bartlett and Ghoshal’s strategy framework of Colgate-Palmolive To conclude this part, in Bartlett and Ghoshal’s model the transition of expansion theory is basically from multidomestic to transnational OR international to transnational or global. In Colgate-Palmolive’s case the situation presents itself differently. The transition of CP’s internationalization strategy started from the shift from international strategy to the multidomestic one and then transformed naturally to the transnational strategy. Even though the company did not follow exactly the same scheme as presented in the Bartlett and Ghoshal’s framework, we can still assume the validity of the theory and present Colgate-Palmolive as one of the best examples of how to pursue the idea of ‘thinking globally, acting locally’ through the implementation of the transnational strategy. 4. Conclusion Colgate-Palmolive can’t be seen as a simple business, but more as a symbol of a successful MNC, where generations have struggled throughout history with changes in the market, politics, and different economies, in order to adopt the most suited strategy that permitted the company to get where it is now. We saw that Colgate didn’t just apply one model and succeeded straight away, but started by developing a solid base for the company in the US, and then slowly expanded internationally to similar countries where they could replicate their initial western products, to then expand further into other countries and continents by adopting a more locally aware strategy. After the second expansion phase, the company couldn’t just replicate it’s  products internationally as the cultures, and political systems of the other nations were too different; CP had to sense and exploit local opportunities. The production and management demanded more local awareness, hence the shift towards a multinational strategy. After over almost 200 years of developing the business and taking over the market internationally, CP seems to have found the â€Å"golden strategy†; Transnational. The national units contribute to the world wide integrated operations, and knowledge is developed by all actors, and shared amongst them. Global efficiency has been slowly but safely reached by Colgate thanks to its flexibility and reflex in capturing the market’s demands and opportunities, while staying cautious about cultural and political risks throughout history. 5. List of Figures Figure 1. The expansion and internationalization timeline of Colgate-Palmolive (page 4) Figure 2. Colgate-Palmolive’s Organizational Structure (page 7) Figure 3. Control Structure of Colgate-Palmolive (page 8) Figure 4. Bartlett and Ghoshal’s generic strategies framework (Hill, 2011) (page 9) Figure 5. Bartlett and Ghoshal’s strategy framework of Colgate-Palmolive (page 10) 6. Bibliography 1.Answers.com. 2013. Colgate-Palmolive. [online] Available at: http://www.answers.com/topic/colgate-palmolive-company#ixzz2l6GNWWiX [Accessed: 19 Nov 2013]. 2.Broniewicz, M. 1997. Nowe Szampony Palmolive Naturals. 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