Prior to the 19th century Europe had little impact on East Asian Essay

Prior to the 19th century Europe had little impact on East Asian developments - Essay Example White presence in the countries of the Far East was predominantly commercial and confined to the coastal settlements where traders and soldiers got together under the auspices of Western men-of-war, yet in truth relied on their hosts’ goodwill. For the major empires of China or Tokugawa Japan shogunate they were both strategically and politically marginal and insignificant1. Furthermore in China, Joseon Korean kingdoms and in Japan religious and social structures were rather resistant to rapid change and conferred much stability continuity. The systems of Buddhism and Taoism were taking hold along with Confucianism that emphasized individual moral obligations to the society. Neither in China nor in Korea nor in Japan was an individual viewed as ultimately autonomous. Furthermore these societies did not focus on individual freedoms. Nevertheless continuity and stability are relative notions. Asian cultures developed a curious patchwork of social customs, languages, religious be liefs and different ways of thinking. Ancient varieties of astrology, geomancy and animism were still omnipresent, particularly in rural areas where pantheism offered plenty of opportunities for religious tolerance. In China, Korea and in Japan reverence for elders, ancestors and deities of nature, dating from thousands of years before Christ, were considerably amalgamated into newer mode of thinking. In most places religious systems were linked to the complicated social structures. These cultures were not fit to separating political and social affairs from belief or faith. Such distinctions made no sense in most parts of East Asia. Likewise they make no sense nowadays either. Religious and quasi-religious systems are present in all aspects of human life: in politics, family and social relations, in philosophy2. For example, Confucianism is notable for both being a system of political, personal and social ethics as well as for being an effort to explain the world as a whole in ratio nal terms. It lays down a rule of life that tends strongly to keep social hierarchy and order. It has long existed side by side with Buddhism, Taoism and even with Marxism. There even have been several religious wars in Japan and in China similar top those in Europe. The imperial â€Å"Celestial† monarchy of China went on to look predominantly inwards. Within a period between 750 and 1100 the population of almost doubled so by the beginning of the 16th century China, with her 100 million people, had already had the largest number of subjects than any kingdom of that time civilized world. Yet in 1386 the Chinese Ming defeated the heirs of Mongol Kublai Khan, expelled Mongols and assumed the imperial power. They developed sciences, arts and various technologies to rather high level. At the beginning for the fifteenth century, they moved their capital northward from Nanjing to Beijing. This 800-mile transfer involved great expenses for new walls palaces and for the transport. Fo r all those cultural developments, nevertheless, there was much ossification. As for Europeans time has always been linear for the people of Far East cultures time have been cyclical. European societies tended toward the rule of law. Their despotisms were mollified by custom, privileges, charters and rights of towns and after all by law. Celestial Empire in its turn developed bureaucratic and centralized methods of

Bank Julius Baer Case Essay Example for Free

Bank Julius Baer Case Essay Before the arrival and leadership of Stuart Adam (â€Å"Adam†), Bank Julius Baer, North America (â€Å"BJB-NA† or the â€Å"Company†), the largest independently-owned European private bank in the United States, faced financial difficulties. By mid-2001, a worldwide market downturn caused a significant decline in Julius Baer Group’s (â€Å"JB† or the â€Å"Parent†) performance. In 2001, JB’s stock price was down by over 40% while the Parent experienced a 39% decline in net profits, 9% increase in operating expenses and an increase of 14% in employee headcount. BJB-NA, the â€Å"crown jewel† of JB, was barely profitable but no one inside the Company knew its true financial condition. JB had always been led by a member of the Baer family until January 2001. Despite significant family ties at JB, BJB-NA did not have a strong leader to drive the company. There was a lack of clear vision or direction for the Company. BJB-NA did not focus on profitability as a measurement of success. The attitude around BJB-NA was more about â€Å"keeping the peace† than creating any conflict or hostility. Even with a passive work environment, employee morale was low. Employees tended to blame other parts of the Company for their problems. The competitive environment in the High Net Individual (â€Å"HNI†) private banking sector increased dramatically during the 1990’s. BJB-NA was a boutique private bank in a business where bulge bracket firms dominated the competitive landscape. As such, the key factors for success in the HNI market were now recognized as differentiation (not cost leadership), improved client relationship management, broad product range and strong client-responsiveness. BJB-NA strived to be a partner organization that differentiated itself from the competition by satisfying the needs of its clients. The existing organization structure consisted of BJB-NA organized into four regionally-based â€Å"teams. † Poor communication existed throughout the Company as the staff didn’t know what was going on and there was little cohesion among units. BJB-NA operated on a â€Å"need to know† basis. Team leaders were not responsible for their own budgets, as it was not known if their teams were profitable or not. To further support the lack of accountability at BJB-NA, the Company did not have a systematic performance valuation system and lacked a compensation system tied to customer growth and returns. Bonuses were virtually guaranteed and all bonus decisions were made by Bank’s top leadership. Most likely, there were employees who â€Å"flew under the radar† if they underperformed since the Company never laid anyone off. Adamà ¢â‚¬â„¢s Changes and Evaluation Adam arrived at BJB-NA and immediately laid out an action plan to turn around the Company. One of Adam’s best early moves was his selection of Denise Downey to head the Segmentation Study Team. Downey was well respected by the employees that she led and was able to thoroughly evaluate the organization and deliver results to the Company and Adam. Based on the Segmentation Study, Adam wanted BJB-NA to really stand-behind its promises to be a partner organization. He encouraged full transparency and a strong focus on measurable results and accountability. Specifically, he focused on the following three initiatives: Refocus the Company strategy: Adam emphasized that BJB-NA shift its focus to Europeans, Asians, Canadians and Latin Americas who live outside the U. S. who had U. S. based asset management needs. By targeting specific geographic and customer segments, it allowed the Company to specifically focus its strategy and resources rather than spread itself too thin to satisfy a larger, diverse customer base. In addition, he asked some longstanding personal clients who were not profitable to close their accounts. Not only did this change the Company’s customer focus, but also, it signaled to employees that Adam had confidence and high expectations for BJB-NA. Establish new performance expectations: Adam developed productivity assumptions that would hold employees more accountable. He established measurable criteria related to book value, relationships and accounts. Previously, Company employees truly did not know their clients. As a result, it was difficult for management to identify top and low performers. Adam’s established criteria that pushed Relationship Managers past their comfort zone. Before Adam took the helm at BJB-NA, almost everyone received bonuses regardless of their performance. Tying a bonus program with a structure performance evaluation system incentivizes those who bring success and growth potential to the Company. Modify the organization structure: Adam slightly altered the structure of BJB-NA by having a client-segment focus within existing geographic areas. As such, the decision making processes were now decentralized to each of the regional teams. Previously, the advisory and product services departments worked with all regions. After Adam took charge, he assigned advisory teams to each of the different regions to further strengthen customer relationships. Recommendations BJB-NA recognizes that its future success hinges on one important factor: its clients. Our consulting firm wants the Company to further expand and impact its clients beyond what Adam has already planned. Our approach is a client-centric strategy that focuses on two key initiatives: (1) Aggressively recruiting top talent to enhance client acquisition and performance (2) Overhauling the compensation scheme and performance measures. Each initiative, accompanied by supporting tactics, will align to elevate the client experience, resulting in deepening wallet share, increasing warm referrals, and building the BJB-NA brand in supreme customer service. I. Recruiting the Right Talent. Recruiting the right people to manage and advise BJB-NA’s clients will be critical to sustaining long-term growth and increasing assets-under-management. Recruiting will align with the Company’s geographic approach to segmentation by adopting three tactics:  · Local talent recruitment – a successful private banker needs an outgoing, service-orientated personality, and the ability to connect with potential and existing clients. In connecting with clients, it becomes mandatory that future private bankers will be recruited from local regions. This strategy will generate bankers who know the local customs and cultures, speak the language, and are involved in the community. As a result, it creates comfort and familiarity for potential clients.  · Recruit from bulge bracket private banks –Company acquisition is not a feasible option at this time. However, employee/talent acquisition is an even better method to help improve the Company. Bulge bracket private banks are typically a part of much larger conglomerates, often weighed down high-level corporate strategies and â€Å"red tape. To attract bulge bracket private bankers, BJB-NA should promote an entrepreneurial environment that offers autonomy and flexibility while still offering resources found at larger firms. Recruit from ultra-boutique private banks – BJB-NA should actively target private bankers from smaller, boutique firms that have larger books, but have a need for a more global reach. Private bank clients are becoming more global, and with that, have a specific need for banks that have an international presence. BJB-NA provides a solution with offices in Asia, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and the United States. At the same time, by aggressively recruiting boutique bankers, BJB-NA will be able to expand its presence by acquiring the books of these bankers who may have a strong presence in untapped markets within the targeted regions. II. Restructuring Compensation and Performance Measures BJB-NA should introduce a compensation scheme that will not only be more beneficial for keeping clients’ interests first, but also offer higher potential incentives for the Company’s bankers. First and foremost, bankers will be paid based on client portfolio performance. No one will be paid on the basis of commission. While this tactic may seem counter-intuitive in the short-term, especially in the midst of a struggling economy, it acknowledges BJB-NA’s long-term commitment to its clients. Other positive externalities resulting from a new compenstation structure include: differentiation from competition, potential referrals from clients, and attention to BCB-NA’s innovative thinking. In short, BJB-NA’s message is: â€Å"We make money only when our clients make money†. Second, standard annual bonuses will be foregone. Employees would be accountable for their performance and compensated accordingly. BJB-NA will incentivize bankers by the value they add to their clients and related portfolio performances. This compensation structure ultimately rewards bankers who take of their clients and strive to grow their assets under management. Finally, BJB-NA should revise the position title of its company leaders. To accurately reflect the duties of the position, the title †Team Leader† should be changed to â€Å"Managing Director (MD)†. MD’s would have full PL and people-management responsibilities of his/her respective branch. In addition, MD’s could receive an additional bonus based on the branch’s bottom-line performance. This change will push decision-making down to MD level, promoting entrepreneurship and autonomy. III. Management and Leadership Since Adam decided to resign from his position as the leader of BJB-NA, it is vital for the Board of Directors to select a successor that will be able to implement the changes initiated under Adam’s tenure. As discussed, BJB-NA needs to aggressively put its clients before anything else in its business. The new successor should be an experienced professional who deeply understands the Company’s clients and industry. Taking these requirements into consideration, we recommend that the Board of Directors pick Adam’s successor from a list of internal candidates only. Currently, the firm is in a state of fragility. Employees are stressed and morale is low. With the initial round of layoffs that included six people, any move will be highly scrutinized and may have a long-term impact on the organization. Employees were already caught off guard with Adam’s resignation, especially after he led the restructuring efforts at an off-site meeting that seemed to build positive momentum. To replace Adam’s with an external candidate may put the Company in a state of flux. An external candidate would not have attended the restructuring meetings and participated in the Segmentation Study. He/she may have different views of how the organization should be changed. In addition, the HNI private banking industry is built around relationships. To bring on a new leader who hasn’t built a strong rapport with a majority of the Company’s clients would make the leadership transition a difficult process. One potential internal candidate BJB-NA should consider is Denise Downey. Downey is currently the Head of U. S. Domestic Clients, but more importantly she led the Segmentation Study that evaluated areas of improvement needed at BJB-NA. Employees viewed Downey as a strong, effective leader who always delivers results. As a sign of trust, Adam gave Downey significant autonomy during her time leading the study. Elevating Downey to the C-suite level would be a fairly seamless transition. Downey has significant experience understanding the clientele of BJB-NA since she already leads U. S. client group. With all of the â€Å"client-focused† changes that need to be implemented by Adam, Downey will be best candidate to effectively communicate the steps needed during the transition period. For example, during her time as the Segmentation Study leader, Downey took the initiative to send updates to the entire bank. Alternate Approaches Deviating from a client-centric strategic plan could negatively impact BCB-NA’s future success. Nonetheless, two other alternate approaches were considered. The first approach considered a compensation system where bankers would be paid variable commissions based on fee-based transactions. The variable in commissions would depend on the type of investment vehicles clients would invest in. This viable approach guarantees cash flows from transactions with no dramatic culture change. However, after careful consideration, this alternative was rejected since bankers would be incentivized more by selling a diversity of investment vehicles to clients rather than working for clients’ best interests. The second approach considered but rejected involved an overhaul of the organization structure. After the Segmentation findings, Adam seemed adamant about moving away from the geographic-focused organizational structure of the Company. As such, an alternative approach considered was to eliminate geographic departments and implement an organizational structure focused on client-type. One of the key success factors for companies in the private banking industry is to customize services based on the needs of customers. A BJB-NA client-focused structure based on client characteristics (such as wealth, age, income level) may be more advantageous, especially with raised expectations now required by Adam on bankers’ book of clients. Additionally, within a geographic organization, conflict may occur between local regional management and the executives at corporate. As such, this may hurt the opportunity for knowledge sharing and collaboration, values emphasized by the Baer family. However, as much as a client-focused structure might have its advantages, a geographic organizational structure still is the most effective for BJB-NA. Communication is much more personal in geographic organizational structures. Instead of calling or videoconferencing with olleagues across the globe, it forces employees to sit next to each other to form collaborative teams, values preached by the Baer family. In addition, it allows employees to understand each other’s personalities and work styles. Besides the human capital element, geographic work teams allow BJB-NA to hire leaders familiar with the local business environment, something vital for the relationship-focused private banking industry. Not only will employees understand the client better but the clients will be more comfortable around employees who share similar interests and culture.

The AFL Canadian: Labor, National Identity, and Transnational Discourse

The AFL Canadian: Labor, National Identity, and Transnational Discourse 1936-1955 â€Å"The American Federation of Labor is an American organization,† declared William Green, president of the AFL, in his 1947 keynote speech, â€Å"It believe[d] in American, the fundamental law of the United States, the Constitution, freedom, liberty and democracy. We will have nothing to do with Communism in any shape, or form ... This sixty-sixth convention will redeclare its opposition to Communism and to Communist philosophy, and ... to [those who would] attempt to establish it among the organized labor of our country.† Though Green declared â€Å"Communism abhorrent to American labor† not all the members of the AFL were American. Indeed, Canadians and their unions had been part of the AFL since its inception in 1881. Craft unions in Canada were primarily organized under the Trades and Labor Congress of Canada (TLC), which had been a subdivision of the AFL since 1910. However the power relation between these two groups had been hotly contested over that time. Should the Trades and Labor Congress be able to act independently of the AFL leadership? After all, as Green said in his 1947 speech, â€Å"The American Federation of Labor is an American organization.† Canada was a sovereign state, yet its labor organizations were dominated by a foreign power. At the 1939 American Federation of Labor convention in Atlantic City, NJ, this issue of Canadian labor sovereignty in regards to the AFL came to the fore. The executive council of the AFL recommended giving the Trades and Labor Congress sole authority to grant central labor body charters. Although primarily an economically unimportant act, as central labor bodies did not arbitrate wages or work conditions,... ...f the AFL, I am well acquainted with the particularities of union research. Additionally, over the summer and continuing through this year, I have been working on a labor economics research project between the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Federal Reserve, and Columbia. Developing econometric models of wage variation between industries, I could perform statistical analysis of data, although the focus of my project will always be on the voices of the rank-and-file, not an aggregation of the quantifiable. As I am conversant in economic theory however, I can use my knowledge of international trade and labor economics to detail the backdrop against which the Toronto AFL story develops. I believe I can bring the voices of the Toronto rank-and-file into the Canadian historical conversation, which will bring greater detail to the Canadian historical narrative.

The Atrocity of Saul Alinskys Utilitarian Approach to Communcation Ess

The Atrocity of Saul Alinsky's Utilitarian Approach to Communcation Jeremy Bentham, one of the founders of Utilitarianism, believed his philosophy could provide for the â€Å"greatest happiness of the greatest number of people†. However benign it may sound, at the heart of Utilitarianism is a cold, teleological process which reduces happiness to a mere commodity. It is even worse that Saul Alinsky would extend this philosophy to a point where the truth becomes relative, justice becomes a tool of those powerful enough to wield it, and any means are justified to reach one’s desired ends. Utilitarianism’s focus on outcomes inevitably leads to a lack of concern with the means used to accomplish a given outcome. This allows for a process in which the rules of conduct are vague, open to interpretation, and less important than one’s objective. This lack of absolute standards clearly violates several key standards of Martin Buber’s Dialogic values, which I believe are essential to ethical communication. These standards stress the importance of the authenticity and honesty of one’s me...

Leadership Analysis Based on Shackleton

I. Introduction Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, a British explore, was born in Kilkee, County Kildare, Ireland on February 15th, 1874. His family moved to London when he was 10 years old. At the age of 16, he dropped out from school to join the Merchant Marines, the youngest age to join the service at time. In 1898, Shackleton became a qualified master and a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve in 1901. Yearning for adventure and fame, in 1901 he applied for a position in Robert Falcon Scott's Discovery expedition to the Antarctic.Unfortunately, in 1904, he was sent back home due to his health problem. With the strong desire of adventure and reputation, Shackleton amended his failure by returning to Antarctica as a leader of Nimrod Expedition in 1907. His purposes were to explore the Ross Shelf Ice and the south magnetic pole. The journey was a success with his discovery of Beardmore Glacier on the Antarctic Plateau on January 09, 1909. On his comeback, Shackleton received many hon ors and awards for the successful expedition. Wikipedia) The â€Å"real† journey of Shackleton began on August 1st, 1914 where he went along with his 27 crew members, left London for South Georgia in the purpose to complete the trans-Antarctic expedition – the ship was called â€Å"The Endurance†. On 24th February, 1915, the Endurance got stuck in the ice park, crushed by the ice and was finally sunk under the ice in the same year on 21st November. Regardless to the shortage of foods, supplies, no communication equipments, plus the unbearable cold winter, Shackleton and his crew never gave up hope.On May 19th 1916, Shackleton and his two other crews – Worsley and Crean – crossed South Georgia in search of the whaling stations on the east-coast. They went on foot for 36 hours over the Glacier Mountains and at last arrived at Stromness whaling station. All the 27 men were amazingly able to return in good spirit after almost two years they were strand ed in the Antarctic. (Timeline) After World War I in 1921, Shackleton returned to the Antarctic and led another expedition with John Quiller Rowett to examine Enderby Land. However, Shackleton died from angina pectoris on January 5, 1922.Followed by the request from his wife, Emily Mary Dorman, Shackleton was buried at Grytviken, South Georgia, leaving 3 children at the time of his death. (Encyclopedia) This report shows various concepts related to Ernest Shackleton’s leadership style in the success accomplishment of the expedition including the traits, behaviors, the contingency and what it takes to make Shackleton become such a great leader. II. The Concepts * Chapter 1 – What does it means to be a leader? The concept of being a leader has been carried through times. With a capable leader comes great success.As this is one of many theories studied by numerous aspects, ranging from history, philosophy and the scientific perspective of approach. There are several disti nctive measures that we can use to define the complexity of leadership. Often confusing, people nowadays who are not extensively equipped with the knowledge may misunderstand the differences between being a manager and a leader. In the case of Ernest Shackleton and his ability he demonstrated, we can say that he is a great leader with essential manager’s skill set that had made him who he is known for today.If we are to look at Ernest Shackleton’s journey similarly to an organization, with reaching the North Pole as the company’s main objective, we can judge and evaluate his performance based on how far the goal has been completed. Shackleton was a great leader in such ways that he created a compelling image both for himself and his crews. This comes from main his passion and love for adventure that has thrived his goals all his life. While being such a leader, he is also a capable manager. A vision alone did not help Shackleton in reaching his goal.Through bein g prepared and equipped with great experiences that he devised from his earlier voyage, he was able to realistically planned out steps by steps what he expected to achieve. Of course, these plans would not come together effectively if not for Shackleton’s leadership skills. Back in the days, leadership was defined as heroism, where leaders before being considered as one had to possessed all the knowledge, skill sets and abilities to overcome any obstacles. While being such the case, the way in which Shackleton demonstrated his leadership skill were not entirely true to this theory.While being a very attractive role model, he also possessed numerous traits, even those that are relevant to businesses leaders we can find today. To promptly put it, his successes are all thanks to the following traits that he has reflected: * Out of all the possible traits he exhibited, the most important was inarguably the ability for him to remain optimistic under any circumstances and the self- confidence that he always express. This certainly affected the productivity of his crew and his success. He was open-minded to opportunities and the passion to willingly learn new skills relative to achieving his vision. Being able to draw out the big picture and actually do something about it has helped him reached his desire. * He was highly motivated. This comes from his unmovable passion for adventure that he innately possessed. * He was observant of his crew members. Being able to keep close attention to the needs and wants of the individuals has helped him to identify the strength and weaknesses that he can use to his advantage.From these brief points of views, all these traits are necessary components of making a great leadership, and it has become the keys to many booming leadership stories in the business worlds that exist today. * Chapter 2 – Traits, behavior and relationship As mentioned above in the previous section, Ernest Shackleton had a variety of leadership t raits that define his voyage to the North Pole. He was, many considered self-confidence, motivated, optimistic as well as being a leader with a great drive factor to influence his crews/employees. He was considered a great image, a true hero in his own time.However, like any leaders, he isn’t perfect. His success came with the price of lives from his crew members. Although his vision was accepted by many like him, he had made decisions that lead to the disastrous situation that would had likely otherwise, created another turn of event. But undoubtedly, his leadership had proven its wonder under extreme condition. He was passionate and considerate to his crew, but to certain extend, some might say he was a bit of a dare devil to risk his entire ship to bet against the intense condition that are unlikely to be anticipated.The life and time of Ernest Shackleton is perhaps one of many well known cases and a great example of the autocratic leadership style in conjunction with trai ts that belong to the democratic class. The style that Shackleton adopted was mainly due to several reasons that had proved to be more effective. During the voyage, Shackleton relies upon his personal judgments and close supervision to guide the crew members through the harsh punishment of mother nature.Having closely worked together with the crew mate, in which most of them looked up to Shackleton as a respectful leader with a burning passion that ignited their owns, the crew members were able to develop a sense of trust and heroism in his figure. Since he and the crew members have always been together directly under his influence and command, a sense of synchronization, rather than individualism was needed in order for things to flow fluently throughout his trip. This is especially true during those times where his ship, the Endurance got struck and stranded on ice.It was during this time that his autocratic style really shines. Put under the circumstances of such hardship and cra ziness, one could possibly go insane from fear, hunger, and desperation. It was crucial that each members of the party followed orders and did not revolt against their own will. Shackleton’s leadership style helped the entire crew to stay positive and motivated, and insisted on drawing out the survival factors in each member not to give up their lives so easily. For Ernest Shackleton, there was a time pressure and a needed for regulation within the group.Not only that his sense of responsibility, able to put his people first when he turned back after almost making it to the destination when one of his crew condition became fatal was important, his ability to think straight in these tough times had proved Shackleton to become a great example under the definition of leadership. In relation to the previous point, we can conclude that Shackleton’s leadership style is another representation of the consideration style since he cared about his men’s emotions and safety rather than his own success.According to the voyage, his crew enjoyed three full meals for the celebration of Leap Year Day and he also organized other fun activities for his crew such as dog racing, despite all the ruthless weather that were almost close to killing them everyday. When the Endurance got wrecked into the sea, instead of being all hopeless and upset, Shackleton told his crew that they are going home. This infamous quote marked his true spirit and show that he was one of the greatest leader of all. By reassuring the crew through focusing on the needs and desire that they currently uphold, he lightened up the hopes for his crew that they can o through this tough situation together, in which they did at the end. From business point of view, Shackleton applied an Employee Centered Style throughout the whole expedition. He led his crew (employees) in positive ways and cared about his followers both physically and emotionally. He considered himself as one of the follows, a s a part of the group, not just by calling himself a leader and only know how to announce decision or order others to get the works done. This can be summarize through the definition of â€Å"lead by example† leadership style.When the going got tough, the needs for harmonization and unification of each members’ will is very important for survival. Ernest Shackleton, while trying his best to individualize his leadership according to each subordinate, was more focused on trying to lead everyone towards the same path. Through the application of heroism, Shackleton was able to guide the crew and motivate them by targeting the respect and mutual feeling that the crews already feel toward him. This accentuated the spirits of all the members, unifying all their needs and centralized it as a whole.The turbulence that his group had to go through could had left a devastating effects, instead, they became stronger and stronger as each obstacles were overcome with joy and hope tha t Shackelton, with his leadership style represent. Much had changes since Shackleton became a living legend, but the principal and theory, as well as practical principle still remained the same. The business world that we live in today has much to apply. Leaders today need to adapt to changes, being able to quickly think on their feet and remain charismatic to the subordinates are the key ingredient to creating a great leader.As corporations are adapting more changes and restructure down to a heterachy level, we see a more decentralized structure in which employees are encouraged with power. But the needs for centralized authority remained the same under emergency, and that leads us to the next section of this report. * Chapter 3 – Contingency approaches to leadership One may believe that perhaps Ernest Shackleton and what he had to go through had shaped the way that his business style he adopted. In relation to the Fiedler’s Contingency Model, we start by examining Sh ackleton’s decision in relation to the situation that befell him.This model allows us a mode of evaluation for both the leadership styles and the organization situation, under two criteria, which are task and relationship. Shackleton had demonstrated a flexible style of leadership in numerous cases. He was not afraid to change and adjust his tactics to achieve his goals. This is especially true during the highlight of his voyage sailing on the Endurance. The Antarctica weather was harsh and unforgiving, putting a toll on Ernest to outperform the condition to survive. His goal upon setting sail was to set foot on the icy North Pole, but was later changed to endure the coldness and to get out of here alive.Such a drastic change in the situation asked for great demand in Shackleton to judge the situation as the lives of his crews are placed in his hands. A shift from a task-orientated style to a more relationship-orientated style challenged him mentally. As the result, he was ab le to accomplish his task of getting his crews out alive. Based on the three key elements of the situation, since he was able to develop such mutually agreement among the group and himself. They truly admire and had confidence in their leaders. Thus, this leads to a unification of the group towards achieving the goal.The task structure that Shackleton’s crew had to undergo was of immense difficulties. The unpredictable outcome caused the group to have a low task structure to enhance flexibility. Therefore, the responsibility that Shackleton had to shoulder was huge. This lead to the last element of position power. Since the group was striked with an unexpected turn of event, it was up to Shackleton to steer the crew back to following the objective, which he had done magnificently thorugh motivation and encouragement as a leader. The Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Theory can also be used to explain the leadership style of Ernest Shackleton.Since Shackleton’s crew were very well equipped mentally due to their leader’s constant motivation and the method that led them, together with the low task structure, Shackleton need to employed the Participating strategy, followed up with the Delegating strategy. At first when the Endurance was out of hope to be recovered, his crews were no doubt feeling desperate about the situation. But with Shackleton’s igh spirit, they were able to pick up from scratch. In other words, they were able but unwilling when faced with such a disastrous situation. They need guidance and irection as the objective of the voyage had completely changed. Shackleton had done so very effectively in inspiring the will to live, through his famous quote â€Å" We’re going home†. As the situation progress, Shackleton was able to slowly earn more trust and confidence in his crew, this slowly move the relationship behavior position down to the lower end, toward the Delegating strategy area. During his se arch out for Elephant Island, he had to make a decision to leave the crew behind as to find a way to contact the mainland and signal for help, he delegated Thomas Crean, his second-in-command crew to take charge after he was gone.This could not be done without a high level of trust and high level of abilities to achieve such task. It was remarkably assuring to the rest of crew that when he announced he would come back for them, which he did. ( Find more information about the other 2 thoeries ) The Path-goal theories also contribute to analyze the leadership style of Shackleton in a very definite way. According to the definition, Path-goal theory full reliable on the leader’s responsibility to lead and motivate in order to achieve organizational goal.The journey that Shackleton had to travel was filled with adversity. At first, he was determined to reach the North Pole as this is the set objective, and he communicated this objective very well to his groups of followers. This i n return affected the kind of motivation that the crews expected from the voyage. During that time, the glory and fame of being the first few men to set foot on the Artic ice was indeed very attractive, especially for the adventurous souls like Shackleton and his crews who were seeking intrinsic rewards as the mean to strive for the objective.Shackleton was a dedicated man, his passion not only reminded himself of the goal every day, but it was also the fuel that ignited the dedication of his crew members. He kept the rewards clear as they moved along, even when the Endurance crashed. Shackleton still managed to quickly adapt to the situation and influence his team through the change of â€Å"reward†, which was now to safely escape his hazard. This theory explained how he was able to keep the motivation of his â€Å"employee† high throughout the voyage even when there was a change of goal, especially when the change was so drastic.Ernest Shackleton’s leadership style is also applicable to the explanation of the Vroom Jago Contingency Model. Similarly to some of the models and theories above, this theory characterize the participative leadership degree and how it correlates with the results and accountability of the decision. At time when Shackleton first commenced the journey, he gathered groups of attuned people based on character as well as competence. He knew very well the danger and how the strength, both physically and mentally of his crews had to face. The selection process picked out crew members with a positive attitude.This helped Shackleton’s leadership style to take effects in the most successful way. He had also develop a strong sense of loyalty and trust towards his crew members. This significantly proved to be the decisive factor as the Endurance got stranded on ice when it really shined. To an extent during the voyage, his participation was at the facilitate degree as he understood the ability of each individuals well enough to let them take charge while presenting ideas and experience on equal terms. When the Endurance sunk, he became more delegating as the group faced extreme adversity, while keeping them motivated.One can interpret and use different model to define Ernest Shackleton’s leadership style. Based on the diagnostic questions, he was actively involved in the preparation process before they set sailed, showing high level of participation and consideration as the expedition was many adventures’ dream at that time. By sharing the vision, he was able to collect the most suitable group of people. Because the importance of commitment was very high, Shackleton would personally interview each member he chose for a mutual agreement on the objective of the journey.Since Shackleton had been on past trips to the North Pole, he used the experience to persuade people and forming a reliable trust conformity. This helped to increase the likelihood of commitment of his followers out of respect for passion and knowledge. Shackleton implied the motivation theories very well as he was able to convince the sailors of the goal that he wanted to achieve, turning it into the goals of the group as a whole. This increase in support for the goal helped them to overcome challenges together later on.Last but not least, his team was not only dedicated but high trained for such an expedition. Shackleton was able to trust them and delegate tasks effectively. Based on the style of leadership that Shackleton represent, we can use the Path Goal Theory to best explain his style, as motivation towards the same goal as a team was the critical factor. His team was put to the test in such a condition that will easily drained the lives out of anyone, but with high motivation and a clear goal that unified them, he successfully pulled through and survive the weather that everbody deemed impossible.Without the corporation of each members, perhaps he could not have made it and that is why t his theory is best imply to explain his leadership style. Chapter 4 – The leaders as an individual Throughout his lives on the expeditions, we have seen how great a leader he was through the team members that he motivated, but how about concerning Ernest Shackleton as a leader in his own definition? Chapter 4: 1. Big five personality that ES had: * Extroversion * Conscientiousness * Emotional stability * Agreeableness 2. I would say ES had an internal Locus of Control.He was self-motivated and was likely to influence others. 3. ES was authoritarian. He relied on position power. 4. Shackleton’s End Values were to lead an adventurous life, explore the trans-Antarctic. His Instrumental Values were being responsible to his crew, being honest, being helpful. 5. I think ES was a Theory Y Leader. He valued his crew and understood what his followers wanted or needed so that they have the strengths to keep struggling throughout the hardship they had. Notes: * When he died, Shac kleton left debts of ? 0,000, over ? 700,000 in today's terms. That money, however, came from people who could afford it. Works Cited â€Å"Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton. † Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2004. Encyclopedia. com. 2 Jun. 2012 . â€Å"Shackleton† Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2 June 2012. Web. 02 Jun. 2012. ( I don’t think we should use Wikipedia as a reliable source ) â€Å"Nova Online† Shackleton’s Voyage of Endurance.Feb 2002 Web. 02 Jun 2012. http://personnel. ky. gov/nr/rdonlyres/6c98ae12-6df1-4476-acd3-ff1c9b2770f4/0/someshackletonleadershiplessons. pdf http://leadership. wharton. upenn. edu/l_change/Interviews/Shackleton. pdf http://www. nytimes. com/2011/12/25/business/leadership-lessons-from-the-shackleton-expedition. html? pagewanted=all http://artofmanliness. com/2011/08/02/leadership-lessons-from-ernest-shackleton/

Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in World War II

Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in World War II The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal was fought November 12-15, 1942, during World War II (1939-1945). Having halted the Japanese advance at the Battle of Midway in June 1942, Allied forces launched their first major offensive two months later when US Marines landed on Guadalcanal. Quickly establishing foothold on the island, they completed an airfield that the Japanese had been building. This was dubbed Henderson Field in memory Major  Lofton R. Henderson who had been killed at Midway. Critical to the islands defense, Henderson Field allowed Allied aircraft to command the seas around the Solomon Islands during the day. Tokyo Express During the fall of 1942, the Japanese made several efforts to capture Henderson Field and force the Allies from Guadalcanal. Unable to move reinforcements to the island during daylight hours due to the threat posed by Allied air attacks, they were limited to delivering troops at night using destroyers. These ships were fast enough to steam down The Slot (New George Sound), unload, and escape before Allied aircraft returned at dawn. This method of troop movement, dubbed the Tokyo Express, proved effective but precluded the delivery of heavy equipment and weapons. Additionally, Japanese warships would use the darkness to conduct bombardment missions against Henderson Field in attempts to hinder its operations. The continued use of the Tokyo Express led to several night surface engagements, such as the Battle of Cape Esperance (October 11-12, 1942) as Allied ships attempted to block the Japanese. Additionally, larger fleet engagements, like the inconclusive Battle of Santa Cruz (October 25-27, 1942), were fought as both sides sought to gain control of the waters around the Solomons. Ashore, the Japanese suffered a sharp defeat when their offensive in late October was turned back by the Allies (Battle of Henderson Field). Yamamotos Plan In November 1942, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, prepared for a large reinforcement mission to the island with the goal of putting up to 7,000 men ashore along with their heavy equipment. Organizing two groups, Yamamoto formed a convoy of 11 slow transports and 12 destroyers under Rear Admiral Raizo Tanaka and a bombardment force under Vice Admiral Hiroaki Abe. Consisting of the battleships Hiei and Kirishima, the light cruiser Nagara, and 11 destroyers, Abes group was tasked with bombarding Henderson Field to prevent Allied aircraft from attacking Tanakas transports. Alerted to Japanese intentions, the Allies dispatched a reinforcement force (Task Force 67) to Guadalcanal. Fleets Commanders: Allied Admiral William Bull HalseyRear Admiral Daniel J. CallaghanRear Admiral Willis Lee1 carrier2 battleships5 cruisers12 destroyers Japanese Admiral Isoroku YamamotoVice Admiral Hiroaki AbeVice Admiral Nobutake Kondo2 battleships8 cruisers16 destroyers The First Battle To protect the supply ships, Rear Admirals Daniel J. Callaghan and Norman Scott were dispatched with the heavy cruisers USS San Francisco and USS Portland, the light cruisers USS Helena, USS Juneau, and USS Atlanta, as well as 8 destroyers. Nearing Guadalcanal on the night of November 12/13, Abes formation became confused after passing through a rain squall. Alerted to the Japanese approach, Callahan formed for battle and attempted to cross the Japanese T. After receiving incomplete information, Callahan issued several confusing orders from his flagship (San Francisco) causing his formation to come apart. As a result, the Allied and Japanese ships became intermingled at close range. At 1:48 AM, Abe ordered his flagship, Hiei, and a destroyer to turn on their searchlights. Illuminating Atlanta, both sides opened fire. Realizing that his ships were nearly surrounded, Callahan ordered, Odd ships fire to starboard, even ships fire to port. In the naval melee that ensued, Atlanta was put out of action and Admiral Scott killed. Fully illuminated, Hiei was mercilessly attacked by US ships which wounded Abe, killed his chief of staff, and knocked the battleship out of the fight. While taking fire, Hiei and several Japanese ships pummeled San Francisco, killing Callahan, and forcing the cruiser to retreat. Helena followed in an attempt to protect the cruiser from further harm. Portland succeeded in sinking the destroyer Akatsuki, but took a torpedo in the stern which damaged its steering. Juneau was also hit by a torpedo and forced to the leave the area. While the larger ships dueled, destroyers on both sides battled. After 40 minutes of fighting, Abe, perhaps not knowing he had achieved a tactical victory and that the way to Henderson Field was open, ordered his ships to withdraw. Further Losses The next day, the disabled Hiei was relentlessly attacked by Allied aircraft and sunk, while the wounded Juneau sank after being torpedoed by I-26. Efforts to save Atlanta also failed and the cruiser sank around 8:00 PM on November 13. In the fighting, Allied forces lost two light cruisers and four destroyers, as well as had two heavy and two light cruisers damaged. Abes losses included Hiei and two destroyers. Despite, Abes failure, Yamamoto elected to proceed with sending Tanakas transports to Guadalcanal on November 13. Allied Air Attacks To provide cover, he ordered the Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa 8th Fleets Cruiser Force (4 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers) to bombard Henderson Field. This was accomplished on the night of November 13/14, but little damage was inflicted. As Mikawa was leaving the area the next day, he was spotted by Allied aircraft and lost the heavy cruisers Kinugasa (sunk) and Maya (heavily damaged). Subsequent air attacks sank seven of Tanakas transports. The remaining four pressed on after dark. To support them, Admiral Nobutake Kondo arrived with a battleship (Kirishima), 2 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, and 8 destroyers. Halsey Sends Reinforcements Having taken heavy casualties on the 13th, the overall Allied commander in the area, Admiral William Bull Halsey detached the battleships USS Washington (BB-56) and USS South Dakota (BB-57) as well as 4 destroyers from USS Enterprises (CV-6) screening force as Task Force 64 under Rear Admiral Willis Lee. Moving to defend Henderson Field and block Kondos advance, Lee arrived off Savo Island and Guadalcanal on the evening of November 14. The Second Battle Approaching Savo, Kondo dispatched a light cruiser and two destroyers to scout ahead. At 10:55 PM, Lee spotted Kondo on radar and at 11:17 PM opened fire on the Japanese scouts. This had little effect and Kondo sent forward Nagara with four destroyers. Attacking the American destroyers, this force sank two and crippled the others. Believing he had won the battle, Kondo pressed forward unaware of Lees battleships. While Washington quickly sank the destroyer Ayanami, South Dakota began to experience a series of electrical problems which limited its ability to fight. Illuminated by searchlights, South Dakota received the brunt of Kondos attack. Meanwhile, Washington stalked Kirishima before opening fire with devastating effect. Hit by over 50 shells, Kirishima was crippled and later sank. After evading several torpedo attacks, Washington attempted to lead the Japanese out of the area. Thinking the road was open for Tanaka, Kondo withdrew. Aftermath While Tanakas four transports reached Guadalcanal, they were quickly attacked by Allied aircraft the next morning, destroying most of the heavy equipment on board. The Allied success in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal ensured that the Japanese would be unable to launch another offensive against Henderson Field. Unable to reinforce or adequately supply Guadalcanal, the Japanese Navy recommended that it be abandoned on December 12, 1942.

The Houses of Windsor and Hanover

The Houses of Windsor and Hanover It is not at all unusual for European royal families to have bloodlines and names from foreign nations. After all, it was common for European dynasties over the centuries to use marriage as a political tool for empire-building. The Austrian Habsburgs even boasted of their talent in this regard: Let others wage war; you, happy Austria, marry.* (See  Austria Today  for more.) But few people are aware of how recent the British royal family name Windsor is, or that it replaced very German names. *The Habsburg saying in Latin and German: Bella gerant alii, tu felix Austria nube. - Laßt andere Krieg fà ¼hren, Du, glà ¼ckliches Ãâ€"sterreich, heirate. The House of Windsor The Windsor name now used by Queen Elizabeth II and other British royals only dates back to 1917. Before that the British royal family bore the German name Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha  in German). Why the Drastic Name Change? The answer to that question is simple: World War I. Since August 1914 Britain had been at war with Germany. Anything German had a bad connotation, including the German name Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Not only that, Germanys Kaiser Wilhelm was a cousin of the British king. So on July 17, 1917, to prove his loyalty to England, Queen Victorias grandson King George V officially declared that all descendants in the male line of Queen Victoria, who are subjects of these realms, other than female descendants who marry or who have married, shall bear the name Windsor. Thus the king himself, who was a member of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, changed his own name and that of his wife, Queen Mary, and their children to Windsor. The new English name Windsor was taken from one of the kings castles.) Queen Elizabeth II confirmed the royal Windsor name in a declaration following her accession in 1952. But in 1960 Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip announced yet another name change. Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, whose mother had been Alice of Battenberg, had already Anglicized his name to Philip Mountbatten when he married Elizabeth in 1947. (Interestingly, all four of Philips sisters, all now deceased, married Germans.) In her 1960 declaration to the Privy Council, the Queen expressed her wish that her children by Philip (other than those in line for the throne) would henceforth bear the hyphenated name Mountbatten-Windsor. The royal familys name remained Windsor. Queen Victoria and the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Line The British House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha) began with Queen Victorias marriage to the German Prince Albert of Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha in 1840. Prince Albert (1819-1861) was also responsible for the introduction of  German Christmas customs  (including the Christmas tree) in England. The British royal family still celebrates Christmas on December 24th rather than on Christmas Day, as is normal English custom. Queen Victorias eldest daughter, the Princess Royal Victoria, also married a German prince in 1858.  Prince Philip is a direct descendant of Queen Victoria through her daughter Princess Alice, who married another German, Ludwig IV, Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. Victorias son, King Edward VII (Albert Edward, Bertie), was the first and only British monarch who was a member of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. He ascended to the throne at the age of 59 when Victoria died in 1901. Bertie reigned for nine years until his death in 1910. His son George Frederick Ernest Albert (1865-1936) became King George V, the man who renamed his line Windsor. The Hanoverians (Hannoveraner) Six British monarchs, including Queen Victoria and the infamous King George III during the American Revolution, were members of the German House of Hanover: George I (ruled 1714-1727)George II (ruled 1727-1760)George III (ruled 1760-1820)George IV (ruled 1820-1830)William IV (ruled 1830-1837)Victoria (ruled 1837-1901) Before becoming the first British king of the Hanoverian line in 1714, George I (who spoke more German than English) had been the Duke of Brunswick-Là ¼neberg (der Herzog von Braunschweig-Là ¼neberg). The first three royal Georges in the House of Hannover (also known as the House of Brunswick, Hanover Line) were also electors and dukes of Brunswick-Là ¼neberg. Between 1814 and 1837 the British monarch was also the king of Hanover, then a kingdom in what is now Germany. Hanover Trivia New York Citys Hanover Square takes its name from the royal line, as does the Canadian province of New Brunswick, and several Hanover communities in the U.S. and Canada. Each of the following U.S. states has a town or township named Hanover: Indiana, Illinois, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia. In Canada: the provinces of Ontario and Manitoba. The German spelling of the city there is  Hannover  (with two ns).

Border Patrol and it essays

Border Patrol and it essays To the south of San Diego lies the US- Mexico border, to some this may only be seen as a line dividing the two countries; however, on closer inspection this border is actually a gateway for economic loss, reduced security and countless other detriments to the US. The main problem is that U.S. citizens do not understand how much harm to our country arises when there is an influx of thousands unidentified people a day. For a proper understanding of why the border is at its current state it is crucial to see what has lead it up to this point. For decades, immigrants have come through the Mexican border to take advantage of higher wages and greater job availability. Before a more stringent border policy, immigrants would make the trek from southern and central America to work. Migrants were able to cross close to urban areas and avoid traveling long distances in remote areas. Because of the ease, immigrants would leave there homes to work on farms in areas like the San Joaquin valley and then return to there homes in the winter off season. This cycle was followed for many years until under the Clinton administration in the mid 1990s the border became an issue of concern Clintons people knew he couldn't win reelection with out California where anti-immigrant fever was spiking...Clinton proposed the hiring of 600 new border patrol agents in 1993. A year later, the administration rolled out a multibil lion-dollar border strategy that commenced, naturally enough, with Operation Gatekeeper in Southern California.(Moser). Despite the heightened security measures, the opportunities in the US and lack there off in Mexico were still driving masses into the country illegally. Not only did more come but less were leaving In the last 10 years, the rate of return to Mexico has fallen through the floor Says Douglas S. Massey, co director of the Mexican Migration Project at Princeton University. The ri...

Workplace Inequity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Workplace Inequity - Essay Example That may make them more satisfied with their "work" in the short run, but their performance certainly didn't improve. Each and every organization is faced with people challenges. How do you get public moving in the right direction Start where they are. The first step is to provide feedback to employees from their current point of view. That is where Inscape Publishing comes in. For nearly 30 years Inscape guides have been first choice for research-based self-assessments. They've helped over 30 million people worldwide progress performance, increase job satisfaction and value differences (Hines, 1990). Through out summary of our database is presented here on the basis of all responses. First of all we sort 250 responses by gender and therefore we conclude that in gender distribution males has less contribution than the females that is approximately 38%; similarly the female percentage observes approximately 62% regarding this database. According to table we can easily observe the percentages of participants in each department, and conclude that administration department having maximum percentages as well as human resource having least percentages of selected employees. According to this table, we can observe that the mean overall satisfaction by gender having greater percentages in female category, that is 4.3187 mean satisfactions and for males its 4.1874 mean satisfaction according to job satisfactory level with their jobs. So we can say that there is very slight difference in terms of mean overall satisfaction by gender. If we choose a person at random from this database: - What is the probability that this person will be between 22

Comparitive Criminal Justice from a Global Standpoint Research Paper

Comparitive Criminal Justice from a Global Standpoint - Research Paper Example Based on these points of view, the shifts in crime control are mainly the outcomes of the internal pressures of development, notwithstanding temporal and spatial realities. Second, the world system assumptions have argued that present developing nations are reliant upon, and to differing extents, developed nations. Thus, the changes in crime control in any nation, despite of its developmental condition, are mainly the outcomes of external pressures, with respect to a shifting political economy. And lastly, the opportunity assumptions have disputed that crime control show a combination of developing physical resources and social contexts (Cochrane et al., 2004). Therefore, changes in crime patterns, throughout time, are mainly the outcomes of intermingling internal and external forces. And so it becomes clear: With globalization, international competition and exchanges of products and services, culture, knowledge and information emerges the global progress in crime control. However, these global growths are not unburdened by the domestic realities of politics, social change, nationalism and policies. Therefore, it is promoted in this paper that the completely integrative comparative discussion of crime control should consider these sets of forces, particularly as they interrelate with one another. From a global perspective, a depressing result of the weakening of the relationship between the East and the West has been the entry of disagreement, conflict and global crime. An outcome of the end of the Cold War during the recent decade has been the global increase in border and transnational crimes, particularly those related to the illegal exporting and importing of products and services. With the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the weakening of transnational regulations all over Eastern Europe, and the launching of the free

Approach to care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Approach to care - Essay Example The extra cells form a mass of tissues which take the shape of a tumor. Apart from a number of preliminary tests, positive diagnosis is made by investigation of a biopsy sample of concerned cancer tissue. Cancer staging is mostly decided by biopsy outcomes which provide definite clues to decide the level of the cancer type and the magnitude of cancer spread. Staging also enables the caregivers to arrive at the conclusion of treatment modes. Staging is also pointer to the aggressiveness and indicator as to how widespread the cancer in the body is. Loss of desire for food or inexplicable weight loss, exhaustion, cachexia, headaches, bone or joint pain, neurological indications, such as wobbly walk or memory loss, neck or facial enlargement, unusual bleeding, hoarseness in voice etc. are the warning signs for the impending attack of cancer. The most important part of the treatment mode is the concerned cancer patient. The treatment protocol must fit into the needs of the individual, on the basis of various reports before the caregiver, including that of biopsy. Generally, more than one cancer specialists are involved in taking the decision about the modalities of treatment. The treatment will include one or all of the following procedures, depending on the stage of the cancer. They are: â€Å"surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy†. (Davis, 2014) At this stage, the caretaker has taken the decision about the nature of cancer and the treatment modalities. Cancer is the unrestrained growth of nonstandard cells anywhere in the body. The causes of cancer are many and some remain unknown till date. The broad, potential cause of cancer is the abnormal development of the body cell/s. Such development may be due to genetic makeup and combination of other factors. Specific enumeration of causes that result in cancer is impossibility. With the details available through scientific research, caregivers now

Multiple sclerosis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Multiple sclerosis - Research Paper Example It was not until 1873 that multiple sclerosis was recognized for what it was, though this was after hundreds of people had already died from the disease. As time went on, doctors began to understand the characteristics associated with multiple sclerosis, which helped them to not only discover causes and treatments, but also allowed them to understand where the disease has been and where it is going. There is no known cause of multiple sclerosis. It is believed, though there is no concrete proof, that the cause of the disease in one person as opposed to another has to do with various factors, such as age, gender, ethnicity, and even the place where the person lives. Though the causes are none, the symptoms and signs of the disease are many. The signs and symptoms are as follows: Tremors or lack of coordination Tingling or pain in random parts of the body Sensations of electric-shock when the head is moved a certain way Partial or complete loss of vision Pain during eye movement Numbne ss or weakness in certain limbs, though usually located in one-half of the body, either the right or left side, or the top or bottom half To diagnose multiple sclerosis, basic blood tests are first undergone to rule out other infections and diseases that share similar symptoms to multiple sclerosis.

12 months exercise program to gradually cure hypertension and maintain Essay

12 months exercise program to gradually cure hypertension and maintain healthy for a man over 72 years - Essay Example Blood pressure is controlled by life style changes which include diet, exercise and medication (Oh 2012). Physical activity is a key factor in helping reduce high blood pressure as well as reducing high cholesterol values in cases of obesity and this helps improve blood circulation in the tissues and this means proper supply of oxygenated blood in the tissues and hence improving the performance of the heart muscles. According to the case study of Mr. A, he is currently inactive since the kind of excise he used to do was to walk around with his dog that died and since then he has been inactive, and the only leisure he does is watching TV. The aim of this initial stage is to begin the exercise while taking it slow. This may include; This involves the lengthening of muscles. Stretching the muscles to lengthen the arms and leg muscles before exercise may help prepare the muscles for activity and help reduce muscular pains and injury (Becker 2001). Regular stretching will help improve the range of flexibility and also motion. For Mr. A, who has been inactive since his dog passed away, it is imperative for him to begin with stretching of muscles before he begins walking again of doing active exercises again. Climbing the stairs may require his leg muscle stretching to avoid pains and muscle pulls (Oh 2012). However, the initial exercise stage should not be vigorous. He should begin it slowly to condition the body. These exercises should last at least 10 to 15 minutes a day and at least five to six times per week. For the movement pattern, Mr. A, should warm up for 5-6 minutes involving single joint and stretching exercises. This will involve such exercises like cardiovascular or aerobic exercises which are steady exercises that will involve using large muscle groups. This exercise type is aimed towards strengthening the heart muscles and also the lungs and ultimately improving the general supply and usage of oxygen to the tissues (Becker 2001). Continued aerobic

Multiple sclerosis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Multiple sclerosis - Research Paper Example It was not until 1873 that multiple sclerosis was recognized for what it was, though this was after hundreds of people had already died from the disease. As time went on, doctors began to understand the characteristics associated with multiple sclerosis, which helped them to not only discover causes and treatments, but also allowed them to understand where the disease has been and where it is going. There is no known cause of multiple sclerosis. It is believed, though there is no concrete proof, that the cause of the disease in one person as opposed to another has to do with various factors, such as age, gender, ethnicity, and even the place where the person lives. Though the causes are none, the symptoms and signs of the disease are many. The signs and symptoms are as follows: Tremors or lack of coordination Tingling or pain in random parts of the body Sensations of electric-shock when the head is moved a certain way Partial or complete loss of vision Pain during eye movement Numbne ss or weakness in certain limbs, though usually located in one-half of the body, either the right or left side, or the top or bottom half To diagnose multiple sclerosis, basic blood tests are first undergone to rule out other infections and diseases that share similar symptoms to multiple sclerosis.

Competition, Marketing Mix, and Pricing Research Paper

Competition, Marketing Mix, and Pricing - Research Paper Example Key Characteristics of the Users Maryland General Hospital offers wide range of services to its customers with different characteristics and with different needs and requirements. The hospital is based in Baltimore City, which is the largest city of Maryland. A sharp decline can be found in the Baltimore’s poverty line. Most of the people who find themselves under the federal poverty line are moving to the suburban areas from the urban or metro cities. In the city of Baltimore, there are more than 21,000 people who are below poverty line, but recently a major decline in the rate of the poor population has taken place. Maryland General Hospital targets people from both the metro and suburban area of the Baltimore. They offer specialized premium services for the premium patients with high income level and also offer general service for the mass. They also offer different special services to different demographic strata, such as children care, senior citizen care and women care. For example, Heart catheterization is provided to adult and children separately. The Hospital offers some specialized service within the framework of women care. The Competitive Environment of the Health Care Provider The competition generally arises on one or more elements like quality, price, convenience etc. Competition eliminates the inefficiency of the players. But in case of Maryland General Hospital, there is no such price competition among the leading players in the market as 75% of total cost for the treatment of an individual is provided by the health insurance company (Kronick, Goodman & Wennberg, 1993). Different hospitals try to differentiate its services on the basis of quality. If Porter five forces model is applied for Maryland General Hospital it will be clear that most of the competitions are coming from the rival hospitals. The competition is immense for Maryland General Hospital. There are 14 hospitals in Maryland. All the hospitals provide customized services. A study suggests that 58% of the patients recommended for going again to Maryland General Hospital while 77% people recommended for going Greater Baltimore medical centre. Many people also recommended for Good Samaritan Hospital. Even in this respect the Mercy Medical Centre Inc has also got high points than Maryland General Hospital. The hospital faces quite low bargaining power from the suppliers as there are many suppliers present in the market. The timely delivery of equipment and medicines are very essential for the hospital. The hospital needs to depend highly on its suppliers to maintain goodwill in front of the customers as most of the hospitals are competing mostly on the quality and not on the price. There is no such threat from a new entrant in the market as the set up cost is very high for any new entrant and the physical evidence is the most important factor for any hospitals so the new entrant has to face a tough competition from the old players as the physical evidence is very strong of the old players. There is no such substitute in hospital’s product as it is a necessary service for all. The buyers bargaining power is also strong but as mostly the insurance company pays the bills, the bargaining power gets reduced. Tools of Marketing Mix Marketing comprises of seven elements. For the health care sector all the 7P’

History of education Essay Example for Free

History of education Essay As a student, I have read â€Å"On the Use of a Liberal Education: As Lite Entertainment for Bored College Students† written by Mark Edmundson many times. Edmundson’s article is now published in textbook (for example: from Inquiry to Academic writing) and taught in English university education. Edmundson argues that nowadays liberal education is as lite entertainment for bored college students; education is product and universities are suppliers that satisfy the expectation of consumer students. In any aspect, I agree with him. The education now is changing in bad way. The students do no longer care about what they need to learn in the school except for their point. But why does this happen? This article just show one side of students. What about teacher? School? Family? Or society? Generally, there are some points I consider make me not believe or agree with this article absolutely. First, he wrote this article after many-year teaching. This is based on his be-teacher experience. He is in the point of view of teacher. But despite teaching many years, how many student he taught? What percentage in the total number of students in USA or the world does it hold? It is unfair and unbelievable when he draws the conclusion about all students with only students he has taught. Maybe he is right but he is also possible to be wrong. Because that number of student may be very high, maybe hold 70%, 80%, even 90% but also just 20%. There are no researches given in the article. No one knows the exact number so can’t give that conclusion. But the only thing we can believe is that many is not total; that many students are as consumers. Secondly, he says education is as lite entertainment for bored students. What is meant by bored students? How bored? A teacher comments that students are bored so what did he/she do to improve them. I know learning is responsibility of own student but school or teacher is instructor leading them to what they need to explore themselves. They now are just in the wrong way, so it doesn’t mean they will be so forever. They now need a person to lead them in the right way. Besides, he just shows their present that they are bored but not shows the reasons. Why doesn’t he/she ask the question about himself, about his lessons. To each student, their ability to take lessons is very different so with a lesson, just some student feel interested. In his essay, Edmundson claim that most student today consume their education than interact with it. He says he wanted his student connect with him, but it doesn’t mean they have to like or dislike him. He says that â€Å" I don’t teach to amuse, to divert, or even, for that matter, to be merely interesting. He also says â€Å" I think many of my student have imbibed their sense of self from consumer culture and in general from the tube in particular†. That not only shows his lack of native passion of a teacher but also that he become accept education’s business. Next, when he assume that teacher do anything to make them satisfied, interested, I wonder just only students feel that. That time, did teachers feel satisfied? The answer is, of course, YES. Both teachers and students feel comfortable and facile. So why don’t make lesson colorful, instead, boring and not effective. Each teacher has different ways of teaching to help students understand lessons. One of them is that make it interesting. That means both create interesting atmosphere and help student easy to understand. Students are young people, no experience; they just learn what they care. If schooling is bored, they can’t both study and find the right way to go in the future. But if the school is an interesting thing that they take everyday, they feel life to open, to explore and persue. The second view is clearly better that the first and why does he consider all such lesson as product standard for consumer students. The last thing I wonder is the reason why education is changing. Nowadays, society is developing with high technology and opening economy. Society requires people that are excellent or really good. How does society realize such people? In general, it is evaluated based on the point of student at school. So, that students are always care about their point because they are worried about their future is grossly. Moreover, education system always evaluate their performance and achievement. Because of that, they always worry that they can lose, they can in the bottom at school and hope they are in the top. Some can make effort to reach it, but not all is the same. To some student, it is motive power to be better themselves but to the rest, it is pressure make them in stress. Besides, not all teachers is good. Some requires presents and they â€Å"sell the mark†. To students, this is a good way to improve their mark not trying to study. That is small gap in education system. In the end, Edmundson’s article is not researched and have a few logical fallacies but warn us the status of education as product. Although there are something I disagree with him, evidence of his argument is not denied; it is difficult for anyone to argue that consumerism has not poured in the university to some degree. [That is my personal point of view. Maybe it is not right absolutely. ]

Laura Ashley: Deliberate and Emergent Strategies

Laura Ashley: Deliberate and Emergent Strategies Laura Ashley home furnishing and fashion is a popular store all over the world. This company has come a long way since Laura herself and Bernard Ashley had started their company by producing headscarves, tablemats and napkins for their kitchen tables in the 1950s. Twenty years later in the 1970s Laura and her husband made an investment, they started the company they first produced a dress for social occasion, this was their breakthrough and the sales increased and by then there were many stores open on different parts of the world. The company continued to expand worldwide and flourished throughout the 1980s. However it was one fatal day that Laura Ashley had fallen downstairs on her 60th birthday and died, this upset to the company only got worse after the incident and problems started to occur. Due to the fashion industry changing so rapidly and the fashion provided by Laura was soon replaced by casualness in comparison to the formality fashion the company offered. The company was left behind as it didnt adapt to the changes and didnt size up to the upcoming competition. Laura Ashley deteriorating performances lead to reaching out for help by getting a different CEO in place to help set the company on the right track. The company had up to 5 different CEOs from the dates of 1991-1999 and each one had their own strategies and views on how to run the company. Laura Ashley overall is an unlikely business success story and has gone through a lot and is now currently back to its roots of Kitchen tables covers but also taps in the current fashion industry and not as formal as before. 1. Map Laura Ashleys stakeholders using a power/interest matrix Stakeholders are those individuals or groups that have a part in the company (Hill Jones, 1995, pg 45). Mapping stakeholders is a strategic business tool that identifies and assesses the different effects of individual or group of stakeholders on a company. The power and interest matrix identifies which stakeholders play a vital part in the company and examines the power they have and their likelihood to use that power. ( G. Johnson K. Scholes, Exploring Corporate Strategy, Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 2002.) By examining the key stakeholder of Laura Ashley we will be able to identify who we should mainly concentrate on. The stakeholders matrix consists of four sections and is divided up accordingly to group A, group B, group C and group D. Group A is (Minimal Efforts) this group needs to be monitored but you do not need to actually provide these people with a lot of information. Group B on the other hand needs to be kept informed. Here you will need to keep the people sufficiently informed and you must ensure that you communicate with them in order to ensure that no problems or other issues may arise. These people are often very helpful to the company with regards to having some details about what you are doing. Group C you must ensure you keep them satisfied. In this situation the company needs to ensure that the people are kept satisfied, the actual difference here in comparison to the first group is that these people are not as interested in using their power. Group D are your key players and these are the people that you must fully engage with and you must ensure that you make the greatest efforts in satisfying them. Your position on the grid below shows you the actions that you must make when it comes to them (Rachel Thompson) Firstly the managers in Laura Ashleys are Laura Ashley herself and her husband Barnard Ashley. Together they are responsible for the overall running operations on the business and they compile different strategies in order for the company to be successful and then ensure that the strategies are implemented. Therefore Laura and her husband have very high levels of interest in the business as they have invested their own money in the company. Laura and her husband Barnard also have a high level of power as they decided on the effort levels of employees therefore they will both be classified as Key Players. The four board directors appointed by MUI also fall under Group A as they have a high level of power on the operations of the business and a high level of interest on the success of the business. The Shareholders of Laura Ashleys have both got high levels of interest and a high level of power therefore also putting them in Group D which is the Key players. According to the case Laura Ashleys shareholders, Malayan United Industries, showed their power by appointing four board members. Dr Khoo Kay Pen is the chair person of MUI and the reason why they have this power is because they had 40% of the chain. The fact they were so involved shows that they had a high level of interest in the success of the business. They showed this by opening new product lines and creating a sense of direction for the firm to further expand. Therefore this particular shareholder need to be kept informed and involved. Although Laura Ashley has other shareholders they dont necessarily have the high level of power that MUI does but they do still have a high level of interested in the business therefore putting them under group B, keeping informed. The reason why they might not have the same level of power to the other shareholder is because they do not have as much shares in the company therefore limiting them to have power to make or implement changes in the company. The Employees of Laura Ashleys are not really in title to high level of power but they do have a high level of interest in the company success. This is because they are concerned with the security of their job and they want to be kept informed on the future of the business and whether or not they will have an income and a job the next day. Therefore the employees of Laura Ashley fit under Group B, Keep Informed. The Distributors and suppliers of Laura Ashley are considered to have a high level of power but low interest levels making them fall under Group C, Keep Satisfied. The distributors and suppliers have high level of power because Laura Ashley is dependent on them making them more in control as they are the once supplying the company with the goods and without them Laura Ashley wouldnt have her quality products. The Distributors and suppliers do not have interest in the business itself just as long as they get paid on time. Customers of Laura Ashley are more concerned with the services they receive and the quality of the products that they purchase. Therefore the customers have a low level of interest in the business running. On the other hand the customers do have a high level of power in terms of deciding if they will be buying your product or not and without your customers Laura Ashley would not have business therefore the customers must be kept satisfied. The customers fall under group C and need to be provided with good services to keep them coming back. The Government plays a vital role in the business operations of Laura Ashley. They implement and increase or decrease tax. Therefore they have power over all businesses when it comes to influencing prices and how the company obeys certain policies that they draw up. The Government has a low level of interest the business itself as long as they pay tax and run their business according to the policies. Therefore the government fits in Group C, keep satisfied. Peel Hunt, the investment bank, would fall under Group A as they would be interest in the companys financial position and they have the power to close the business if the business is making a loss or is not operating according to how they planned. David Cook would be part of Group B as he is the financial director for Laura Ashley and has a high level of interest as an employee and he ensures that the company is financially sound. David Cook does not have a high level of power that influences the business. The Competitors that are competing against Laura Ashley have a high level of power in the sense of offering better services or prices that might impact how Laura Ashley might operate. The competitors might have power over the suppliers and distributors and therefore can be seen as a threat. Therefore it is important for Laura Ashley to be better than the competitors. The competitors also have a high level of interest on the business as they want to be better than Laura Ashley. The Media also plays a part in the power/interest matrix. Tamasin Doe, the director of a fashion magazine would fall under Group B, keep informed. The magazine would be helping the company in promoting their collection. Therefore they need to be kept informed on what is happening within the company and the collection. The magazine has a high level of interest in the business but low level of power or the operations of the business. 2. How would you characterize Laura Ashleys Core Values? Core Values is essential for an organization as it sets guiding principles for the company. Your companys core values should not be confused with cultural practices or operating practices and it should not be comprised of the companys financial gains or short term expediency (Johnson, Schole Whittington, pg 163). Values are seen as a life directing guideline that helps underline the behavior expected. (Trice Beyer 1984) Laura Ashleys core values revolve around their brand, diversification, employees and their customers satisfaction. Laura Ashley value for diversity allowed a much broader employee commitment and it will attract more employees. By getting the employees committed will help guide their decisions and behaviours. This will be shown and discussed accordingly in the paragraphs below. The Core Value of Laura Ashley was founded in the 1950s when Laura and her husband started making basic material accessories in their apartment. Hard work and dedication was the reason why they are so successful today. With dedication and a vision Laura and her husband had the right attitude and passion to become successful business owners. Their value of staying true to who they were and offering the same quality products over the years is also another indication of how dedicated and passionate they were about what they were offering a quality brand to their customers. The attitude that Laura had helped direct her behavior in the sense of how she put everything she could to ensure that the products were of good quality and with this good work ethics Laura was able to guide her organization strategy to be successful. When Laura Ashley died her company carried on but with the same values that she had created and this helped the organization stay close to the roots of Laura Ashley and the vision on where she wanted the business to be. Laura Ashleys kept up to date with the latest trends and made their line inspirational an unique. Therefore they created the value around their brand and ensured that it kept up with the latest trends and fashion apple to the customers. The idea of attaching Laura Ashleys name to the brand was to help customers identify the real quality provided as she uses her own name. This shows that they were positive in their products quality. Laura Ashley was able to personalize and self express with her products which is what added value to the customers. After all the company has gone through such as expansion and numerous of different managers, Laura Ashleys core values remained. The brand heritage was based meaning that it was accessible and it had good designs that were realistically priced. The fact that the brand was so well established it left the customers to have a sense of trust in the quality products that is provided. Laura Ashley lives up to their promises which shows integrity. Laura Ashley identified and develop a clearer, concise and a shared meaning of values and direction because of all the changes they have gone through the employees had to adapt to each new chief executives ways and this could have caused some confusion if the value was not understood. Values help guide the employees in their decision making and this can help with the services to the customers and result in customers satisfaction. (Trice Beyer 1984) These core values identifies exactly what Laura Ashley is all about. They concentrate on the quality brands and ensure that they achieve customer satisfaction. Core Values have helped the company survive and it has helped them stay true to the roots that Laura Ashley herself created. Therefore the core values are very important within a business and it helped identify the business. 3. Recommend a new Mission statement/or Vision Statement for Laura Ashley. A mission Statement defines the purpose of an organization and their primary objectives. A mission statement is developed to define the key measures to a business success. (Angela Schnaubelt Aug 1, 2007) Your mission statement will help an organization have a precise direction about what you plan on doing and where you are going in the future. (Angela Schnaubelt Aug 1, 2007) A Vision Statement is your ticket to success and is like an image in words of your companys future, like a mission statement it also defines the purpose of the organisation but in terms of the organisations values. (Susan Ward, About.com Guide) The statement provides inspiration for both the companys daily operations and strategic decision making. In other words without a clear vision statement it would be impossible to have effective business planning. (Susan Ward, About.com Guide) A Vision Statement provides the company and the employees a sense of direction and a plan on how to get there in order to accomplish the business goals. (Susan Ward, About.com Guide) Laura Ashleys new mission statement will ensure that everyone will feel drawn to and feel more a part of the business and respect the values. I would recommend that the mission statement should be edited as follows: Laura Ashleys wants to establish relationships with those who share a love of the lifestyle that Laura Ashley herself did. Laura Ashleys act to protect those relationships formed and wants to ensure that the relationships are prosperous and long-term. With highly respectable and knowledgeable employees, Laura Ashley can provide the customers with good sales services and help customers find their individuality. The vision of Laura Ashley had changed numerous of times due to the fact that when a new chief executive came they saw different ways to make Laura Ashley a success and each one had their own mind set on how they were going to achieve that. Therefore I would recommend that Laura Ashleys vision statement should be fixed no matter who the chief executive is as this will ensure that the employees dont get confused with what they must accomplish. Today Laura Ashley is in a strong position with 450 stores around the world and is well situated for further expansion. (Lillian Tan, Chief Executive Officer of Laura Ashley in 2005). I would recommend that Laura Ashleys vision statement should be as follows: We want Laura Ashleys to be a place We want Laura Ashleys to be a place where the customers can come and feel welcome and have a good time shopping and finding their individuality. From the moment our customers walk in our store they will be greeted by a warm atmosphere, subtle music and friendly staff. I envisions that Laura Ashley been a leading individual store that provides customers with variety of products and fashion that ensures individuality for each customer. By changing both the mission statement and vision statement for Laura Ashley will be a new adventure for them. The fact that Laura Ashley went back to its roots it would only be wise to change them both and ensure that the employees understand where the company is going and what they should to help it get there. 4. To what extent was Laura Ashleys strategy development emergent or deliberate? A deliberate strategy is more of a desired strategy that is deliberately formulated or planned by the managers. Its associated with the use of tools, techniques and frameworks for strategic analysis and evaluation. (G. Johnson, K. Scholes, R. Whittington) Deliberate strategy involves a 6 step process namely: 1 Environmental Analysis, 2 Goal Setting, 3 Strategy Formulation, 4 Strategy Implementation, 5 Evaluation/Control, 6 Feedback. (G. Johnson, K. Scholes, R. Whittington) An Emergent strategy on the other hand comes about through everyday routines, activities and processes in organisations leading to decisions that become a long-term direction of an organisation. (G. Johnson, K. Scholes, R. Whittington) An emergent strategy is a pattern of action that develops over time in an organization in the absence of a specific mission and goals, or despite a mission and goals. (D. J. Power,ÂÂ  Alexander P. and Daniel J.,ÂÂ  Planning ) Within 14 years Laura Ashleys had up to 11 different CEOs and each one had a different strategy that they implemented. Due to the companys plans and brand investment strategy that was implemented across the fashion and home furnishing department. Laura Ashleys brand became well known and standards were set for good quality product and this deliberate strategy evolved in customer loyalty. On the other hand Laura Ashleys strategy was also an emergent strategy. It was stated that they went into the market by been a home furnishing but the break though came about when Laura Ashley produced a dress for social occasion. At the time Laura Ashley made and emergent strategy to start tapping into the fashion industry. This emergent strategy made the success of the company. Laura Ashleys strategy was deliberate. Laura Ashley ensured that her strategy was to get her brand well known and recognized by the customers and potential customers. By using this strategy Laura Ashley knew she could concentrate on differentiating her products from her competitors as she wanted to put value to her brand. Laura Ashley did this to gain customer loyalty therefore she made the brand the central part of Lauras strategy. Laura Ashley herself planned a strategy that would ensure her brand would be a success. Laura and her husband did environment analysis to see if there was indeed a market. Though the years of operation things drastically changed. After the death of Laura the strategy was still in place but was forced to be emergent at times due to the changes in the environment. When Ann Iverson was selected to be chief executive she made a emergent strategy to expand Laura Ashleys overseas and she tried to appeal to the younger customers in the UK. This strategy that Iverson implemented at the end of the day becomes trouble because there were not enough products to fill each of these huge stores. This could have been a result of not carefully planning. Therefore another emergent strategy had to be put in place. The emergent strategy was to let Ann Iverson go and to put a rescue team in place. This emergent strategy left Laura Ashley having a lifeline, their major shareholder Malayan United Industries (MUI). MUI purchased 40 per cent of Laura Ashley. MUI then came up with a deliberate strategy to appoint four new boards of directors and this resulted in giving Laura Ashley some stability that they needed. MUI implemented many emergent strategies to get Laura Ashleys pack on track, they even closed down some stores that were unprofitable and closed those stores thats rented was too high. This strategy was to ensure that the expenses of Laura Ashley didnt exceed the money coming in. The overall strategy was to modernize the brand but at the same time to remain true to Laura Ashleys brand values, this strategy is emergent as well for the simple fact that it wasnt necessary to go through a long process that is time consuming. Laura Ashleys did not have the time to waste and needed to act fast due to the changes in the environment and due to the changes within the company itself. The one part of Laura Ashley that was deliberate was when they relocated the poorer performing stores from the prime areas to the larger off-pitch stores. This was deliberate as they intended to save money and costs. They had to do environmental analysis to identify the stores that were not doing so well and when they identified these stores they had to set goals in order to ensure that they dont lose any more money. By setting a goal that want to move the unprofitable stores they were deliberately planning to ensure the Laura Ashley succeeds. The next step they took was setting the strategy to actually take the unprofitable stores and move them to larger stores that were off the prime areas, this strategy was implemented for the simple fact of not having a store that is not doing well in you important areas as it could have damaged the brand image. In total this case study of Laura Ashley had deliberate and emergent strategies implemented. Due to the fact that Laura Ashley was a fragile company it was important that they did implement more of the emergent strategies as they had so many CEOs and people running the company that did change business runnings, some good and some bad. With emergent strategies it allowed them to take the opportunities they saw quickly and turn them into a success. CONCLUSION: Laura Ashleys is a business that included product development in order to satisfy the needs or the target customers though focusing on the signature brand offered. Laura Ashleys main strategy evolved around the product brand. The brand strategy provided the company with a solid base as to know that the products must always be high quality as it is the face of the business. Laura Ashleys is a rare success story and is surely an inspiration to many other companies that have grown to international status. The company has succeed for the reason that it was always looking for ways to improve their services and to improve their operations in order to increase customer services and to expand the business globally. The home furnishing offered by Laura Ashley played a major part in building the brand to be recognised, this was because they put extra value to their customers and provided them with quality goods. The company has come a long way since Laura and her husband Bernard started printing fabric on their kitchen table in London. Due to their investment in what they considered would be successfully turned out to be true, as sales increased and the company kept on growing as well. Laura Ashley had a clear brand strategy and when Laura herself was managing things she had a clear vision of wanting to be able to provide quality products to her customers and build long term relationships with them in order to ensure that they will come back. Lauras vision was to be able to also share a common interest with her customers and ensure customer satisfaction by providing excellent services. Harvard Referencing: G. Johnson K. Scholes, Exploring Corporate Strategy, Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 2002 page 30, 134, 156, 401-402, 407-408 D. J. Power, Alexander P. and Daniel J., Planning Skills .COMsm Susan Ward, About.com Guide Lillian Tan, Chief Executive Officer of Laura Ashley in 2005 Angela Schnaubelt 1 AUGUST 2007 Trice, H Beyer, J 1984, Studding Organizational Cultures through Rites and Ceremonies, Academy of Management review 9, no 4:655 C. Hill G. Jones, 1995, Strategic Management: an integrated approach, third edition, pg 45