A Trip With Great Friends †English Composition Informal Essay

A Trip With Great Friends – English Composition Informal Essay Free Online Research Papers A Trip With Great Friends English Composition Informal Essay Last December I went to Taichung with three of my friends, William, Joe, and Timothy. It was the first time I took a short, one-day trip only with my friends. When I was a child my family always took a trip on weekends. We went to almost every famous tourist attraction in Taiwan; therefore, I got annoyed and tired of such trips while other children always envied my travel experiences. But, if I went to those places with my friends, not my family, maybe it would be more interesting. So I decided that one day in the future I would went on a trip with my friends. And last December on a weekend I made it. My friends and I had been looking forward to the trip so we didn’t want to waste any time at all. On the day we departed we woke up as the first light could be seen so that we could get to our destination earlier. We fell asleep as soon as we got on the train, and we arrived at Taichung Train Station at about eight o’clock. We walked out of the station and stopped at a map of Taichung city hanged on a pillar to point out the spots we would go to on these two days. Later on, we decided to go to Tunghai University first. We took a bus and watched the morning view of a city. In the city were lots of high buildings, which windows reflected the white clouds and the blue sky. It was really a pretty view which a city could have. After half an hour we got to Tunghai University. It had a large campus and many plants on it. But what impressed me most were the buildings. All the buildings there such as post office, library, activity center, restaurants, etc, looked like the ones i n old days. Between these quaint buildings were many narrow paths; beside these paths lay green trees swaying in the breeze. I took a deep breath, relaxing myself, and enjoyed the serene, peaceful moment. After visiting Tunghai University, it was the time for lunch. We went to a famous street, Ching Ming 1st Street, where many young people in Taichung like to go windows shopping such as Si Men Ting in Taipei. But the tables and chairs beside the street made a difference from other streets. We chose a table, seating ourselves, and ordered for tea and cakes instead of our lunch. Sunlight shinning on us through leaves was not flashing but mild. We stayed there till the night darkened the sky. On the street was a dairy cake shop called a special name, â€Å"The Dairy Cake Of A Convent At Sunrise.† It was a weird shop which was decorated as if a convent. The clerks there also wore deliberately in black like nuns. They said they were the nuns who studied dairy cakes in a convent and they sold dairy cakes only. I bought a dairy cake and sent it to my parents as a Christmas gift, though the shop was really strange as well as the clerks there. After that we took a taxi to Train Station and went on our return journey. The trip is short but it is a very good one than any other trips I have ever took. Traveling with my friends, I have different feelings about everything, though I have experienced it before. But what’s different is that I can share these feelings with my friends, so do they. With different people, you have different feelings. And this is also why the trip with friends can be so interesting and fascinating to me. Research Papers on A Trip With Great Friends - English Composition Informal EssayThe Masque of the Red Death Room meaningsThe Spring and AutumnUnreasonable Searches and SeizuresBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoMind TravelTwilight of the UAWLifes What IfsPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyTrailblazing by Eric Anderson

American Reaction to the French Revolution

American Reaction to the French Revolution The French Revolution began in 1789 with the storming of the Bastille on July 14th. From 1790 to 1794, the revolutionaries grew  increasingly radical. Americans were at first enthusiastic in support of the revolution. However, over time divisions of opinion became apparent between federalists and anti-federalists. Divide Between Federalists and Anti-Federalists The anti-federalists in America  led by figures such as Thomas Jefferson were in favor of supporting the revolutionaries in France. They thought the French were imitating the American colonists in their desire for freedom. There was a hope that the French  would win a greater degree of autonomy that resulted in the new Constitution and its strong federal government in the United States. Many anti-federalists rejoiced in every revolutionary victory as news of it reached America. Fashions changed to reflect republican dress in France. The Federalists were not sympathetic to the French Revolution, led by figures such as Alexander Hamilton.  The Hamiltonians  feared mob rule. They were  afraid of egalitarian ideas causing further upheaval at home. European Reaction In Europe, rulers were not necessarily that bothered by what was happening in France at first. However, as the gospel of democracy spread, Austria grew afraid. By 1792, France had declared war on Austria wanting to ensure that it would not try to invade. In addition, revolutionaries wanted to spread their own beliefs to other European countries. As France began to win victories beginning with the Battle of Valmy in September, England and Spain got concerned. Then on January 21, 1793, King Louis XVI was executed. France became emboldened and declared war on England. Thus American could no longer sit back but if they wanted to continue to trade with England and/or France. It had to claim sides or remain neutral. President George Washington chose the course of neutrality, but this would be a difficult tightrope for America to walk. Citizen  Genà ªt In 1792, the French appointed  Edmond-Charles Genà ªt, also known as Citizen  Genà ªt, as the Minister to the United States. There was some question on whether he should be formally received by the US  government. Jefferson felt that  America should support the Revolution which would mean publicly acknowledging  Genà ªt as the legitimate minister to France. Hamilton was against receiving him. Despite Washingtons ties to Hamilton and the Federalists, he decided to receive him. Washington eventually ordered that  Genà ªt be censured and later recalled by France when it was discovered that he had been commissioning privateers to fight for France in its war against Great Britain. Washington had to deal with their previously agreed upon Treaty of Alliance with France that had been signed during the American Revolution. Because of its own claims for neutrality, America could not close its ports to France without appearing to side with Britain. Therefore, even though France was taking advantage of the situation by using American ports to help fight its war against Britain, America was in a difficult place. The Supreme Court eventually helped provide a partial solution by preventing the French from arming privateers in American ports. After this proclamation, it was found that Citizen  Genà ªt had a French-sponsored warship armed and sail from Philadelphia. Washington demanded that he be recalled to France. However, this and other issues with the French fighting the British under the American flag led to increased issues and confrontations with the British. Washington sent John Jay to find a diplomatic solution to the issues with Great Britain. However, the resulting Jays Treaty was quite weak and widely derided. It required the British to abandon forts they still occupied on Americas western frontier. It also created a trading agreement between the two nations. However, it had to give up the idea of freedom of the seas. It also did nothing to stop impressment where the British could force American citizens on captured sailing vessels into service on their own ships. Aftermath In the end, the French Revolution brought the issues of neutrality and how America would deal with belligerent European countries. It also brought unresolved issues with Great Britain to the forefront. Finally, it showed a great divide in the way that federalists and anti-federalists felt about France and Great Britain.

Using Control Systems Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Using Control Systems - Case Study Example The idea of balanced scorecard was developed by Kaplan and Norton. The balanced scorecard is a performance management tool backed up by design methods and automation tools, which is helpful for managers to monitor the efficiency of their followers’ activities and analyze the short/long term consequences of these actions. According to a survey of management tools conducted by Bain & Company (n.d.), balanced scorecard was the most widely used management tool in 2010. Design of a balanced scorecard facilitates the identification of a set of financial and non-financial measures and linking of targets to them. This design is helpful for managers to assess whether the firm’s current performance meets its expectations. As stated in OPM.gov (n.d.), under the balanced scorecard system, business managers gather and review information from four different perspectives such as the customer’s perspective, the internal business perspective, the innovation and learning perspecti ve, and the financial perspective. In contrast to conventional frameworks where employee performance plans pay attention only to behaviors, actions, or processes, the balanced scorecard approach particularly emphasizes individual employee performance so as to align employee performance plans with organizational goals. Management professionals opine that the balanced scorecard approach to employee performance is extremely effective to obtain an extensive view of an employee’s work performance. The major objective of the balanced scorecard is to develop an improved system that can measure the overall performance of an organization and identify the key areas of improvement (tutorialspoint). Another key objective of this management framework is to assess the efficiency of an organization’s workforce by simply focusing on their individual performance and the extent to which they meet expectations. An effective

Holy Trinity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Holy Trinity - Essay Example Lastly, the Holy Trinity is â€Å"immutable and unalterable forever† (Knight). This implies that nothing can ever destroy the Holy Trinity and that it can never be destroyed or the Three Persons ever be separated. The proofs of the Holy Trinity are found in both the Old and New Testaments but mostly in the latter, although these proofs are rather implied than stated directly. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus states after His Resurrection, â€Å"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit† (Mt. 28:19, New American Standard Bible). This passage clearly implies the distinction between the Three Persons – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, the fact that the conjunction â€Å"and† connects the names of these Three Persons somehow ascribe to them a sense of equality in terms of Godhood. All three therefore are One God. Moreover, the three words that precede the nam es of the Three Persons – â€Å"in the name† – somehow implies and affirms the God nature of not only one but all these Three Persons. Thus, the Father is not the only Person in One God but also the Son and the Holy Spirit. ... On the other hand, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity – the Holy Spirit – is mentioned by Jesus Christ Himself in the Gospel of Luke: â€Å"†¦the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say† (Lk. 12:12). Moreover, Jesus mentions the Holy Spirit again in the Gospel of John: â€Å"When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Jn. 15:26). These aforementioned passages imply only one thing – that the Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, and that He is always mentioned to have a divine connection with the Father and the Son. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity, however, met with several oppositions from various individuals as well as other Christian denominations. The first of these oppositions was from the Alexandrian priest named Arius in the year 325. His proposed doctrine, which was known as Arianism , denied the doctrine of the Holy Trinity on the grounds that â€Å"personal distinctions were not eternally present within the nature of God† (Dorman). Moreover, according to Arius, â€Å"Before time began, the Father had created the Son by the power of the Word to be His agent in creation† (Dorman). Thus, for Arius, the idea of the Son being created by the Father means that the Son must not be identified with the Godhead. As a creation of the Father, the Son is therefore, although created before the world, lacks the divine nature of the Father and is therefore NOT equal to Him (Schaff). This heresy, however, was condemned at the ecumenical Council of Constantinople in the year 381 (â€Å"The Doctrine of the Trinity†). The one who faced Arius and the Arians in opposition was Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria during the 4th century

McDonalds top five critical success factors

McDonalds top five critical success factors Executive Summary This report will lay out the importance of McDonalds top five critical success factors which has made the company this successful. Firstly, the history and background of the company will be established to get the mood and feel of the restaurant, this will include the positioning of the company within the market as well. Secondly, the critical success factors of the company will be elaborated in this section. Thirdly, the report would give examples of the downfalls of McDonalds as well, as every product and company has its declining stage, and how it overcame the situation. And lastly, insights and conclusions will be stated to give a broader sense of the importance to why it is important to discuss about such company. Introduction to McDonalds McDonalds has become a wide spreaded company in the world today. It would be interesting to look into the factors to what made the company so successful. However, before going into details of any insights and findings, we must first establish understanding from the background and histories of the company first. McDonalds Background It is probably safe to say that McDonalds existence and expansions has been one of the prominent events in revolutionizing the eating habits and lifestyles of people globally. Located in 119 countries world-wide, it is estimated that more than 46 million people dine at one of the 31,000 outlets everyday. (xxx) While 9,000 of the venues are owned and operated by the corporation itself, others are managed by franchisees or affiliates. (xxx) McDonalds History Originally, the McDonalds business was started by two brothers, Dick and Mac McDonalds in 1940. At that time, the restaurant in California was using eight of Ray Krocs Multimixer milkshake machines. Curious about the learnings to his great sales success of his Multimixers to the McDonalds company, Ray Kroc decided to find out more details of the restaurant. During the time of Krocs visit, he witnessed the restaurant at its peek. Families were much attracted to the concept of the restaurant, for it was a simple self-served, streamlined operation that had a simple menu of hamburgers, cheeseburgers, french fries, shakes, soft drinks, and apple pie. (xxx) The most attractive aspect of the restaurant had to do with the workers efficiency level, because each workers steps were formatted in such a way that resembled the assembly line, it allowed the savings in preparation time which directly related with the increasing in volume, ultimately resulting the restaurant to lower the price of a hamburger from 30 cents to 15 cents. (xxx) A clear price competitive advantage over its competitors at that time. With the success of McDonalds in 1954, Ray Kroc foresaw bigger and better potential growths for the company by means of franchising the name out. Indifferent and unbothered by the plan, the brothers allowed Kroc to get on the mission by himself using their restaurants name. (xxx) McDonalds first advertising campaign Look for the Golden Arches, made its way in 1960 with great achievement. In that year, McDonalds became larger and larger, which could be linked to the vast growth of U.S. automobile industry that came with suburbanization. (xxx) The following year, Kroc decided to embark the journey alone with the McDonald brothers, he bought out the restaurant for $2.7 million USD and made it a mission to make McDonalds the number one fast-food chain in the country. (xxx) McDonalds amazing growth continued in 1970. Fast service was always preferred by the Americans and McDonalds was fastest at its service. By 1972 it crossed the profit margin of 1 billion in annual sales and by 1976 McDonalds sold as much as 20 billion hamburgers for which the sales exceeded $3 billion. It broke new ground in breakfast by introducing Egg Muffin in 1973 when market research point out that quick breakfast would be preferred. And 5 years later it introduced a full breakfast menu and by 1987 maximum breakfasts of USA were ordered from McDonalds By 1970, McDonalds had restaurants in all fifty states and a few in Canada and the Caribbean. Foreign operations exploded during the 70s and 80s, as the company expanded into Asia, Australia, South America and Europe. Kroc counted on the expertise of local companies to help them adapt McDonalds food and service to other lands. Only within the first 30 years after the establishment of the company, McDonalds dominated the domestic market with more than 10,000 restaurants throughout the states of USA. In 1980, about 28% of new McDonalds restaurants were opened outside the United States market borders, this number increased to 40% in 1986 and went up to nearly 60% in 1990. In 2000, McDonalds collected about 21 billion dollars from 28,707 restaurants located in the external market, made up for 53% of total revenue of 40 billion. According to statistics in 2000, with each 25,000 American, there was a McDonalds restaurant, this rate made the competitors in the fast-food industry admire and envy. By 1992 almost 40 percent of the companys sales came from overseas. Today, McDonalds has more than 31,000 chains across 119 countries around the globe. In 2007, McDonalds served more than 16 billion customers, equivalent to one lunch and one dinner for everyone on the world. With revenues of 4 billion worldwide, McDonalds became the largest provider company of food worldwide. (DAVID) McDonalds Position in the Market The simple yet profound concept in which is still being used today was established in the early developmental stages of the new franchised outlets of McDonalds, under Ray Krocs supervision, which is: Quality, Service, Cleaning and Value. This standard procedure was enforced in order to obtain maximum quality and standards. (xxx) Unsurprisingly, their vision and mission statements of the company followed such statement. The Vision: McDonalds vision is to be the worlds best quick service restaurant experience. Being the best means providing outstanding quality, service, cleanliness, and value, so that we make every customer in every restaurant smile. (xxx) The Mission: Be the best employer for our people in each community around the world Deliver operational excellence to our customers in each of our restaurants; and Achieve enduring profitable growth by expanding the brand and leveraging. (xxx) Even though the earlier stages of McDonalds attracted more families than it did other categories, nowadays, McDonalds has made it clear that it positions itself to target and cater people of all backgrounds. Suitable for people of various needs and wants; from families to young children, to people who love to enjoy life to people who are on the go, and meat lovers to vegetarians, virtually anybody and everybody can find something on the menu for themselves. Critical Success Factors for McDonalds Aggressive Business Goal Hello, Im the new McDonalds supervisor . . .Were going to run you out of business was infamously said by Ralph Lanphar to a competitor near by. Although this saying might come out as aggressive and rude, looking at it from a different perspective, it could very much be a manifestation of pride and the eagerness to grow bigger and stronger. From this statement, it is evident that McDonalds was committed to build the strongest superior operation firm. This pride and eagerness has been carried on until today. All staff, employees and top management have been engrained in their early stages of training to love the company, to understand that there are benefits for them and that together McDonalds and they can grow together. They should take pride in the success. Even to this day and age, the mission to instill loyalty to the company could be seen today. Charlie Bell, McDonalds CEO in 2004, used to say that the people at McDonalds people must be proud of where we work, proud of what we do, proud to wear the McDonalds pin, proud of our food offerings, proud to eat our food offerings and proud to be part of McDonalds. Going back to the point where McDonalds has a strong and aggressive business plan, McDonalds plans to make everybody in the world know McDonalds (from the video) Uncompromising Standards One of the most influential factors that made the initial set of McDonalds possible would have to be credited to the restaurants extreme commitment to their aimed standards of consistency and their motto of Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value. In which both were created by Kroc himself. Even customers knew that no matter where they travelled, they could rely on those qualities at every McDonalds they visted. Tom Peters said keeping it simple in amdist of the growing complexity. Uniformity. (from the video) Consistency In 1955, Kroc incorporated his company as McDonalds corporation and opened his first very own restaurant in Illinois. Placing his concern over the consistency and uniformity from store to store, he decided to establish strong restaurants first before franchising them out. (xxx) Wants McDonalds to be a multi local and not a multi national corporation. (from the video) QSCV For example, cleanliness is one feature of the McDonalds corporate system that needs no explanation; clean toilets are universally appreciated. McDonalds is widely credited with starting a revolution of rising expectations among East Asian consumers who had never experienced high standards of public hygiene in the catering trade. In Taipei, Beijing, Seoul, and Hong Kong, local restaurateurs had to match this new standard or watch their customers go elsewhere. Young people began to draw an equation between the condition of a restaurants toilet and the state of its kitchen. Willingness to Adapt McDonalds success is dependant on adapting to its consumers needs and demands McDonalds franchise business has not only survived but thrived through boom times and recessions and has successfully reacted to consumer trends. It was one of th first franchise restaurants to post nutritional information about its menu, and now offers salads and other healthy options in recent years. Also, the key to McDonalds worldwide success is that people everywhere know what to expect when they pass through the golden arches. This does not, however, mean that the corporation has resisted change or refused to adapt when local customs require flexibility. In Israel, after initial protests, Big Macs are now served without cheese in several outlets, thereby permitting the separation of meat and dairy products required of Kosher restaurants. Similarly, McDonalds restaurants in India serve vegetable McNuggets and a mutton based Maharaja Mac. Innovations that are necessary in a country where Hindus do not eat beef, muslims do not eat pork. In Malaysia and Singapore, McDonalds underwent rigorous inspections by muslim clerics to ensure ritual cleanliness; the chain was rewarded with a Halal certificate, indicating the total absence of pork products (Watson, 1997) This also includes the fact that McDonalds needs to take the environmental factors and the changing world into consideration as well. McDonalds continually seeks for innovation and they need to adapt to new market conditions according the fast paced globalize world. For example, in 1963, McDonalds introduced the Filet-of-Fish sandwich in the Cincinnati area for Catholics who were restricted not to consume meat on Fridays. This new offering was later on implemented to the standard menu, then to the national menu and lastly world wide. In 2005, another adaptation to the times and consumer demand was the provision of WiFi with Nintendo in select locations; and delivery service in Singapore, where customers can phone in their order and have it delivered 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The company has also departed from its standard free-standing units, and installed quick service kiosks in busy places, like malls and airports. Valuing People Approach The real secret to successful operation system is not found in its regimen but in the way it enforces uniform procedures without stifling the entrepreneurship of franchises. For example, in Japan, without the freedom of franchisees and suppliers to exercise their entrepreneurial instincts, to test their own ideas. . . it would lose touch with the market place. (from the video) think of people. Everybody from below to top. Also, McDonalds views people, including the maintenance people, partners, corporate managers, hostess in the restaurant, suppliers etc. what to see our associates grow. If one example of a family succeeds, we all succeed. Franchisees/ Associates/ Partners His idea was to start the franchisee without paying the franchisee charges. This was the start of Mc Donalds success. First, make your partners rich. Though Kroc focused more closely on the burger than others, his real innovation was to turn the business of franchising on its head. Typically, franchising deals were struck by firms that wanted to get rich quick by being paid up front for licensing their brand name and menu and supplying products. They were not confident in their long term survival, so they wanted to pocket money now Kroc burst with confidence in McDonalds future and thats why he was willing to get rich at a slower pace, if it meant that his franchisees would prosper. Kroc felt that his competitors cared only about jamming profitable stuff down the throats of their partners, rather than long term growth. He noticed how casually and negligently the companies supervised their stores. Kroc felt passionately that his job was to make his franchisees rich by cutting thir cos ts and improving their products. (Buchholz, 2007) Krocs business model required an extra helping of patience. Kroc trusted a bunch of novice franchisees. Kroc may have been confident, but not completely naà ¯ve. He slowly distributed the stroes, testing and training the franchisees and requiring them to meet his excruciating standards for QSCV. Because other companies were eager to collect big bucks fast, they sold off vast statewide territories to rich speculators. Kroc sold just one at a time and refused to sell a second franchise to an operator unless his performance was stellar. Wanted the corporation to have control over its franchisees, the local business people who paid the corporation to run its restaurants. Other chains let franchisees buy the right to open as many stores in a region as they could. Kroc sold his franchisees just one store, so he could make sure they kjnew how to run a McDonalds the way he wanted it run. He made sure his franchisees did well, their success served his interests, since the corporation earned money on their restaurants sales. Also, from his background knowledge of being a successful salesman, he understood that he would not be a supplier to his franchisees, for it would jeopardize the relationships between the two because of profits. You cannot be a partner and a supplier at the same time says Kroc. Because it creates beaucracy. Do it another way and it builds trust.Kroc was adamant in helping out his franchisees as much as possible, as he knew that McDonalds growth was highly dependant on their success. He trained franchisees in McDonalds methods at the companys hamburger university. As John Love writes in McDonalds behind the arches, In the end, the genius of Ray Kroc was that he treated franchisees as equal partners. Suppliers Kroc wanted to tame his suppliers by making them rich. He wanted better prices and better quality. . Ray Krocs plan to do business with outside suppliers was giving many small but new companies a chance to make a profit on high volume orders. Kroc negotiated better deals with small suppliers who were hungry for his emerging business. Kraft had the McDonalds cheese account early on, but when Kroc requested a sharper- tasting cheddar for the burgers, Kraft was too busy or too comfortable to develop a new recipe. When Kroc went looking for good-quality beef, major players like Armour and Swift refused to extend credit. So Kroc made mulitimillionaires of the quick and hungry suppliers. When Kraft failed him, Kroc turned to a cheesehead in Green Bay, Wisconsin, named L.D. Schreiber. Today the Schreiber company is a multibillionaire dollar firm. Kroc could not negotiate great deals with Wesson oil and Procter Gamble. Instead he turned an upstart named Harry Smargon into a very rich man. Staff McDonalds saw the importance of doing an internal marketing plan. Explaining that external plans and programs will not be as successful if you put the outside world before your own people. Employees come first (xxx) When im loving it was first globally launched, McDonalds launched it internally first before a single consumer saw the advertising and experienced the marketing. This demonstrated that the people were the most important elements for making the revitalization of the McDonalds brand work. They wanted im loving it to become an internal rallying cry, and not just an external slogan. Charlie Bell recognized that proud employees provided greater service, which can make an incredible impression that will have an impact on a customers loyalty. Also, they initiate staff to go out and be creative, contribute to the company. Fred Turner, I want you to go out there and make mistakes. Better than doing nothing and being concern free. Learn but dont do the same mistakes twice. (from the video) Currently, approximately 1.6 billion people all over the world are employed or own a franchise at McDonalds. Though much of the success could be contributed from the sharp eyes of Ray Kroc and his management team, we cannot deny that one of the contributers to the success lies within the employees inside the organization. Since employees play such an essential role in the main activities of the company, There have been surveys conducted concerning employees and staff of the growing popularity of this chain of restaurants and employees contribution to it. One of the most important points is that employees are motivated in their work and duties. Company provides with a set of benefits for their internal staff, such as: Employees are allowed to eat for free; Employees have a month of paid holidays; Employees have an access for private health care; Employees have discount card; Employees are awarded for servicing for 3, 5, 10, 15 and more years; Employees have an opportunity to get sponsorship program, etc. Moreover, training sessions are provided for the internal new coming staff. These training sessions are properly structured and highlight the main values and principles of the company Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value (QSCV). Newcomers and freshmen are trained how to provide the better service to customers and clients. What is more important is that the training sessions are constantly updated, to become more modern and realistic. McDonalds has went further and established its own education center for learning and training classes, called Hamburger University, in which is now opened in many parts of the world . In this university there is a centralized system of education, which teaches new staff about the importance of people in marketing management, the sense of employee training and so on. That is why even every day new technologies appears, McDonalds remain the number one in the fast food providers. The career ladder is very attainable for everyone who wishes it in McDonalds. Approximately 20% of the top management staff passed through the very beginning position in the kitchen. For example, If the person really has a willing to be promoted further, he always can reach it. Everything in the hiring and promotion people in McDonalds depends on ability and hardworking skills of a particular person. For a new coming employee there is a set of stages he/she should take in order to have a desired position within the company. People taking high positions within the company and willing to know all internal processes need to pass through them by themselves. They should clearly understand all the details their subordinates report to them so that they do not only rely on their results, but can estimate what has been made incorrectly or in improper way. McDonalds exactly gives such an opportunity for people to start from the early steps and grow till the desired point of destination. Nowadays, more and more students come to interviews trying to get the job in McDonalds. It becomes popular among the youth to have a part time job and the companies like McDonalds also benefits it as they offer a little bit higher the industrys average minimum salaries. Students have several benefits working for McDonalds; they have free meal and have the opportunity to earn their own pocket money. McDonalds, on the other hand, should have trained employees, whom they need to teach immediately, and accurately introducing to the existing process and paying them less. To reach the goal of fast training and not disturbing other employees from their routine work, managers of McDonalds decided to implement the E-learning system for freshmen, consisting of videos, role plays, newspapers and so on. Employees are the most essential part in every organization. McDonalds wholly understands the importance and contribution of every one person within the organization; that is why there is well known principle: The result is done by a man. In order to fulfill the requirements of the company Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value (QSCV) McDonalds considers each employee as the vital part for success in achieving the above mentioned characteristics. In the desire to fit the reputation of brand as number one fast-food restaurant, McDonalds tries to follow four simple rules to help their employees to improve, such as: The company has to maintain different kind of motivation to different departments within the organization; Every member of the staff has to have one goal, which will be reachable and clearly viewed; As a particular employee grow in his positions, his goals should also be changed, so that every position up will spread his goals broader; An increase in salary should be attractive for an employee. This will be a good motivation technique. McDonalds uses different aspects of motivation tools, which include financial, non financial and social ones. Variety of motivation methods were chosen for implementation because the research conducted internally in the company showed that people need not only monetary refunds, but social recognition too. They should not be separated, but rather combined for serving as the strong motivation technique. The results of conducting the survey clearly underlines that although the motivation tools were based on the theory of Maslows hierarchy of needs, in the reality employees need the mix of all aspects of motivation, not excluding some of them, in order to improve the performance of people and as the result increase the productivity of the whole activities of McDonalds. (NADIYA) Giving Back to the Community Kroc became extremely wealthy following McDonalds enlisting in the stock market in 1965. . Kroc believed in giving something back to the community where you do your business This extreme wealth did not stay with him alone, he decided that he would like to share his wealth amongst others too. The Kroc foundation, which supports researches on diabetes, arthritis and multiple sclerosis, is a testimonial of that. Other wealth sharing opportunities known was that he gave 8 million USD to some of his top employees. Over the years, the corporation also donated food and money to many charities, and the company encouraged local franchisees to get involved in their communities. The best known charitable effort is the Ronald McDonald house, which is located near hospitals where families can stay for free while their children receive medical treatment. . In 1974 McDonalds first opened the Ronald McDonalds house in Philadelphia thus following Krocs philosophy to provide the home away from home for the families of children in nearby hospital followed by 100 similar McDonald houses all over US after 12 yrs Kroc makes it a mission to give back to the people, as it reflects on the consideration and serves as a thank you to those who have always been supporting McDonalds. Facing Hardships and Overcoming Them In Feb 2006, McDonalds stock traded at 27 times earning. However, only one year afterwards, McDonalds second quarter profit growth was just 4% with a 2% decline in earnings from the US businesses. In 2002, after McDonalds stocks have been declining for three years, the board of directors replaced Jack Greenburg with Jim Cantalupo as CEO. Mcdonalds sales were in decline, market share was shrinking, franchisees were frustrated, employee morale was low, and customer satisfaction was even lower. On the plus side, McDonalds had one great asset: People recalled their happy experiences at McDonalds as a child. The problem was that the majority of consumers did not have recent fond experiences. Now, looking back into the unfortunate event, we can see that there were three areas to where McDonalds has neglected. Which were, the restaurant lacked, renovation, innovation and marketing (xxx) When the image of the brand was declining, instead of investing in brand experience renovations and innovations, McDonalds focused merely on monthly promotions. Completely neglecting the means of brand building. The aforementioned three basics guidelines to profitable growth were mistakenly seen as to place focus on more cost reduction methods, instead of properly managing quality growth of the top line. For example, the teeny beanie baby promotion in the US had kidss dragging parents in for the toys while tossing the food into trash bins. But, this had the unintended consequence of reinforcing the image of happy meals as a toy with food as an incidental attachment rather than as a great tasting food with a toy promotion attached. With a decline in food quality, poor service, etc. It was not surprising that opportunitic monthly promotions became the dominant marketing focus. Happy meals had become a promotion of a desirable toy, rather than a promotion for desirable food. This is not a way to build an enduring brand. Overemphasis on the deal rather than the brand results in customers becoming deal loyal rather than brand loyal. For brands to live forever, they must be loved forever. McDonalds leadership fell out of love with the McDonalds brand, and consumers franchisees, employees and the financial community also fell out of love with the McDonalds brand. However, fortunately, Denis Hennequin has brought modifications and redesigned interiors for McDonald are giving it a warmer, more eco-friendly look. This brought in more customers, as the new look generated a fresher image to McDonalds in Europe. Also, Charlie Bells idea of McCafe to offer quality coffee, tea and pastries in a quieter, more attractive atmostphere also made McDonalds competitive with the other fastfood joints, as it offered more than just burgers and fries, it offered coffee in which many restaurants were not able to give the customers such variety. Insights to Other Critical Success Factors Now that McDonalds critical success factors and how it dealt with hardships is established, we can now clearly see that there are some essential parts that must always be intact in order to sustain a business. In contrary to many beliefs, although McDonalds is regarded as a fast food restaurant, the profit made from the goods sold within the restaurant is not actually what keeps McDonalds rich. It is actually the real estate business that is doing it. Even in Fortune Magazine they said that McDonalds is considered as the largest estate in the world (from the video) . It earns revenues as investor in properties, a franchiser of restaurants and an operator of restaurants. Most of the income was coming from 1.9% of service tax from the franchisee. Initially the franchisee fee was only $950 which is currently approx $45000. McDonalds started averaging an annual sale of $200000 in the early 1950 only which shows how people started liking the food and service of it. $1000 went as a royalty to the McDonalds brother and thus the average franchisee was making an operating profit of $40000.Its now making a profit of 1 billion on system wide sales. It was the real estate business which converted McDonalds into a real money machine. The real estate investment strategy is the most important reason why McDonalds boasts a plan that is not close to being equalled in the food service business. Mr Sonnerborn the top financial officer never tried to follow the Kroc-Turner operating system which is the reason why McDonalds is what now. He came up with an idea of money making on real estate that Mc Donalds would lease to its franchisees. He started implementing this plan of making McDonalds a separate real estate company which would locate and lease restaurants sites from land owners which would also be leased to the company. He also had this idea which helped for its major success is that it sold food equipment and food supplies to licensees charging a minimum of $840 per month with interest. In addition to franchisee fees and marketing fees McDonalds collect rent calculated as a percentage of sales. The joint has made a good profit percentage even in the recession making a profit of 23million dollar after tax. Also, the huge size of McDonalds could be factored into one of the biggest critical success factors of all. Because of the humougous size of the corporation, it allowed it to do many things which other franchisees or small businesses could not do on a large scale. Along side its philosophy, vision and mission statements, McDonalds has definitely managed to beat the mediocre standards during the earlier stages, allowing it to take off and penetrate quicker into the fast food market than its rivals. This is mainly by its Attributes of speed: Initially, this was the main factor to McDonalds success. Even from the earlier days, McDonalds has earned a reputation for serving meals efficiently fast. In comparison to other similar fast food competitors, such as Hardees and Rex Burger joints, McDonalds was always developing its method behind the counters to speed up their process of delivering the goods. Types of products offered: A variety of goods catered to all types of people in every region of the world. In India, for example, McVeggie has become a popular delight among the locals, as the majority of the population is vegetarians. Prices of products: Affordable to everybody. This was hugely contributed by the speedy process of the food preparation time. Since it took less time to cook, assemble and serve the burgers and fries, this only meant that McDonalds was able to sell more products in a shorter time as well. Hence, the economy of scale, prices were able to fall lower than its main competitors. Level of service: Consistency of the services. Ray Kroc understood that the uniformity and precision was key to a successful franchise. He made sure that there were rules set and abided, by carefully creating a manu

Essay --

Impact of oil prices on world economy 1. Increased financial indebtedness of oil importing nations due to constant rise in oil prices Oil importing countries budget primarily comprise of oil cost which increases the indebtedness of these countries towards oil producing nations. The prolonged indebtedness may give rise to insolvency of these counties in long term. 2.Increase in oil price has a direct impact on both micro- and macro economics of oil importing countries. Oil price increases are generally linked to increase in inflation and reduce economic growth. Increase in oil prices increases the cost of supply chain. This causes the inward shift in aggregate supply curve and hence the price level goes up. The fluctuations in oil price leads to speculation in the market. This is also a major reason for short term price rise of the commodities in a country. Apart from the direct impact, the indirect impact could be the price rise of commodities which use oil as their input in some form or other. Increasing oil prices in oil consuming nations reduces the purchasing power an...

Exam Guide Ling

LING 160 Guidelines for Exam 2 Exam Date, Time, and Room # Exam 2 is on Thursday, March 28, 2012, room #3310, at 2:30 p. m. It will be about one hour long. Exam Format Mostly multiple-choice questions and a few open-ended, short-answer questions, like exam 1. We’ll have between 45 and 50 questions total. Unless stated otherwise, provide short, bullet-like, answers to the open-ended questions including only the relevant information and skipping unnecessary parts. For example, do not write â€Å"I believe that one of the most important factors for XXX is†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ; just provide the most important factor(s), and do not exceed the space provided.If you have one line for an answer, do not write more than that. There will be deductions for lengthy answers. What to Bring Your SFU student ID, a pencil and an eraser for the Scantron Sheet, and a non-erasable blue or black pen for the open-ended questions. General Guidelines ? Practice doing the exercises in the text. Answers for m ost of them can be found at the end of each chapter. ? Though exam 2 will mostly cover the material discussed after exam 1, exam 2 will be cumulative. It will cover everything up to and including week 9, i. . , Chapters 1-10 from the textbook, including Ch. 10 â€Å"Style, Context and Register†, and the accompanying articles from the Reading List. ? Focus on main ideas and key examples supporting them. ? You do not have to memorize every single example in the textbook chapters and articles from every language. However, you do have to know the definitions of major terms, their application, and be able to provide examples illustrating the terms discussed in the texts and in the lectures. 1 LING 160/Dr.Ivelina Tchizmarova March 14, 2013 What will the Exam Cover? Textbook: It will cover Ch. 1-10, including Ch. 10 from the textbook. Articles: It will also cover the articles from the reading list up until and including week 9’s readings on Style, Context, and Register (see t he Reading List). Focus particularly on the following six articles and book chapters; there may be open-ended questions on them, so read them carefully, and be prepared to come up with your own answers: 1. De Wolf, Gaelan Dodds. 990. Social and Regional Differences in Grammatical Usage in Canadian English: Ottawa and Vancouver. American Speech. 65. 1:3-32. 2. Clarke, Sandra. 2006. Nooz or Nyooz? : The Complex Construction of Canadian Identity. The Canadian Journal of Linguistics. 51. 2/3:225-246. 3. Hoffman, Michol and James Walker. 2010. Ethnolects and the City: Ethnic Orientation and Linguistic Variation in Toronto English. Language Variation and Change. 22:37-67. 4. Clarke, Sandra and Philip Hiscock. 2009.Hip-hop in a Post-insular Community: Hybridity, Local Language, and Authenticity in an Online Newfoundland Rap Group. Journal of English Linguistics. 37. 3:241-261. 5. Battarbee, Keith. 2010. Shifts in the Language of Law: Reading the Registers of Official Language Statutes. Tex t and Talk. 30. 6:637-655. There may be multiple-choice questions on all of the remaining articles from the reading list for weeks 1-9 (not just the articles after exam 1); they will be based on main ideas and key supporting examples. ? Below is a sample list of topics to review for exam 2.For each topic: (1) be able to provide definitions of the sociolinguistic terms; (2) illustrate them with specific examples from different parts of the world; (3) relate the term specifically to Canada based on the articles in the reading list and the group presentations; (4) when terms are given in pairs (or groups), you need to be able to tell how they are similar and how they are different from each other. ? For a more detailed list of topics, see the main text’s table of contents on pp. ix-xii. 2 LING 160/Dr. Ivelina Tchizmarova March 14, 2013Sample List of Topics to Review Please note that this is not an exhaustive list, and the questions on the actual exam may differ from these in con tent and format. 1. Regional and Social Dialects. 2. National and Official Languages. 3. Vernacular and Standard Varieties. 4. Language loss, language death, and language revival. 5. Gender-exclusive and gender-preferential language. 6. Age-graded features of language. 7. Ethnicity and language. 8. Social networks. 9. Language Variation and Language Change. 10. Style, context, and register.Other Reminders: 1. Be on time. If you are late, you will not be given extra time to complete the exam. 2. Write legibly. If your answer is illegible, we’ll mark it as wrong. 3. Please remember that there are no makeup exams in this course. If you are sick and can’t write the test, inform me by email. Make sure you see a doctor and obtain a doctor’s note for that day. The only medical form I accept is the Health Care Provider Statement from the SFU website below. If you need it, print it out, and have your doctor complete it: http://students. sfu. a/content/dam/sfu/students/pd f/healthcare-statement-general. pdf 4. Please do not email me questions about the exam. Ask your questions in class, so everyone can have the chance to contribute to and hear the answer. 5. Answers to exam questions will not be posted on webct or distributed to students. However, we’ll discuss the answers to exam 2 in class a week after the exam, so if you would like to hear them, you need to attend the lecture. Remember also to bring your instructions with you, so you can check your answers. 3 LING 160/Dr. Ivelina Tchizmarova March 14, 2013