Hubspot Case Question Essay

1. Analyze HubSpot’s Marketing Mix in the context of an overallMarketing Strategy 2. Do you agree with HubSpot that the â€Å"rules of marketing† have changed? If so, how? Is inbound marketingthe answer? Why or why not? 3. Is HubSpot finding and serving the right set of customers? Given its position as a start-up company,should it widen its focus to serve any customer that comes its way? Or narrow their target, by focusingexclusively on either Owner Ollies or Marketer Marys? Or by focusing exclusively on either B2B or B2Ccustomers? 4. HubSpot has begun to differentiate its products as it has learned more about its customers. Should it domore? Should its pricing strategy change too? Does the software-as-a-service (SaaS) pricing model workfor both Marketer Marys and Owner Ollies? Should HubSpot try to immediately capture more value for either of these customers? 5. Are Halligan and Shah being too stubborn by not doing any outbound marketing? Or should they continueto practice what they preach by focusing on inbound marketing alone? 6. Halligan and Shah want HubSpot to be to marketing, what salesforce.com is to sales. What would your plan of action be to make this happen? Why would you take these actions? What keeps you up at nightabout your plan? This case follows the growth of HubSpot, an entrepreneurial venture which faces significant challenges including:developing a market segmentation, deciding which customer to serve and which customers to turn away,configuring a pricing strategy which is aligned with the value being delivered to customers, and determiningwhether inbound marketing programs can generate enough scale to grow the business or whethertraditionaloutbound marketing methods need to be employed to accelerate growth. The HubSpot case focuses on issuesaround marketing channels, specifically inbound marketing and the use of Web 2.0 tools and applications suchas blogging, search engine optimization, and social media

The Role of Social Partnership

THE ROLE OF SOCIAL PARTNERSHIP Rory O’Donnell From Studies, Volume 90, Number 357 1. Introduction Social partnership has been a conspicuous feature of Irish economic, social and political life in the past decade and a half. This paper assesses its role in Ireland’s economic transformation and considers what role it might have in the years to come. Section 2 outlines the analytical foundations of Irish partnership and Section 3 shows how these are reflected in the five partners hip programmes since 1987.Section 4 summarises the self-understanding of partnership as a system of bargaining, inclusion and deliberation. The impact of partnership on economic performance is discussed in section 5. The paper close with consideration of the pressures on partnership and its possible future. 2. The Analytical Foundations of Irish Social Partnership In 1990, the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) set out a framework which has informed its subsequent work, and which underlie s the social partners’ understanding of the process.It argued that there are three requirements for a consistent policy framework in a small, open, European democracy: (I) Macroeconomic: the economy must have a macroeconomic policy approach which guarantees low inflation and steady growth of aggregate demand; (ii) Distributional: there must be an evolution of incomes which ensures competitiveness, which handles distributional issues without disrupting the economy and which is fair; (iii) Structural: there must be a set of policies which facilitate and promote structural change in order to maintain competitiveness in an ever changing external environment.The Council argued that, in the Irish case, the first of these requirements is best met by adherence to the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) and transition to EMU. It argued that the second of these requirements is best met by a negotiated determination of incomes. To be really effective, such a negotiated approach must encompass not only the evolution of pay, but also taxation, the public finances, monetary policy, the main areas of public provision and social welfare.In pursuit of the third requirement, the Council advocated a programme of structural reform in taxation, social welfare, housing, industrial policy, manpower policy and the management of public enterprises. It argued that such reforms are best achieved with the consent and participation of those who work in the agencies and institutions concerned. The international orientation of Irish social partnership was further underlined in the 1996 NESC report Strategy into the 21st Century.While globalisation has undermined many elements of national economic policy, there remain areas where national policy remains crucial. In a small, open, European democracy like Ireland: (I) Most of the policies which affect national prosperity are supply-side policies; (ii) Given rapid economic change, national policies must produce flexibility; (iii) Succ essful national supply-side policies, directed towards innovation and competitiveness, depend on the high level social cohesion and co-operation that the state can both call upon and develop.This suggests that once a consensus on macroeconomic policy is in place, the main focus of policy should be on the supply-side measures that influence competitive advantage and social inclusion, and on institutional arrangements that allow discovery and implementation of such measures (NESC, 1996). 3. Five Social Partnership Agreements, 1987 to 2001 The content and process of social partnership has evolved significantly since 1987 (O’Donnell and O’Reardon, 1997, 2000).All five programmes included agreement between employers, unions and government on the rate of wage increase in both the private and public sectors for a three-year period. The exchange of moderate wage increases for tax reductions has remained an important feature of partnership. Beyond pay and tax, the partnership p rogrammes have contained agreement on an ever-increasing range of economic and social policies. A consistent theme has been the macroeconomic parameters of fiscal correction, the Maastricht criteria and transition to EMU. Another has been employment creation and the problem of long-term unemployment.The 1990 agreement led to the creation of local partnership companies—involving the social partners, the community and voluntary sector and state agencies—to design and implement a more co-ordinated, multi-dimensional, approach to social exclusion (Sabel, 1996; Walsh et al, 1998). While partnership began by addressing a critical central issue, looming insolvency an economic collapse, it has since focused more and more on a range of complex supply-side matters. An important feature of Irish social partnership has been the widening of the process beyond the traditional social partners.The National Economic and Social Forum (NESF) was established and membership of existing del iberative bodies (such as NESC) was widened to include representatives of the community and voluntary sector. The programmes negotiated in 1996 and 2000 involved representatives of the unemployed, women’s groups and others addressing social exclusion. Those agreements also included measures to promote partnership at enterprise level and agreement on action to modernise the public service. Using the consistent policy framework outlined in Section 2, we can identify a significant dual evolution of Irish social partnership.Over the five programmes since 1987, the emphasis has shifted from macroeconomic matters to structural and supply side policies, and the range of supply-side issues has widened to address key constraints on Irish growth, such as childcare and life-long learning. This change in the substance or content partnership has involved a parallel change in method. While macroeconomic strategy can be agreed in high-level negotiation, complex cross-cutting policies on soc ial exclusion, training, business development or childcare cannot be devised and implemented in high-level national deliberation or negotiation.Consequently, to address the growing list of supply-side issues there has been an expanding array of working groups, task-forces, ‘frameworks’ and ‘forums’—involving representatives of the various social partners. In a few areas of policy—such as long-term unemployment, rural and urban re-generation and business development—new institutional arrangements have been created involve actors on the ground. + 4. Beyond Bargaining: Deliberation and Problem Solving Shared analysis of economic and social problems and policies has been a key aspect of the partnership process.Indeed, that analysis has focused on the partnership system itself (NESC, 1996; NESF, 1997). This revealed that a distinction can be made between two conceptions, or dimensions, of partnership: 1. Functional interdependence, bargainin g and deal making. 2. Solidarity, inclusiveness and participation. Effective partnership involves both of these, but cannot be based entirely on either. To fall entirely into the first could be to validate the claim that the process simply reflects the power of the traditional social partners.To adopt a naive inclusivist view would risk reducing the process to a purely consultative one, in which all interests and groups merely voiced their views and demands. There is a third dimension of partnership, which transcends these two. ‘Bargaining’ or ‘negotiation’ describes a process in which each party comes with definite preferences and seeks to maximise its gains. But partnership involves the players in a process of deliberation that has the potential to shape and reshape their understanding, identity and preferences.This idea is implicit in NESC’s description of the process as ‘dependent on a shared understanding’, and ‘characterised by a problem-solving approach designed to produce consensus’. This third dimension has to be added to the hard-headed notion of bargaining (and to the idea of solidarity) to adequately capture the process. The key to the process would seem to be the adoption of ‘a problem-solving approach’. As one experienced social partner put it, ‘The society expects us to be problem-solving’. A notable feature of effective partnership experiments is that the partners do not debate their ultimate social visions.This problem-solving approach is a central aspect of the partnership process, and is critical to its effectiveness. This suggests that rather than being the pre-condition for partnership, consensus and shared understanding are more like an outcome. It is a remarkable, if not easily understood, fact that deliberation which is problem-solving and practical produces consensus, even where there are underlying conflicts of interest, and even where there was no sh ared understanding at the outset. It is also a fact that using that approach to produce a consensus in one area, facilitates use of the same approach in other areas.The key may lie in understanding what kind of consensus is produced when problem-solving deliberation is used. It is generally a provisional consensus to proceed with practical action, as if a certain analytical perspective was correct, while holding open the possibility of a review of goals, means and underlying analysis. The word compromise is inadequate to describe this type of agreement, since compromise so often fudges the issues that need to be addressed. A similar account of the elements and process of concertation has independently emerged in recent work on the ‘Dutch miracle’ (Visser and Hemerijck, 1997; Visser, 1998).Visser and Hemerijck draw attention to new combinations of centralisation and decentralisation, and emphasise the combination of interest-group dialogue and expert input which create a common definition of problems. This yielded a ‘problem-solving style of joint decision-making’, in which participants are ‘obliged to explain, give reasons and take responsibility for their decisions and strategies to each other, to their rank and file, and to the general public’ (Visser, 1998, p. 12). The institutions of concertation work where they facilitate shift from a ‘bargaining style’ to a ‘problem-solving style’.Visser considers that ‘the most interesting property of social cencertation lies in the possibility that interest groups redefine the content of their self-interested strategies in a â€Å"public-regarding† way’ (Visser, 1998, p. 13). 5. The Impact of Partnership on Economic Performance The period of social partnership has been one of unprecedented economic success in Ireland. The country not only escaped from the deep economic, social and political crisis of the 1980s, but may have significant ly addressed its long-term developmental problems of emigration, unemployment, trade deficits and weak indigenous business development.Under partnership, growth resumed, inflation continued to decline, the budget deficit fell sharply, employment began to recover, but unemployment initially stayed stubbornly high. The European recession of the early 1990s and the ERM crisis of 1992-93 interrupted Ireland’s recovery somewhat. Strong growth after 1993 produced a dramatic increase in employment, huge budget surpluses and, eventually, a big reduction in unemployment. The combination of economic growth, tax reductions, reduced interest rates and wage increases yielded a substantial increase in real take home pay.Between 1987 and 1999, the cumulative increase in real take home pay for a person on average manufacturing earnings was over 35 per cent. The performance of the Irish economy since the mid-1990s, was exceptionally strong, particularly in employment creation. Indeed, between 1994 and 1999, Ireland achieved a 28 per cent increase in employment, while the EU as a whole produced a 3 per cent increase. What role has partnership had in Ireland’s remarkable economic performance since 1987?The partnership approach would seem to have had a significant impact on the Irish economy, though three channels: wage bargaining, coherent and consistent macroeconomic policy and change in supply-side factors. Consider first the impact of the partnership approach to wage bargaining. One of the most striking features of Irish economic performance in the period of partnership has been the enhanced profitability of business. Lane demonstrates that the rate of return on capital almost doubled, rising from 8. 6 percent in 1987 to 15. 4 per cent in 1996.The sharp rise in profitability coincides with ‘the formation of a new consensus among the social partners, as formalised in the negotiation of a sequence of national agreements’, suggesting that ‘the in comes policy that lies at the heart of a new consensus is an important factor in explaining the income shift from labour to capital’ (Lane 1999, p. 228). The resulting environment of wage moderation and high profitability is almost certainly a key factor in Ireland’s employment creation, attraction of inward investment and the unprecedented commercial success of indigenous companies (see also Honohan, 1999; McHale, 2000).FitzGerald’s econometric study of the Irish labour market leads him to suggest that the ‘impact of the partnership approach to wage formation has been less significant than many have assumed’, since ‘the partnership approach served more to validate the results which market forces had made inevitable’ (1999. p. 160 and p. 162). The main impact of partnership lay in improved industrial relations, which significantly enhanced economic performance, and the fact that ‘the partnership approach has also contributed to a more coherent approach to economic policy making’ (FitzGerald, 2000, p. 42).This brings us to the second channel through which partnership influenced the economy. In macroeconomic terms, partnership was an important element in Ireland’s transition form a high-inflation, volatile and conflictual economy to a low-inflation, stable, economy. In particular, a shared understanding on the position of the Irish economy took the exchange rate, and therefore inflation, outside day-to-day party political competition and industrial relations conflict. This can be contrasted with an approach in which short-termism ruled in economic policy, business decisions and wage setting.Through much of the post war period, that led the UK to short bursts of economic growth, followed by recessions imposed in order to reduce inflation. Ireland’s experiment since 1987, partly inoculated it from the unsuccessful combination of macro policy and income determination pursued in Britain for ma ny years. Ireland finally escaped the most negative effects of Britain’s political business cycle. As a result, it achieved low and predictable inflation combined with strong growth of output and employment.It has also preserved a higher level of social solidarity, which seems an essential pre-requisite to sustaining redistributive policies and addressing issues of structural change and reform in a non-conflictual way. Ray MacSharry, Minister of Finance during the critical period of fiscal correction, considers that ‘social partnership could well be regarded as the crowning achievement of the Celtic Tiger economy’ (MacSharry and White, 2000, p. 144). The third channel of influence on the economy is a supply-side mechanism.This arose because there would seem to be a close connection between settling major macroeconomic and distributional issues, on the one hand, and constructive engagement with supply-side problems, on the other. Closing-off macroeconomic alternat ives freed management, union, community and government energies for discussion of real issues that impact on competitiveness and social inclusion—corporate strategy, technical change, training, working practices, the commercialisation of state-owned enterprises, taxation, local re-generation, active labour market policy—and forced (almost) all to engage in realistic discussion of change.During the period of Partnership 2000, the Irish economy has been in virtuous circle. Wage restraint has enhanced competitiveness, which has been converted into employment growth. This in turn has generated additional tax revenues which have been used to reduce direct taxes and hence underpin wage moderation. Indeed, the success of the 1990s has been so great that the constraints on Irish growth now consist of infrastructural bottlenecks and labour shortages, something I discuss in Section 6. It would clearly be inaccurate to attribute all the success of the Irish economy to social part nership.Partnership enhanced competitiveness, assisted fiscal correction, produced consensus and stability in economic policy, and increased flexibility in both public policy and enterprises. This created the context within which Ireland’s long-term developmental strategy finally achieved its potential. That strategy involved heavy investment in education, particularly in information technology, attraction of inward investment and full participation in European integration (O’Donnell, 2000). The ‘Celtic Tiger’ of the 1990s resulted from the interaction of partnership with a set of supply-side characteristics that nhanced international competitiveness and encouraged fast economic growth. These included a young, well-educated, English-speaking workforce, improved infrastructure (funded by both the EU and the Irish state), an inflow of leading US enterprises (attracted by both Irish conditions and the deepening European market), a new population of Irish ente rprises (free of the debilitating weaknesses of the past and open to new organisational patterns), and de-regulation of the service sectors (driven by the completion of the Euroean internal market).The completion of the European internal market internal was a most important factor in the recovery and re-orientation of the Irish economy. One possible limit of consensus is the difficulty of undertaking radical action which disrupts entrenched interests in protected parts of both the public and private sector. While social partnership stabilised the economy, European integration produced a steady pressure to make public utilities and services more efficient, consumer-oriented and independent of state subsidy or protection+.Thus, Ireland benefited from an unusual, but benign, combination of institutionalised co-ordinated of the key economic actors and pressure for market conformity (O’Donnell, 2000). While the evolution of Irish economic policy in the past fourteen years has been marked by a high level of consensus—between the social partners and across the political spectrum—the more liberal and orthodox economists have stood outside the consensus.Their opposition, negligible in policy terms but influential in academia and the media, is both to the substance of the prevailing consensus and to the idea and value of consensus itself. Some have objected to the politicisation of industrial relations because they believe it adds to the bargaining power of trade unionism. Others have argued that the social partners are ‘insiders’, whose pay and conditions have been protected at the expense of ‘outsiders who would work for less’, and that social partnership has had the effect of ‘raising the level of unemployment and emigration’ (Walsh and Leddin, 1992).In a recent historical review of Irish development, Haughton says ‘It was fortunate that the wage agreements have coincided with rapid economic growth, be cause the agreements create considerable rigidity in the labour market’ (Haughton, 1998, p. 37). An aspect of the strategy that has particularly provoked orthodox and neo-liberal economists is EMU. Opposition to the negotiated approach to economic and social management is combined, in almost all cases, with a strong attachment to sterling rather than the euro (e. g Neary and Thom, 1997). 6.The Future of Social Partnership Given pressure on the wage agreement of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (PPF), many are asking ‘can partnership survive? It seems more useful to consider what is now required in the three elements of the consistent policy framework—macroeconomic, distribution and structural change—and to ask what role partnership has in facilitating the necessary policies. Adopting that approach, it is clear that structural issues are urgent and the distributional settlement in place since 1987 is under pressure.The future of partnership revolve s around these two. The urgency of structural and supply-side issues was recognised in the PPF. Rapid growth has led to bottlenecks in housing, labour supply, childcare, health, transport, telecommunications, electricity generation and waste management. While the primary goal of partnership had been fiscal correction and employment creation, public policy must now aim to increase living standards, enhance the quality of life, achieve infrastructural investment and lay the economic and social foundations for long-term prosperity.Both short term sustainability and long-term prosperity and social cohesion, require a radical improvement in the level, quality and range of services. Does partnership have a role in achieving these structural and supply-side changes? The key to answering this question lies in recognising that many of these require fundamental change in public administration and the organisation of working life. This suggests a first role for social partnership: it can help to create a new national consensus for organisational change and continuous improvement.The experience of the past shows that the partners’ strategic overview—if persuasive, oriented to the wider good and genuinely problem-solving—can been a critical element in achieving major change in Irish policy. Without a strong consensus on organisational change, pay issues (which do require attention) are likely to crowd out issues of service and organisational capability. In a consensus-oriented system, it is necessary to mobilise consensus to overcome veto points that systems of consultation can create.But the solution of many of these structural and supply-side problems cannot be found in high-level deliberation and bargaining alone. While government is critical, it cannot on its own design and provide the necessary services. We require examination of the content, delivery, monitoring and evaluation of public policy and services. This recasting of public policy must in clude reconsideration of the roles of central departments, agencies, professionals, branch offices and citizens in setting goals, delivering services and monitoring performance (O’Donnell and Teague, 2000).This suggests a second role for social partnership: government, its agencies and the social partners can jointly work out how certain supply-side services can best be provided. But it also demands that the evolution in the method of partnership—from high-level negotiation to multi-level problem solving—be taken much further, to include organisations on the ground and citizens in problem solving and policy design. It is clear that the distributional element of the partnership framework is also under considerable stress and requires re-examination and probably revision.Indeed, it looks likely that all three elements of the distributional settlement require reconsideration: wage bargaining, public sector pay determination and social inclusion and the social wage. The pressure on these arrangements is largely a reflection of the dramatic change in the size and structure of the economy, the new approaches adopted within firms and changing patterns of social and family life. Some argue that in the face these pressures we should abandon the partnership approach and leave the distributional issues to be determined in a completely decentralised way.This ignores a number of co-ordination problems which can hamper economic performance and lead to unfair outcomes. Fully decentralised pay determination, combined with no consensus on tax and public expenditure, can lead to over-shooting and inconsistent claims on the output of the economy. This would cause a loss of competitiveness and employment and leave the weakest most vulnerable. With or without a single national wage norm, Ireland must find an approach to distribution which avoids these problems.While partnership began in an attempt to rescue the Irish economy, society and politics from the deep crisis of the 1980s, its development through the 1990s suggests that it should be seen as a part of the dramatic opening, Europeanisation, commercialisation and democratisation of Irish society. Since the destination of the society is unknown, so partnership must take new forms, provided it can continue to anticipate and help solve the problems that change throws up. REFERENCES FitzGerald, J. 1999) ‘Wage Formation and the Labour Market’, in F. Barry ed. Understanding Ireland’s Economic Growth, Macmillan, London. Haughton, J. (1998) ‘The dynamics of economic change’, in W. Crotty and D. Schmitt, Ireland and the Politics of Change, Longman, London. Honohan, P. (1999) ‘Fiscal and Monetary Policy Adjustment’, in F. Barry ed. Understanding Ireland’s Economic Growth, Macmillan, London. Lane, P. (1998) ‘Profits and wages in Ireland, 1987-1996’, Journal of the Social and Statistical Society, Vol XXVII, Part V. MacSharry, R. and White, P. 2000) The making of the Celtic Tiger: the Inside Story of Ireland’s Boom Economy. Cork: Mercier Press. McHale, J. (2000) ‘Options for Inflation Control in the Irish Economy’, Quarterly Economic Commentary, September 2000. Neary, J. P. and Thom, R. (1997) ‘Punts, Pounds and Euros: in Search of an optimum Currency Area’, mimeo, University College Dublin. NESC, (1990) A Strategy for the Nineties: Economic Stability and Structural Change, Dublin: National Economic and Social Council, NESC, (1996) ‘Strategy into the 21st Century, Dublin, National Economic and Social CouncilNESF, (1997) A Framework for Partnership: Enriching Strategic Consensus through Participation, Dublin: National Economic and Social Forum. O’Donnell, R. (1998) ‘Ireland’s Economic Transformation: Industrial Policy, European Integration and Social Partnership’, University of Pittsburgh, Working Paper No. 2. O’Donnell, R. (2000) Ã¢â‚¬Ë œThe New Ireland in the New Europe’, in R. O’Donnell ed. Europe—the Irish Experience. Dublin: Institute of European Affairs. O’Donnell, R. and C. O’Reardon, (1997) ‘Ireland’s Experiment in Social partnership 1987-96’, in Giusseppe Fajertag and Phillipe Pochet (eds. Social Pacts in Europe, Brussels: European Trade Union Institute, 1997 O’Donnell, R. and C. O’Reardon, (2000) ‘Social partnership in Ireland’s Economic Transformation’, in Giusseppe Fajertag and Phillipe Pochet (eds. ) Social Pacts in Europe—New Dynamics, Brussels: European Trade Union Institute. O’Donnell, R. and Teague, P. (2000) Partnership at Work in Ireland: An Evaluation of Progress Under Partnership 2000. Dublin: The Stationery Office. Sabel, C. F. (1996) Ireland: Local Development and Social Innovation, Paris: OECD, 1996Visser, J. (1998) ‘Concertation—the Art of Making Social Pacts’ paper pres ented at Notre Europe/ETUI seminar on ‘National Social Pacts’, Brussels, June 10th, 1998. Visser. , J. and A. Hemerijck (1997) ‘A Dutch Miracle: Job Growth, Welfare Reform and Corporatism in the Netherlands’ Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press Walsh B. and Leddin A. (1992) The Macroeconomy of Ireland, Dublin: Gill and Macmillan. Walsh, J. , Craig, S. and McCafferty, D. (1998) Local Partnerships for Social Inclusion? , Dublin: Oak Tree Press.

Human behavior in social work practice Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Human behavior in social work practice - Article Example Providing moral support falls under the theory of systems perspective. Systems perspective insists that. Without a doubt, social work adopted functionalist sociology, a theory that states social elements stay consistent throughout time. From my perspective, it is important to rectify with these issues. Social issues plague individuals because they are the key source of problems with interpersonal communication. Most women are unable to read and challenge their analytical skills at a higher level. The lingering social norms that plague the existing in the system has undoubtedly have limited the potential of women to excel in this society. Hence, this theory must be utilized to disregard these notions. I agree with the approach of the social worker. I think it is crucial to harness the development of young female workers. Female and close knitting group obviously helps Manesha with loneliness. As social workers, it is cognizant to have this in mind to help these young women gains self-confidence back. Additionally, it empowers individuals to harness self-growth confidence in order for them to be successful. As a social worker, I find it imperative to implement social cognitive theory in this issue. One element that I disagree with is the fact that was to assimilation and co-ethnic communities. I think there should be balance of understanding the social needs of women struggling to immense themselves in this environment. There should be more emphasis undoubtedly on the methods to conquer this assimilation. One of the biggest challenges that women immigrants and minority business owners face is assimilation, in case of Manesha. Imagine coming to a country with different trends, customs, and not understanding how protocols work? This is one of the biggest challenges for women and business owners that are immigrants. Assimilation and penetrating a customer base really does create many barriers for new entrepreneurs. This

Think of one character from hamlet who makes either a good decision or Essay

Think of one character from hamlet who makes either a good decision or a bad decision. Identufy that decisiom, tell us how it a - Essay Example This essay considers Hamlet’s decision to delay killing Claudius, examines how it affects Hamlet, indicates why Hamlet made that decision, and indicates that Hamlet made the wrong decision. Hamlet’s decision to delay killing Claudius represents the worst decision of the play and the decision to which nearly all negative narrative elements emerge from. One of the primary reasons for the negative aspects of this decision is the problems it creates with Hamlet’s relationships. During the beginning scenes of the play the reader comes to grasps Hamlet’s growing anger at Claudius. Referring to Claudius who asks Hamlet a question, Hamlet responds, â€Å"A little more than kin, a little less than kind† (Act I, scene ii, 267). Here Hamlet is indicating the nature of his relationship with Claudius in a negative way; more than kin means Claudius is now more than merely his uncle, and less than kind means Hamlet is angered about this occurrence. While this stat ement doesn’t overtly indicate Hamlet’s psychic dysfunction, it does give an early indication of his growing negative demeanor that would come to affect not only him, but all the other characters in the play. As this act advances and Hamlet interacts with his mother, his general spite and hatred becomes evident. He states, â€Å"'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,/ Nor customary suits of solemn black,/ Nor windy suspiration of forced breath,/ No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,/ Nor the dejected 'havior of the visage,/ Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief,/ That can denote me truly† (Act I, scene ii, 280-285). At this point it’s clear that Hamlet has been significantly affected by his father’s death and is angered at Claudius for the action. In these regards, Hamlet’s indecision to kill Claudius and resolve the problem has both affected his relationship with his mother. Another of the central elements related to Hamletâ €™s decision to delay killing Claudius is the psychic confusion it creates within Hamlet’s own demeanor. While Hamlet’s decision not to kill Claudius at this point has affected his relationship with his mother, perhaps the more central concern of this decision is its effect it had on Hamlet himself. While earlier Hamlet had indicated his discontentment towards Claudius, he later goes to internalize his discontent. In Hamlet’s first soliloquy, the reader comes to realize the incredible psychic confusion and anger Hamlet is experiencing. Hamlet states, â€Å"Oh, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt,/ Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew,/ Or that the Everlasting had not fixed/ His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God, God!† (Act I, scene ii, 333-336). Here the reader discovers that Hamlet is experiencing suicidal thoughts as a result of the actions relating to Claudius. Indeed, this becomes a prominent theme throughout the play, with many of Hamlet ’s soliloquys indicating his intense passion and desire to commit suicide; this is perhaps most notably seen in ‘to be or no to be’ soliloquy. With this intensity of expression, it’s clear that Hamlet would be better off murdering Claudius and resolving his psychic confusion, rather than suffering the sling and arrows of outrageous fortune. In addition to Hamlet’s decision to delay killing Claudius affecting his demeanor and his relations with others, Shakespeare also indicates that the combining of these elements is also a treacherous element throughout the pla

Discuss the proposition that in choosing to outsource a function Essay

Discuss the proposition that in choosing to outsource a function managers commonly underestimate the potential hazards and costs - Essay Example ..........................................................................................5 Cost cutting...........................................................................................................5 Strategic advantage..............................................................................................5 Underestimated risks and hazards of outsourcing to the outsourcer................................6 Cultural ...............................................................................................................6 Regulatory ...........................................................................................................7 Informational ......................................................................................................9 Organizational ...................................................................................................11 Why and how such limitations and underestimations happen? .................................... .13 Lack of a proper procedure and framework .....................................................13 Unreal perception of the core business and competencies...............................13 Putting wrong person on the job.......................................................................14 Conclusion....................................................................................................................14 References........ ons now try to focus on their core competencies and get external service providers for their supplementary functions to gain instant access to their expertise, service levels and synergistic benefits from the partnership of the two. This has been termed as ‘outsourcing’ in the business jargon and lately assumed much of significance in business scenario (Winkler 2009:22). Caught in the dilemmatic ‘make-or-buy’ decision, organizations and more importantly the managers often underestimate the risks, possible hazards and hidden costs of their outsourcing decision. Superficially, outsourcing seems to provide cheap labour supply, external expertise, synergies in competencies and perfection of all activities but in-depth analysis of outsourcing decision and related factors reveal serious consequences related to labour enforcements, cultural asymmetries, lack of control and governance over the vendor operations, threat of information leakage and many more which have a direct bearing on the financial, organizational and social viability of the outsourcer’s business. This paper seeks to address this emerging situation with a critical knack. Commencing from an introduction and historical overview of outsourcing and reasons why managers outsource, the main body of the paper comprises major risks and potential hazards encountered in effective management of outsourcing decisions. Discussion of underestimated costs in such happenings and why they happen is also included with a checklist to better the proposition. Examples of insurance, shipping and IT industry have been inserted at appropriate places to anchor the understanding of the concept and provide a practical meaning to the underlying aspects. Historical overview of outsourcing The advent of outsourcing dates back to

Importance of The Glorious Qur'an Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Importance of The Glorious Qur'an - Essay Example Introduction. The Qur’an is the holy text which holds the fundamental ideas underlying the Muslim faith as it is practised across the world. It holds a special place in the lives of Muslims because it is believed to be the word of Allah Himself, as revealed to the Prophet, Muhammad, and written down for the benefit of all who wish to learn from it. This paper examines the origins of this special book and summarizes its main contents. It then explores the importance of the Qur’an throughout history, in earliest times, and then in the twentieth century. Finally there is an examination of the Qur’an’s impact on the world today and the prospect of its continuing influence on the world in the future, along with a summarizing conclusion regarding the overall importance of the glorious Qur’an in human history. The Origins of The Glorious Qur’an. There is a huge gap in the understanding of men and the understanding of Allah, which cannot be bridged b y human intelligence. While Allah is good and merciful, human beings are easily distracted, and can achieve a mixture of good and bad things in their lives. It is perhaps for this reason that the Qur’an was given to mankind: it is a collection of revelations which are intended to guide human beings into the ways of peace and goodness. Other religions, and in particular Judaism and Christianity, also have their sacred texts, which have many elements in common, since these three religions are among the ahl-al-kitab (people of the book). The Qur’an is the particular holy book that was given to Muslims, and its name means â€Å"recitation†, implying that the prophet Muhammad did not invent the words himself, but in fact recited the words of Allah (Sonn, 2010, p. 1) Although the words of the Qur’an may have been first written down by listeners at various points in the lifetime of Muhammad, the text that Muslims now use has been carefully arranged by scholars a fter Muhammad’s death in 632 CE. The text is divided into 114 surah (chapters) each of which has a title, and a number of ayat (verses). It is written in Arabic, the language of Muhammad’s native land, and from the very beginning scholars have taken great care to preserve the exact and correct form of words that was used from the very beginning. A minor addition was made in the ninth century when scholars added some marks to indicate vowels, because the existence of different dialects of Arabic meant that ambiguities and differences could creep into the reading of the text in different places. (Sonn, 2010, p. 5) Muhammad himself taught believers read the text, and also learn it word for word, and be able to recite it so that the message is preserved complete and unchanged in their minds. This tradition was continued by Muslims after his death, leading to the formation of mosques and schools dedicated to passing on the knowledge of the Qur’an to future generation s. Muslims treat the actual text of the Qur’an with the deepest respect, and make use of portions for decorative and ceremonial purposes. There are additional sacred texts, known as the hadith which gather together some of the sayings of Muhammad and these are often

Beatitudes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Beatitudes - Essay Example If they follow Jesus, men escape from the hard yoke of their own laws, and submit to the kindly yoke of Jesus Christ." (Bonhoeffer, xxxiii) Therefore, the significance of the Beatitudes in Christian life cannot be overlooked in any case and they are the real cost for discipleship in Christianity. Analyzing the significance of the Beatitudes to all the followers of Christ, it is essential to respond to the remarks by Glen Harold Stassen and David P. Gushee who claim that Christianity is a nonsensical institution apart from its central figure Jesus. They raise the problem as that of the Christian churches and ethics which "are often guilty of evading Jesus, the cornerstone and center of the Christian faith. Specifically, the teachings and practices of Jesus - especially the largest block of his teachings, the Sermon on the Mount - are routinely ignored or misinterpreted..." (Stassen and Gushee, 11) Thus, Stassen and Gushee try to reclaim Christ for Christian ethics and moral life. To them, the Christian life consists of following Jesus and his teachings and they recover the Sermon on the Mount for Christian ethics. ... that condemns us and so prepares us to receive the 'gospel' of grace, Bonhoeffer came to see that the Sermon on the Mount was a charter for life lived by grace." (Gruchy, viii) Bonhoeffer connects obedient discipleship and justification by faith in his work and he demonstrates that following Christ is related to living by faith in Jesus. Therefore, Bonhoeffer provides a very useful exposition of the Sermon on the Mount which summarizes the significance of the Beatitudes. In a reflective analysis of the Beatitudes in the lights of the various studies concerning them, one notices how significant it is to live a life in the contemporary world according to the teachings of Christ. Following Christ in the contemporary context specifically requires living a life of according to Christ's teachings and the basis of all these teachings are the Beatitudes. From the preliminary studies in relation to the Beatitudes, one may comprehend some essential factors which may be helpful in leading the modern life in the way of Christ. Thus, every Christian needs to look forward the reign of God and prepare oneself in the Christian character. The primary learning I had from this analysis is that a "Christian is (or should be) defined as one who humbles himself or herself and chooses to enter into discipleship, to follow Jesus' path, to build his or her life upon his teachings and his practices even at great cost, to pass those teachings and practices on to others, and th us to enjoy the unspeakable privilege of participating in the advance of God's reign." (Stassen and Gushee, 30)Secondly, it is important to realize that the true followers of Christ will be heavily blessed and Jesus addresses his disciples blessed. "He calls them blessed, not because of their privation, or the

Developing Professional Practice Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Developing Professional Practice - Assignment Example The functions of such professionals include working with people towards continuous compliance with legal, ethical, and professional standards (Bowman, Jonathan, and Montgomery 4-6). The Human resource Advisory role includes offering services in transforming, changing, and improving the organization. At Vodafone Qatar, professional standards of human resource practitioners is key to success. The human resource profession assists an organization in the selection, compensation and in offering advice related to human performance within the organization. Human resource professionals assist organizations in the planning, motivating, compensating and in organizing human resources as factors of production. Human resource professionals with an advisory role in the organization need to be conversant with their professional standards. Qatar Vodafone wishes to use innovative research in promoting professional as well as professional development. It is prudent for one to understand those codes of conduct, corporate social responsibilities, and ethics (Jackson 13). These aspects are essential in organizations in ensuring that there is uniformity. Maintenance of such standards ensures a professional outlook to the human resource professional body. Professionalism of such advisors assists organizations cut on cost. Professional human resource practitioners, on the other hand, should understand their ethical, professional obligations. They also need to be creative in motivating members of staff; this may be in the form of incentive provision and in ensuring that workforce work under safe and conducive environment. Human resource professionals need to be sensitive on their code of conduct (Koonmee 20-23). This means that such professionals need to understand their mandate and their positions in such organization. In relation to the code of conduct, a human resource

NONE Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

NONE - Case Study Example In 1970, Pepsi bottlers had attained a larger market share than Coke. Pepsi concentrated on spending additional income from sales on promotion and advertising by selling its products at a lower price than Coke (Yoffie and Kim 100). Both Coke and Pepsi started experimenting with revolutionary cola as well as non-cola flavors by offering new packaging. They also diversified into non-CSD industries. In its efforts to fight with Pepsi, Coke introduced advertising messages aimed at recognizing the prevalence of its rivals. It also focused on growing its share to overseas markets based on the assumption that the local CSD consumption was approaching full capacity. To address this matter, Pepsi fought Coke aggressively in the U.S. where it doubled its market share (Yoffie and Kim 101). Since Coke was the dominant brand in the U.S. in 1974, Pepsi introduced the â€Å"Pepsi Challenge,† which aimed at demonstrating that clients preferred Pepsi to Coke. After realizing increased sales, it launched the campaign nationwide. To counter this move, Coke introduced rebates, cuts on retail prices, and advertisements aimed at questioning the validity of Pepsi’s test. It introduced price discounts at the retail level where Coke bottlers that were company owned fought against self-regulating Pepsi bottlers. Nevertheless, the â€Å"Pepsi Challenge† campaign significantly eroded market share for Coke (Yoffie and Kim 101). As the cola wars heated up in 1980, Coke started using a high-fructose corn syrup as an alternative to sugar, since it was cheap. After three years, Pepsi followed suit. Coke boosted its marketing efforts by doubling its expenditure on advertising. To respond to this, Pepsi also doubled its spending on advertising. In 1985, Coke announced it changed its Coca-Cola formula. However, Pepsi stipulated that Coke had mimicked its taste in the formula, forcing Coke to revert to its original formula (Yoffie and Kim

Fire Prevention and the Federal Government Essay Example for Free

Fire Prevention and the Federal Government Essay Many government agencies make fire prevention as part of their mission. America has the highest fire death rate is the highest in the world. Fires kill 3,700 and injure over 20,000 people each year. Property loss is about $11 billion per year. The United States Fire Administration (USFA) has helped to reduce fire deaths by half. They have contributed to fire prevention and suppression more than any other government agency. In 1974, Congress established the United States Fire Administration . Their mission is to provide national leadership to local fire and emergency services. It is a division of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). FEMA became part of the Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003. Their mission is to â€Å"reduce the loss of life and property and protect the Nation from all hazards, including natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other man-made disasters† (â€Å"About USFA†, n. d. ). The Department of Homeland Security was formed after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Their primary mission is to protect the country from terrorism. Since the USFA was created for the sole purpose of the prevention, preparedness, and response to fires and other emergencies, it has contributed the most to the cause. â€Å"America’s fire death rate is one of the highest per capita in the industrialized world† (â€Å"About USFA†, n. d. ). Thus, it is still an improvement since more than twenty years ago. In 1971, 12,000 people and 250 firefighters died as a result of fires. USFA continues to make our communities and society safer today. Reference U. S. Fire Administration. About the U. S. Fire Administration. Retrieved August 3, 2008 from http://www. usfa. dhs. gov.

Progression of economic value for coffee

Progression of economic value for coffee Chapter 3: The origin of the idea Progression of Economic Value for Coffee â€Å"Goods and services are no longer enough. To be successful in todays increasingly competitive environment, companies must learn to stage experiences for each one of their individual customers. We have entered the Experience Economy, a new economic era in which all businesses must orchestrate memorable events for their customers that engage each one of them in an inherently personal way.† Pine Gilmore, 1999 This is undoubtedly also true for the coffee industry. The economic value of coffee begins with extracting the commodity. Companies that harvest or trade coffee, receive about a 1 euro per pound. When a manufacturer grinds, packages, and sells those same beans to a grocery store, turning them into goods, the price to the consumer is à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬4 to à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬8 per pound, or about 7 ¢ to 18 ¢ a cup, depending on the brand and package size. When the coffee is brewed in a diner it will sell for about à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬1 per cup. Businesses offer the coffee in an experience such as a fine restaurant orStarbucks get à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬2 to à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬4 a cup. This means that atStarbucks, the customer is not only paying for the coffee, but also for theStarbucks experience. Interestingly, when you move a product up the progression of economic value to an experience, as can be seen in figure 1, you rarely see discounting.This is because Starbucksdoes not need to offer price cuts in order to generate business. Consumers expect better quality when willing to pay a higher price. Retailing is therefore facing an increased challenge from the experience economy. The problem being that there is a great amount of shops in the world, all basically selling the same things, causing only stores that sell values and experiences to stand out. According to Pine and Gilmore (1999), Starbucks has succeeded precisely because it is not limited to only selling a good, being coffee beans, or a service, such as a cup of coffee to-go. Instead, as a Third Place, being not the home or the office but the place between, Starbucks strives to sell a one-of-a-kind experience, which it hopes to keep its customers satisfied enough to want to keep coming back for more. Karababa Ger (2011) argue that pleasure and leisure are two important characteristics of todays consumer culture. Masses of consumers enjoy leisure away from home and work in these so-called â€Å"third places†. Nowadays there are many different cafà ©s, all with different styles. Some are global-branded like Starbucks, while some are more local. Most local coffee houses are defined as either being anti-corporate, or are a hybrid of multiple local and global traditions, such as our own business case example, the Dutch coffee house Doppio-Espresso. The origin of Starbucks Several factors contributed to the opportunity for Starbucks to develop a new, successful retail chain, with the most important one being the fact that founder Howard Schultz had an insight that the other players in the coffee market did not. He realized that Americans were lacking a relaxed, social atmosphere where they could savor a good cup of coffee. After a trip to Italy in 1987 he purchased Starbucks, because he was convinced that Americans were ready to embrace the Italian coffee house culture. Prior to that time, coffee consumption in the US was gradually declining, while the three major coffee manufacturers, Proctor Gamble, Nestle, and Kraft, fought for market share in a saturated market, all the while decreasing the quality of the beans in their blends in order to maintain profits (Berry et al., 2006). The Starbucks brand has since then become ever-present, so much so that it may be hard to remember a time when coffee houses were not part of every major city in the world. Even though coffee houses existed in abundance before Starbucks came along, the quality of both the coffee and the customer experience has never been as consistent as today. Since the beginning, the company aimed at offering a better experience for coffee lovers. They did this by brewing coffee of uniform quality and developed the idea of charging premium prices for coffee drinks. But most importantly, they focused on creating a relaxing atmosphere for the customer. Tables were purposely spaced apart in order to ensure the customers their privacy. More specifically, round tables were used since research indicated that a person can sit alone at a round table without having to feel secluded or awkward. Furthermore, Starbucks aimed at opening as many stores as possible as a way to make each new store just a few steps more convenient for new customers. The stock value of Starbucks has since then increased by more than 3,000% (Berry et al., 2006). The origin of Doppio Chapter 5: Experiential Services Incremental improvements are added to services all the time, but few companies succeed in creating service innovation that create new markets or convert existing ones. To move in that direction, it is important for companies to embody the capacity to successfully implement the nine drivers of successful service innovations as can be seen in figure 2. In the case Starbucks, one of the most important success factors, which aided in creating a new service market, is their comprehensive customer-experience management. According to Zomerdijk Voss (2010), services differ from manufactured goods, because they generally offer many more distinct experiences to the customer. These experiences are called â€Å"touchpoints†, and they depend on three â€Å"experience clues†. The first one are functional clues, which point to the technical quality of the offering; the second being mechanical clues, which relate to nonhuman elements such as the design of the store; and the third being human clues, which come from the behavior and appearance of employees.When these three clues are combined, a total experience is created that has direct influence on how the customer will assess quality and value. The reason that Customer Experience Management is so crucial to the success of inseparable services, is due to the fact that with these kinds of services the customer is directly exposed to the production as well as the delivery of the service, and can thus experience everything that occurs there (Berry et al., 2006). Therefore, the success of Starbucks has to depend the quality of the product (functional clues), a relaxing atmosphere in the store (mechanical clues), and service-oriented employees (human clues). To implement its core strategy, Starbucks must therefore excel in managing all of these customer experience clues. In addition to serving sit-down coffee drinkers, Starbucks also serves another big market segment, namely, takeout customers who want fast service. In order to cater to both consumer groups Starbucks is constantly trying to find new ways to reduce the average waiting time without reducing quality. Some of the companys timesaving innovations are providing customers with special paying cards for fast transactions, more efficient coffee machines, and creating a way for employees to able to shift through the store to wherever he or she is needed at that time (Berry et al., 2006). Some Starbucks shops are also strategically located in areas where there are a lot of potential takeout customers. When Starbucks first started out in The Netherlands they focused solely on placing small shops located near public transportation areas, such as train stations, to cater almost exclusively to these takeout customers. Customers visiting a Starbucks store, however, do not only buy coffee, but they also buy the company brand. The way they experience the service has direct influence on how they perceive the brand. Starbucks founder Howard Schultz quickly realized that in order to achieve brand power in a service business, the employees must take center stage. When a product is sold in a supermarket, there is no personal interaction, but in a Starbucks store, you are presented with real people who produce and deliver the product as a service in a friendly and exclusive manner. As was explained in Chapter 4 with the Zomerdijk Voss (2010) model, employees are thus utilized at the frontstage of the experience. Starbucks success proves that a multimillion-dollar advertising program isnt a prerequisite for building a national brand; it can be done one customer at a time, one store at a time, one market at a time (Berry, 2000). Values-based Service Quality The four dimensions of the Values-based Service Quality model proposed by Enquist et al. (2007) are the technical, functional, experiential, and the human resources (HR) corporate climate dimension. According to the model Starbucks is a values-based company becomes it encompasses a strong commitment to all its stakeholders; customers, shareholders, employees, its suppliers, strategic partners, local communities and global society in general. The four dimensions can also be seen through the strong Starbucks concept, which relies on the premium coffee, and the â€Å"Starbucks experience†. More specifically, the first two dimensions technical and functional quality relate to the quality of processing and producing the coffee bean. High-quality coffee beans are purchased, roasted, and sold as fresh, richly-brewed, Italian-style espresso beverages. Starbucks also offer a variety of foods, and coffee-related accessories in its stores. They also ensure that all parties in their value chain are operating at optimal quality, and sometimes even take over some of the manufacturing duties, such as roasting plants (Enquist et al., 2007). With Starbucks expanding throughout Europe and Asia, the company has strategically chosen Amsterdam for building a roasting plant, since the industrial area is relatively small and self-contained, providing specialized service. The facility houses equipment and operations to receive, roast, package and ship Starbucks coffee to retail stores in current and emerging markets. As with all Starbucks roasting plants, the Port of Amsterdam Roasting Pla nt also has a tasting room, which serves as the main center where Starbucks coffee experts taste and test the Starbucks coffee (Burnson, 2002). This further stresses the importance and commitment Starbucks places on innovating and improving its products and services throughout the value chain. The experiential quality dimension can be symbolized by the concept of the Starbucks experience, which amounts to more than just the store. It provides the customer with a â€Å"Third Place†, where he or she can relax away from home and work, and enjoy the services offered. The fourth and final values-based quality dimension HR corporate climate is related to workplace and society. One of the main goals of Starbucks management is to maintain a safe, productive and diverse work environment for its employees, and to provide them with opportunities for training and career growth. Starbucks also provides incentives for its employees to become shareholders of the company, and thus introduced the title of ‘partner instead of employee. Starbucks has also ventured into the sustainable service business by introducing a code of conduct in 2001, labeled C. A. F. E. Practices (Coffee and Farmer Equity Practices), which promises to â€Å"deliver a premium coffee farmed, distributed and cultivated in an ethical, social and environmental way† (Enquist et al., 2007). The Future of Starbucks Starbucks led by the visions of Howard Schultz, has revolutionized the coffee industry and the perception of coffee when they first introduced their coffee experience concept, and has since then been setting industry standards. However, this radical way of offering coffee has in general become so widely accessible and common to consumers, that it no longer seems special. Furthermore, some strategic decisions made by Starbucks have caused the brand to become less flexible, and more standardized, compared to smaller, local and independent competitors. Aggressive expansions, and attempts to deal with intensified competition from the fast-food sector, have created negative associations with the Starbucks brand. This has caused Starbucks to be perceived by some as a mainstream and standardized brand, which no longer possesses the distinct character of a local authentic coffeehouse.

High School Sports Essay -- Essays Papers

High School Sports In high school many kids often choose not to participate in extra curricular activities saying that there pointless or that only a certain type of person would do something like play football, or join the chess club. While this type of thinking may get some people through school and through life, can it really be looked at as being a healthy lifestyle? Today sports have proven to be a healthy outlet for students, in dealing with stress in the classroom at home and among their peers. The â€Å"dumb jock† stereotype we’ve all heard it used before and for some of us have even been called it. However in recent surveys across the United States has found that student-athletes grades are generally higher than non-athletes but often times at the head of their class. One example of this is Laconia High School in Maine, at Laconia, the top-ranked students in the Class of 2003 both play more than one sport. Aaron Stewart, a three-sport standout, is currently ranked No. 1 in the senior class with a 4.43 grade point average. AJ Pattison, an All-State soccer selection and member of the Sachem baseball team, is right behind Stewart with a 4.38 GPA (http://www.fosters.com/2002/news/dec02/dec22_02/sports/sp1222a.asp) Graduation for athletes is also higher than it is for non-athletes are also higher having a 99.5% success rate to 94.5% for regular students. Off the field student athletes have also proven to be great leaders in their respective communities, often times helping out in the neighborhoods with community service. Athletes also seem to have an easier time raising money because people in communities find it easier to donate money or volunteer there time to a local high school sports program. I... ...morable part about that highlight film was the song that was being played in the background, Phil Collins In the Air Tonight. Now this isn’t typically your everyday get excited song but for some reason this song gave me goose bumps every time I heard it. To this day every time I hear this song those memories come flooding back to me along with the goose bumps. Overall sports will always allow players to experience something that not everyone chooses to experience and that is competition. But above all sports does several things that not many activities do and that is build self confidence, create a strong work ethic, teach sportsmanship, it helps maintain student athlete grades, and overall healthy activity. It also does a great job of keeping gets in urban cities that may not have all the options as kids in other areas to stay off the street and out of trouble.

Golda Meir Essay -- essays research papers fc

Golda Meir   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The state of Israel, established on May 14, 1948, had many great leaders that helped it to become a state. One of them was Golda Meir. Golda Meir was one of the most energetic and hardworking women in the world. Without her help, it is possible that Israel would have never survived as a state in an area surrounded by Arabs. With all of the hard work that Golda did for her country, she still had time for a family.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When Golda Meir (born Golda Mabovich) was in my opinion one of the most energetic and hardworking women in the world. If she set out to do something, whether it was to wash her families clothes or to create a Jewish state in the land of Israel, the job was never left unfinished. As a child, she decided that she wanted there to be a Jewish state, where any Jew would not be refused citizenship. She spent her whole life working to achieve this goal and in 1948, her dreams came true.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After Israel became a state in 1948, there was constant fighting between the Israeli's and the Arabs. Without her help, The Israeli's would have possibly never survived as a state. In the beginning, Israel hardly had any weapons. Golda Meir once again decided she wanted to help Israel so she went to the United States and She went to other countries to try to help Israel out with this problem by raising money. In the US, she gave speeches at universities and she contacted the head governmen...

Analysis of Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers :: Theatre Drama Blood Brothers Plays Essays

Analysis of Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers Tell me it’s not true Say it’s just a story These words echoed in my head as I entered the Phoenix Theatre. I had had past experience with â€Å"Blood Brothers† by singing the heartbreaking ballad â€Å"Tell Me It’s Not True† in a past show. Therefore I anticipated that the performance I was about to watch was going to be a roller coaster of emotions, with bitter consequences. I expected a first class show with strong, slick performances from the cast and fantastic musical numbers. This expectation of â€Å"Blood Brothers† was partly due to it being in the reputable West End of London and had been running at the Phoenix Theatre since 1991. This made me think that a musical that could still have large audiences coming to see it in the highly competitive London Theatre scene, must have something exceptional. I also has background knowledge about â€Å"Blood Brothers† from reading the script in parts in class. However, some parts of the play were still patchy to me, so I was looking forward to having the entire story acted out from start to finish. It was interesting for me as well because I was familiar with other plays Willy Russell had written. Having seen Shirley Valentine and read â€Å"A Grand Day Out† I enjoyed his of simple, uncluttered style of writing. â€Å"Blood Brothers† is set in Liverpool 1962. Its story stems from an impoverished single mother of six called Mrs Johnstone who, by finding that she is pregnant with twins, is persuaded to give up one of her unborn children to her employer, Mrs Lyons. The story unfolds by portraying how the two brothers grow up so differently without ever knowing they have a twin. â€Å"Of one womb born, on the self same day How one was kept and one given away?† The story deepens when the twins become friends when they are seven but both realise that they have the same birthday and therefore are both â€Å"nearly eight†. They become best friends and declare one another to be their â€Å"Blood Brother†. From then on the story follows their persistence to remain friends and the obstacles each come up against. Sadly though, their forbidden friendship finally leads to one another’s tragic death; never knowing the truth that they were brothers. Never knowing they shared one name Till the day they died I never really absorbed the absurdity of the storyline because the script was so subtle in its telling of the story, and the performance of the cast didn’t over dramatise the events unfolding. If they had, it would have made the story have an unwanted comical element as it

The Vietnam War Essay

The Vietnam War is a struggle with Vietnamese against itself. North Vietnam or the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam. wherein the Americans got involved erroneously and uprightly. ( see Wikipedia ) It is an attempt to unite Vietnam into a individual province. But so it is considered as false and dishonest theory. As per John Pilger. this war is an invasion of Vietnam’s fatherland and lives. ( see Global Issues ) It is by far the longest war in the century of America against North and South of Vietnam. The Vietnam struggle with America is included in the Second Indochina dated 1954-1975 that grew out from the long struggle between France and Vietnam. ( see Wikipedia ) It is widely reflected in history and media that America lost this war because of the guerrilla motion in Vietnam. ( see Global Issues ) It is besides believed that America lost this war due to the part of media that is against it. ( see Global Issues ) Actually. Vietnam approached US for aid in constructing a state from the Second Word War and chiefly from Gallic imperialism to accomplish control for South Vietnam. ( see Global Issues ) It is believed that US supported Vietnam’s independency and finding. But so. US turned down the aid that is why they turned to the other world power at that clip. the Soviet Union. ( see Global Issues ) Ho Chi Minh. communist leader. appealed to President Truman for aid because Vietnamese wanted to model their fundamental law with the American authorities. ( see Global Issues ) But America declined to back up their freedom and alternatively allied with the Gallic. Vietnam was so forced to turn to China and the Soviet Union. ( see Global Issues ) United States is believed to give support to South Vietnam. They deployed forces and US military advisors in 1956 to be responsible for developing the ground forces of South Vietnam. ( see Global Issues ) President Nixon intent was to beef up South Vietnam. US declined to back up North Vietnam due to their communist belief to which US is non partaking. They came to help the government in the South who were said to be attacked by the North Vietnamese. ( see Global Issues ) The resistance said that America truly lost the war. It is included in the unfavorable judgment of the media. There are two most influential beliefs on why America lost this war. First. media undermined the military and political attempt through media coverage. particularly on telecasting. in America. ( see Global Issues ) Second is that most of the journalists and broadcasters were against the war. It is on the whole of American media which resulted that war is a â€Å"failed campaign. † ( see Global Issues ) It has been reported that South Vietnamese had taken up weaponries to support their small towns and fatherland. The North Vietnam Government was non recognized by the United States and the ground why US declined to help because it is believe to be â€Å"improper† to admit such correspondence. ( see Global Issues ) During the war. it is believed that it was the clip where US dispatched its greatest of all time land ground forces and even offered the Gallic two atomic bombs to utilize anterior to its licking in 1954. ( see Global Issues ) They pursued military schemes designed for people to abandon places like use of chemicals. Millions of people were killed and maimed. some were Americans and the remainder are Vietnamese. The understanding to stop the war included $ 3. 25 billion of grant assistance for 5 old ages to which was ne'er paid. ( see Global Issues ) It is supposed to be for the postwar Reconstruction but Vietnam did non uncover all the captives of the war who were purportedly portion of the trade to assistance. ( see Global Issues ) This is a tragic issue for Americans who have been incognizant of the destiny of their loved 1s. ( see Global Issues ) The Vietnam struggle with the intercession of America is non truly a war between the two states. It is said that America lost this war. But America did non truly lose it because in the first topographic point. America was at that place to go an ally and merely to back up South Vietnamese for their battle against aggression from the North. Ineffectiveness is a more appropriate term. The manner that Americans implemented their policy is uneffective in this struggle. America’s chief end is to unify Vietnam into one province. ( see Global Issues ) America failed to accomplish that end. The struggle highlighted more on the Cold War ideological conflict. It reported and portrayed on the violent deaths and calamities that happened in the War. It focused more on the bad error. The good purposes were seldom questioned and carried out ill. The media made coverage of America in an highly nonreversible narrative. ( see Global Issues ) It resulted to inaccurate coverage because lone fragments were told. They chiefly focused on the nature of the war. The atrociousness of the war were erroneously branded and blundered. Americans are on the side of South Vietnam that opposed the aggression from the Communist. the North Vietnam. What truly happened in this war was â€Å"internal aggression. † ( see Global Issues ) Wherein they invaded and attacked their ain state and people. But so there were confusion on who truly were â€Å"allies† on this war. The non-communist South Vietnam was said to be invaded by the Communist. North Vietnam. ( see Global Issues ) United States hence came to the side of the â€Å"democratic† government in the South. But it was reported untrue. It is because Ho Chi Minh sent regular forces to help the American onslaughts. ( see Global Issues ) He was persuaded to direct regular ground forcess to back up the South in their resistance to American invasion. ( see Global Issues ) America lost the war in Vietnam. But 1000000s of estates of forest were destroyed through weedkillers poisoning. 1000000s of people were slaughtered. rice Fieldss were left with musca volitanss of bomb craters after â€Å"winning† its freedom. It is believed that in a war. no 1 truly win or lose. Though they achieved what they are contending for. they lose a great trade every bit good. Vietnam might hold the independency and freedom they wanted but it caused them a batch before they achieved it. In contrast. America is still one of the most powerful states in the universe. They still aid and back up other states. But what is the measuring of triumph? Is it shown in wealth or stuff ownerships? Or is it measured by power? Or accomplishing what we truly wanted though nil was left afterwards? Wining does non stop or accomplish from a certain period of clip. Victorious winning is seen on how you live after or if you were able to get by up with life after the conflict. Contending for what you desire and accomplishing it is a great wages for winning. On the procedure of accomplishing for these ends. you may lose some. but gain some every bit good. It truly doesn’t affair if Vietnam struggle is a Winnable War. What matters most is the lesson learned from this war. The experiences happened. whether good or bad. Making things better and trusting that none of this will go on once more in the hereafter. To be able to hold a peaceable universe that can merely be attained if we will non allow selfishness regulation over us. Most people believed that US lost the war. But Vietnam was destroyed to its nucleus where it could be a pool of hope for the following coevals and development option in Asia. If merely programs were made and done efficaciously. things might hold been different or it could be better than what happened. Mentions: Shah. Anup ( 29 December 2002 ) . Media Propaganda and Vietnam. Retrieved October 15. 2006. from War. Propaganda and the Media Website: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. globalissues. org/HumanRights/Media/Propaganda/Vietnam. asp # ThemedialostthewarforAmerica Vietnam War Retrieved October 15. 2006. from Wikipedia Website: hypertext transfer protocol: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Vietnam_war # Richard_Nixon_and_Vietnam_ . 281969. E2. 80. 931974. 29

Restaurant Business Plan Essay

Chapter 1 Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge will enter into a market with perfect competition. With perfect competition Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge will have an infinite number of consumers with the willingness and ability to buy our products at a certain price. It would also have an infinite amount of producers with the willingness and ability to supply the products at a certain price. Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge is a new fine dining restaurant and lounge located on LaGrange Road in Orland Park. Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge will target both fun-seeking as well as sophisticated diners looking for great food in a fascinating atmosphere. Our Rooftop will offer 360 degree views with a unique outdoor terrace. Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge will seek to earn 85% gross margins through an innovative and creative setting, a great menu, and the best service. Five Factors of Production: Start up costs and all financing of Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge will be funded by the owner Kevin Lentz. Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge would be situated on a busy intersection in Orland Park. This would be new construction: building Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge from the ground up. Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge would first have to hire a construction company to build the establishment. Once the building was complete and up to code, Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge would hire its staff and purchase inventory. Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge focuses on local and tourist active restaurant seekers, with special focus on young adults with a $20-30,000 a year income and a desire for good food with a fascinating atmosphere. According to Orland Park’s demographics from the United States Census Bureau we generally know the characteristics of our target market. Our personal crowd would consist of young adults (ages 20-29) and adults (ages 30-50), both male and female, usually at least one year of college if not already fully graduated. Our geographics include people from the local Orland Park area, people from neighboring cities, and tourists from other states and countries. Chapter 2 Restaurants rack up one of the most costly environmental bills in the retail world. Fortunately, there are ways restaurants can go green on more than just their menus. Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge will be a Certified Green Restaurant. Some Certified Green Restaurants save thousands of dollars by cutting energy, water, and waste. They appeal to environmentally concerned Americans and those who are health conscious. How will Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge be environmentally friendly and socially responsible? Walking into Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge you’ll find recycled wood panels, eco-friendly flooring, and zero use of VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) paints. We will fill our facility with Energy Star qualified equipment and compact fluorescent lighting that produces 75 percent less energy and heat. Clients can also enjoy unique creations like crispy Thai trout tacos, original vegan Championburgers, or mango-guava fruit shakes. Rooftop restaurant and Lounge takes flavor seriously, backing up its meals and drinks with a 100% Taste Guarantee. If you don’t like your meal or drink they will happily whip you up something else or give you your money back. Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge serves Certified Humane, hormone-free meat and prepares their meals with only 100 percent organic ingredients. A 100 percent organic menu also offers tempting sandwiches, desserts, beer, and wine. Rather than using cheaper ingredients, the company splurges a little to buy quality foods that are ta stier and more nutritious. Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge also offsets 100 percent of their energy use by purchasing certificates for renewable wind power. Besides constructing their building out of recycled materials, Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge still bases its business on integrity. Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge pays their employees fair wages and benefits. By going green, restaurants can often earn more green. Chapter 3 What is the intended form of ownership? Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge is a sole-proprietorship business owned in majority by its founder and president Kevin Lentz. The owner is also personally responsible for all debts and liabilities incurred by the business. A sole proprietor can own the business for any duration of time and sell it when he or she sees fit. As owner, a sole proprietor can even pass a business down to his or her heirs. A sole proprietor has complete control and decision-making power over the business. A sole proprietor has minimal start up legal fees and NO corporate tax payments. Sole proprietors receive all income generated by the business to keep or reinvest. The owner pays taxes on income from the business as part of his or her personal income tax payments. All responsibilities and business decisions fall on the shoulders of the sole proprietor. The sole proprietor of the business can be held personally liable for the debts and obligations of the business. Additionally, this risk extends to any liabilities incurred as a result of acts committed by employees of the company. Most sole proprietors rely on loans and personal assets to initially finance their business. Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge will choose to incorporate once the business has started to grow. Chapter 4 Assuming Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge will have international operations: Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge will have a second location in Cancun, Mexico located in the heart of Cancun’s Hotel Zone. At this location Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge will have exquisite Mexican decor and outstanding Mexican cuisine. There are multitude of different kinds of organizational structures in international business for instance, one particular structure may require a substantially different plan of coordinating the activities of any given individual or organization. Independent Agent: An independent agent can be defined as an international individual or company who works with an exporter to represent the organization in question best interests in an international destination. Often these agents will take on the roles of being a sales representative. They offer the exporters goods, obtain payments by the purchaser, and as well work to ensure that the exporter’s clients are absolutely satisfied with the goods received. These agents will often have a wide variety of clients or firms who often do not specialize in any specified product or market. For example, Levi Strauss employs agents all across the world specifically in small countries found within these continents, South America, Africa, and Asia. Licensing arrangement: A licensing arrangement can be defined as an agreement in which an owner of a particular good will allow another company to manufacture sell and or market this good or service for a fee and or royalty. These companies will often grant interested parties or businesses in foreign destination exclusive rights to produce and or supply their goods in that particular market. The exporter will receive royalties as well any associated fees. These royalties will usually be determined as a percentage of the licensee’s total revenues. Branch offices: A branch office can be defined as a place in which an exporting company will establish themselves within a foreign nation in order to offer their products more effectively to that foreign market. In most cases exporting firms will just employ current top managers within their organization and will send these managers over to this foreign destination to establish a new branch office. This branch office will act to provide this organization with a greater public image. It is believed that consumers will feel more confident about any particular company’s product or service. Strategic alliance: A strategic alliance is where a company in which two or more individuals or businesses will merge their resources together in order to tackle a specified, mutually beneficial project. Both parties will agree to participate equally in investing resources into this new venture thus forming the alliance. Out of all the International organizational structures to choose from, Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge in Cancun, Mexico will be a branch office. This business model is treated as an extension of its parent company which means that it should only conduct the activities performed by the main office in Orland Park, Illinois. Having a branch office provides several advantages to any foreign company including the ability to conduct business in Mexico, explore more business opportunities and directly interact with its local distributors and agents. While this business model has several advantages, foreign companies should realize that there are some arrangements and requirements that may not be beneficial on their part. For example, foreign companies do not enjoy limited liability which means that they are responsible for all the losses and debts of their branch office which is considered as their legal extension. Another disadvantage is that a branch office, being a non-resident business entity, is not eligible for local tax benefits and exemptions. Lastly, this business model is prohibited to engage in business activities that are not performed by its parent company. Chapter 5 Mission Statement: Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge is a business that envelopes fine dining of unique healthy taste and an excellent rooftop atmosphere. The mission is not only to have great tasting food, but have efficient and friendly service. Our dining environment is not only welcoming and sophisticated, it is unique in design, with glass ceilings and windows on almost all sides of the rooftop. After dining in, customers can enjoy the outdoor terrace and garden views. We concentrate on customer satisfaction and quality food that is always fresh and 100 percent organic. We want the Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge to be the place people can enjoy a tasty, healthy meal and meet new friends. It is our goal to provide a great work environment and treat employees with dignity and respect. Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge wants to build lasting relationships with the guests, contribute positively to communities and our environment. Rooftop Restaurant and Lounge recognizes that profitability is key to our future success .

Pubs in the Uk

This report intends to determine why pubs in the UK are increasingly transforming into gastro pubs. The first part of this study will review recent statistics to give an overview of the pub sector’s position in the hospitality industry, to describe the size, scope and decline of this individual sector. The second part will evaluate how macro factors have affected this industry, both in the last 10 years and currently, using PESTEL analysis. This analysis will then be used to forecast directions for the pub sector.The Palmerston, a pub turned gastro pub, will be referred to, to illustrate these findings and profitable recommendations will be made for the sector and The Palmerston Although the report focuses on pubs, statistics used represent bars and nightclubs as these are commonly perceived to be the same sector. PESTEL factors have, where possible, been analysed in separate sections even though some can be related to one another. Sector Overview Traditionally, pubs existed s olely for selling alcoholic drinks as they represented a retail dimension for breweries (Market & Business Development (MBD), 2000).This has changed to pubs focusing on other features to attract customers, such as providing more entertainment and becoming a food-led outlet. According to statistics from people 1st (2008), the pubs, bars and nightclubs sector is one of the biggest within the hospitality industry in terms of labour force size, number of enterprises and establishments and turnover (see appendix 1, 2 and 3 ). The majority of the workforce is part time and female (see appendix 4 and 5). Although a large sector, pubs are in decline.Pub closures in the UK have increased to five every day partly due to dropping beer consumption (British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA), 2008). This market has seen a constant drop over the last 30 years with only one small rise in 1988 (see appendix 6). Independent pubs are constantly adapting to keep negative impact to a minimum. As Blyth (2002 ) notes, many pubs are finding success when moving away from the traditional concept. Past PESTEL Factors Political: After the successful smoking ban in Ireland, the UK Government announced plans for a smoking ban in 2004 (http://www. forestonline. rg/output/Public-Smoking-Bans. aspx). Baker (2008) suggests a significantly higher proportion of adults were more likely to visit a smoke-free pub. However, some pubs did not agree with this so looked to change their image and concept. Economical and Sociological: A prosperous economy increased disposable income and improved standards of living. Huxley (2003: 8) highlights that â€Å"increasing number of women working and/or opting not to have children† had increased wealth. A report (Peach Factory, 2007) showed women dined out more than men and preferred casual dining formats hence a boom in such outlets.Pubs lost customers as lifestyle changes saw people spending more time in outlets serving good value food. Consequently, pubs lo oked to invest in becoming more food-led. Technological: The introduction and improvement of satellite television allowed pubs to supply entertainment at their premises, attracting more customers (MBD 2000). Some pubs were unable to adopt this as licences proved too costly resulting in loss of customers. Environmental: Climate Change Levy, energy tax introduced in 2001, encouraged pubs to introduce energy-efficient measures to reduce energy consumption.Companies that cooperated were rewarded (caterer search, 2002). Legal: Drug dealing was common in pubs as ample distractions allowed dealers to work (caterer search, 2001). Legislations, such as the Public Entertainment Licence (Drug Misuse) Act 1997, allowed licensees to prohibit drug dealing and thus improved the number of desired customers. Pubs sought to create more inviting premises. The Palmerston The Palmerston recognised changes were important so closed for refurbishment in 2003. Upon opening in 2004, the improved menu and aes thetics (including a segregated section for smokers) was an instant success. Current PESTEL FactorsPolitical: The government is trying to reduce binge drinking and alcohol-linked violence by imposing policies on pubs to display alcohol-unit levels, health warnings on drink labels and banning ‘happy hour’ promotions (Ford, 2008). Failure of cooperation will lead to legislation. Pubs may suffer with this costly process. Economical: The UK economy is currently attempting to stabilise as it faces recession. The Chancellor announced in the latest pre-budget report that duty on alcohol would be raised (Thomas 2008), creating more problems for pubs already experiencing major losses with the â€Å"above-inflationary duty increases† (BBPA 2008).Sociological: Duce (2006) suggests that pubs cannot compete with supermarkets (which are cutting prices) as more customers are buying alcohol to drink at home. Pubs have looked to increase revenue elsewhere and have led to more foc using on being food-led. Technological: As wireless technology continues to expand globally, pubs are installing wireless internet connections within the premises to compete with other outlets supplying this popular format (Walton, 2007). Environmental:A report (The Peach Factory, 2007) shows increased awareness of global issues, such as the impact of food miles on the environment, has made pubs focus on locally and organically produced food. Those providing for this trend are popular due to being perceived as supporting the local community and environment. Legal: The Smoking Ban was legalised on 1st July 2007 and, as Baker (2008) states, â€Å"has had a devastating effect on pub trade†. Many independent pubs have not been able to compete with the large pub chains that have invested in outdoor smoking areas. This is a major reason why many pubs are closing.The Palmerston: The Palmerston adjusted to the smoking ban and integrated a wireless network in 2004 so negative impact w as minimal. It focuses its services to families and promotions are food related. Although alcohol sales may be down, food sales are high. Future PESTEL Factors Political and Legal: The All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group (caterer search, 2008) advises the government to make changes to improve pubs’ viability. Suggestions have ranged from reducing the rate of beer duty to banning supermarkets from selling alcohol at minimal prices (Thomas, 2008).If the government recognises and acts on these concerns, pubs may find business improves. Economical: The hospitality industry is predicted to take 50-70% of the possible ? 1. 4b-? 2b profit from the London Olympic Games 2012, reports Thomas (2006). This may inject the economy with prosperity, if it has not by then, and provide pubs a chance to increase sales and attract visitors who want to experience UK’s national drink – beer. Sociological: The hospitality industry employed over 152,000 migrant workers at the beginning of 2008 according to Home Office figures (2008).However, Walton (2008: 7) learned â€Å"migrant workers are increasingly turning their backs on the UK hospitality industry because of the falling of the pound†. Pubs that currently employ migrant workers may implement long-term recruitment processes to attract more UK workers. Technological: Bentley (2008: 34) acknowledges there is â€Å"evidence that greener approaches to computing are moving into the mainstream†. Pubs may demand this, if made mainstream, to reduce power consumption, which would be valuable if energy costs continue to rise. Environmental:Climate change is increasing flooding in the UK and northern Europe, causing heat waves and droughts in southern Europe and Australia. As this causes major problems with harvests, food prices are more likely to rise, suggests Vaughan (2008). Pubs must find ways to absorb the rising costs. The Palmerston: The Palmerston sources its food produce locally, helping both the environment and their costs. The low staff turnover indicates it has a successful training process. Conclusion With falling beer consumption and increased tax on alcohol, pubs are closing at rapid rates.Negative media, such as binge drinking and alcohol-related violence, poses to be a real threat to pubs as policies are introduced. After a decade of prosperity, the economy is now in decline which is presenting more problems for pubs. Those that have survived have become food-led pubs as more people have been dining out due to higher disposable income from an increasingly affluent economy. Due to immense competition in the food industry, pubs have concentrated on creating traditional menus prepared to the highest-quality.To reflect this and cope with changing clientele from the smoking ban, premises have been updated to create more inviting and family-friendly surroundings. The combination of all these features, and considerable transformation, creates the present gastro pub. The Pal merston underwent all these changes and declared a successful gastro pub when it re-opened in 2004. Recommendations The pub sector is in decline and may continue because of the current economic situation. Pubs must find different ways of increasing revenue as alcohol sales plummet.This may include introducing attractive menus and hiring professional chefs to maximise its potential. Available technology for customers is essential and pubs should install their own wireless network. The Palmerston has already adapted to many macro factors that have negatively affected other pubs. However, in order for it to continue succeeding it must keep adjusting as the economy declines. Since food is one of its most popular products it must ensure this remains attractive and consistently prepared to a high standard.As food costs rise the menu should be analysed and any item that is being incorrectly sourced should be replaced by an adequate substitute, but still maintaining the quality. Families ar e one of the main targets for The Palmerston, so every care should be made on satisfying both parents and children. Re-introducing traditional board games is suggested as they typically inspire family unity. Pubs in neighbouring areas supply these games and have proved to be popular. The Palmerston could introduce affordable ‘themed evenings’ to attract the local community to congregate and socialise in a relaxing atmosphere.