Bag the Elephant: Book Review

In this book authored by Steve Kaplan the setting was focus on the current business situation where in order to overcome the challenges you have to be like â€Å"elephants† where being smart is not the only way for you to win these big companies but you also need to be strong, clumsy and slow and must have huge memory like elephants.In this book, it also provides a way on how a business can truly succeed in getting large companies rather than getting small ones, which for some it still in the present trend business do, because for them it is easier for them to do transaction, but in this book Steve explains that getting the â€Å"big elephants† provides a huge lift in your business because it does not only give your big profit but also helps you sustain for longer years and established stability in the long run.Bag the Elephant book does not just provide how important doing business with large companies, but also it gives a clear idea on how these big companies help est ablish other businesses also. Like take for instance if you work in big companies with their good financial standings and also partnership with other businesses, with that alone, it means that you could extend wider business connections and that would definitely give bigger opportunity for your business as well.In this book, Steve Kaplan also gives some advice on how to win big companies, like what attitude and character or right negotiations that are needed in order to win them and most especially how would you sustain this in the long period for your business to grow as well as how these companies would help sustain their business. II. Analysis and Evaluation In this book it provides why and how business people in particular focus on winning big companies rather than small ones, like the one that will put you over the top like improving sales and marketing strategy that can help you get that giant customer.How these Elephant helps you increase your revenue, profits and success. Mo re than a strategy book, Bag the Elephant is packed with proven tactics, tools, and techniques along with real-world examples from the author's vast experience that will demonstrate how you can put these powerful ideas to work. To prepare you for long-term success, this book â€Å"Bag the Elephant..† also provides the 6 keys for a successful big-customer focus †¢ how to map and use a big company's red tape to your advantage †¢ ideas and techniques for developing your own Elephant prospect list †¢ how to find champions who can become your inside sales reps †¢ how to build strong alliances that result in maximum sales †¢ secrets of negotiating with an Elephant without giving away your profit margins †¢ techniques for turning customer catastrophes into customer loyalty †¢ how to avoid the 5 killer mistakes that can put you out of business.This book also provides outlines on why getting big companies profitable rather than getting projects from small companies. The book Bag the Elephant is all about how smart and intelligent business owners can win and keep those all-important companies, make-or-break clients. This book also filled with dynamic advice and real-life examples, delivered in an energetic, straight-shooting fashion that gets right to the core of its powerful idea—how to land the account that will put you over the top.Here are six keys to achieving the elephant mindset and understanding the big customer. Mapping and using big company's red tape and irregularities to your advantage. This book also outlines how these big elephant needs you as much as you need it and how to do effective negotiations. In he first part, Elephant is Waiting, it shows how important and how business people must think that there is really high potential in doing business with them and these big companies are just waiting for them, if only they know what their needs are for them to have better business with them.On the second part, The Secret life of the Elephant, it somehow focuses on learning the ropes of big companies, the way they do business and how they actually do transaction. This is very important because knowing how to do business with big companies are far different than getting into small or medium sized companies. Like from the simplest knowing the discount schemes, red tape transactions, etc. this are vital because that is how business works for big companies and that must be well adhered in order to succeed.(Kaplan, S, 2005). Reading this book has provided better way of understanding the way how business works and how it should be applied in the real world. This book also explains that it is still very common these days that for some companies it is still important to maximize profit and reduce expense. But, this has been a little bit changed as the demand for innovation and technology and the need for process improvement are becoming an important factor for success of an organization.With thes e latest developments and trend in the business, companies with their top executives would always look intently what they need to improve or in other case needed to innovate. The main reason is that, in any case the managers with the executives of the company must carefully look on this need and should not give any drastic and not well-studied decisions. It is also where managers’ inputs are very important and they should not be just deciding for their own sake but it should be for the betterment of the whole company.This book also provides better discussion how big companies can be a big factor for profitability which is currently the main issue for companies to sustain their business. Secondly, it also focuses on competitiveness, how a company can be competitive in the midst of hardships in businesses. Competitive advantage, how does this become a very important motivating factor for some companies, particularly the global companies?Actually, there are two very common quest ions that are commonly address when it comes to competitive advantage and these are: is with regards to attractiveness of industries for long-term profitability, there is no company that does not want to have a long-term profitability. This is one factor that really drives company to continually be competitive. Strategies and efficient approaches are really well-focused and well desired activities that company needs to focus carefully.That is why there was no doubt that there are companies would even invest for research and development because that is one factor that contributes to long-term profitability and not just focusing on the customer satisfaction and efficient internal management. The second question why competitive advantage needs to apply by a company is in order for them to know their current status in the industry. In the second question it is simply carefully studying the current status of the company, is the company effective in what areas?Does the company established effective long-term plans and strategies? These types of questions would even help in establishing a sort of knowledge base or baseline before actual process improvement take place. This also provides a better reflection to current business situation that in order to really implement the right process for any competitive advantage that needed to be implemented in a company, there should be an effective long-term strategy that should be establish.And this strategy should focus mainly on operations management, this is very important that every company needs to start improving its own operation, there are other companies that fails to do this, the main focus here is that these companies needs to make sure that they improve first their own turf and that they are well prepared enough to work on for bigger challenges ahead.Some of the key factors and priorities that relates to operations management are the following: studying carefully what operation management style needs to be applied, secondly, understand the current demand and supply, third, the company’s current product and service offered, and lastly is what are the current consumer demand, variety of needs, diversity concerns, need for flexibility and other important issues that need to be address by the company.That is why with regards to operations management, it does not particularly focus on operations within the company but also more importantly is the external factors that affect it. III. Lesson, Thoughts and Experiences One lesson in this book is that for anyone, you should always strive hard into the top even though it is hard and sometimes seems impossible. Like for instance in school, it is important that we work hard in our studies because this will also be our main passport to our future career which would give us advantage against the competition someday.The most important lesson in his book is that, businesspeople must now be afraid of getting big companies, because this can provide long term success in the business. This does not just provide businesses long term stability but more importantly it provides much greater opportunity in the long run because their business also works with other big businesses and that alone can give you more opportunity to grow and that can help you sustain your business.Secondly, this book also gives business people an idea that learning the ropes of these â€Å"big elephants† must also be taken into careful consideration because this is not the same and really far different than going into transaction with small companies. Lastly, it also provides better explanation on how competitiveness and quality on the way you operate with these big companies is needed and much more expected because it is not just as simple as doing daily business with them, they desire better results and that is a growing challenge as you go along dong business with them.The longer you do business with them the more new and exciting ideas is needed that would also help them re-define their business and that would not just help them achieve their goal but more importantly help you attain your goal as well. Like it is also being said that if the company has been enhancing its capabilities on how they can serve their customers, it also makes the company creates its own distinctive competencies and this is now where innovations, efficiency, quality, and customer responsibilities form together as a leverage by the company to be competitive and work effectively in its operation.If the company continues to strive and maintain its vision of improving its competencies, it also brings the company in performing value creation in the organization. This value creation will also be the main ingredient for success on doing business for these â€Å"big elephants† in the business. So expect challenge in life and be ready to face it with all your mind and strength because that is the only way you can overcome it and for sure at the end of it you will win it. List of References Kaplan, S. (2005). Bag the Elephant!. How to Win and Keep Big Customers. US: Bard Press

Low life expectancy Essay

Todays world is all about speed. Every single process is studied and programmed to be as quick as possible, with optimal efficiency. We are currently witnessing a fundamental transformation of the society that we can qualify as a robotisation, essentially in the developped countries. That could be beneficial for some countries, in some fields, for some people. But we all should be aware that there are humans that cannot follow this step. In fact, this new process is involving a wider gap between developped countries and the least developped countries concerning life expectancy. Life expectancy is an average number of year given to a person at his birth depending on the country he was born in, and it is a factor defining the health of a country. Diseases, war, famine, death rates in one hand, national economic prosperity, standard education and performant healthcare in the other hand, there are many factors affecting the life expectancy in each country, making it better or worse. People tend to have. a longer. life in western countries like Israel where the average expectancy life is 81 years old, instead of Zimbabwe, where the average expectancy life is 52 years old (CIA, 2012). This essay will assess two solutions to low life expectancy in the developping world. First, the. promotion and improvement of the health care system and infrastructure, then the development of appropriate education programs to instruct and educate the population of those third world countries. The countries where life expectancy is very low are country where death rates are very high. These death rates are caused by further facts as war, diseases, pandemics and outbreaks so we can notice that healthcare system and infrastructure are very important to maintain the population in a good shape. The difference between evelopped and developping countries concerning this matter has always been the economical issues. Developping countries, in order to improve their situation, must establish plans Wich will structure an efficient government budget, however because of their low or very low GDP, this budget could be extremely tight regarding. healthcare and infrastructures dedicated to that matter. For example in UK, the budget dedicated to healthcare represents eleven percent of the GDP, whereas Angola uses only 2% of public expenditure (WHO,2005). Due to such a low budget dedicated to Healthcare, developping countries are not able to provide efficient reatments and qualified medical staff to their citizens. The only solution to that issue for developping coutries is to increase their health care budget and place the ministry of health upper in their priorities. Increasing the tax rates on high income people would raise the budget and slightly rise the budget by 2% in the Gross Domestic Product. Government should aso work on the drug prices and user fees to make it more affordable , and control the parallel market to prevent fiscal losses. A reasonnable and efficient use ot ressources should imply an equilibrium in the third world economies and make them refill their budget. That would make the coutry eligible for a financial help from the world bank, the african development Bank or the IMF. Construction of new hospitals and purchases of drugs would then be possible perspectives. Moreover, the governments should focus on supportive private health care and introduction ofa health insurance that would help people keep their money and still get efficient treatments. Improving healthcare all over the world and especially in the developping coutries is actually one of the most relevant issues of the 21 rst century. The second part of the essay focuses on the educational kind of treatment that eople in the developping coutries should get in order to educate them to the new technologies that they will be facing, the new facilities that tey will be using. Education will also allow the medical staff to supply the knowledge and services that people are expecting. On top of that, education will improve peoples situation, working in better places and not being in contact with diseases and bacterias. They will earn more money and that is improving the situation of the country as well, by increasing the GDP. We can say that ducation is at the begining of the chain that will bring a country to prosperity. In order to improve the medical treatments quality, the ministry of education should organize training programs and. seminars for the. medical body (WHO, 2000). In a close collaboration with the ministry of Health and some associations, the Ministry of education should promote hygenie among primary schools, high schools, universities and other educational institutions through presentations, or conferences with medical bodies or even advertisement. The local associations should be also supported and prevention should happen mor often. ‘Give soap a chance! ‘ (wash hands, 2012) is a slogan used by NHS in the I-JK, a world eading country in terms of health. Awareness of young people associated with scientific knowledge and prevention actions would be a great sanitary improve and could lead toa rie in the life expectancy rise. According to the previous sayings, we can say that life expectancy could be well improved by working on how to manage the budget to improve the sanitary system, and improving the educational system that will in a way rise the awareness of people concerning health care and science. Even if we focused on two aspects of low life expectancy solutions, we should mention that famine, war and natural disasters are lso issues that governments should work on. http://www.afro.who.int/en/clusters-a-programmes.html https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/rankorderguide.html http://www.who.int/whr/2000/media_centre/press_release/en/ http://www.who.int/hac/crises/ago/background/Angola_Dec05.pdf http://www.who.int/topics/health_policy/en/

Retention, human resource management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Retention, human resource management - Essay Example these localized incentives might work towards retaining the most efficient employees of the organization. The idea is not about spending more time on these incentives but lie son designing effective programs that are workable. According to the human resources’ vice president of Great American Insurance Group of Cincinnati, â€Å"We want that manager feedback, that peer-to-peer recognition. It becomes very personal† (Shepherd). Such programs also help the colleagues to be familiar with each other better. Apart form the decentralized programs and practices there are centralized programs, which applies to all the employees fitting a particular criterion. For instance, such incentives might be based upon the length of service period. Some employers however like to mix up both centralized and localized incentives for a better outcome. This again requires training of managers such that they might implement and design the incentive programs effectively. A survey reveals that a round 27 percent of the firms arrange such training programs for managers. An example is provided in case of Everett Clinic where the managers are happy with small but personal rewards, which might not be expensive but are effective. These are expressed in the form of gift cards, Caught in the Act cards, Pat on the Back cards for different levels of skills and competence. The upper level of hierarchy provides the support for such programs in both financial and no financial terms. According to the company, their employee satisfaction is around 80 percent. In fact budgetary constraint is not the only motivation behind such programs. Such retention practices encourage creativity for developing such programs some of which gain instant recognition. Employers even resort to the use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter to appreciate their efficient employees. This helps in gaining public appreciation for these employees. Thus the article mainly talks of tapping the employeesâ€℠¢

Qualitative research paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Qualitative research paper - Essay Example important with respect to the African countries where the population living below the poverty line is more than fifty percent of the total population. The lacks of opportunity for strengthening the financial condition of the individuals have multiple implications on the social lives of individuals. The FDI helps in the inflow of money in the economic cycle resulting in the acceleration of the economic growth as well employment opportunities. The literature review section of the study covered various theories and models of FDI and growth of an economy. The determinants of FDI like cross border investment issues, collaborative ventures and various important issues to understand the determinants of FDI was discussed in the first section followed by the Growth Empirical Modeling where the Growth empirical approach, the Intertemporal Optimization approach and the Panel Data Analysis approach has been studied. The gaps of the models have been identified and argued in this section and the conceptual framework of the study is prepared. The main section of the paper is the chapter following Literature review. The factors determining FDI flows to Africa and threshold issues for the foreign investors have been studied here. The approaches identified for the determinants of FDI has been aggregate econometric analysis, survey appraisal of foreign investors’ opinion and econometric study at the industry level of the study. The study has been based on the Aggregate Econometric Approach. According to this approach the basic determinants of the inflow of FDI in a particular country or a region are dependent factors of the size and growth of market and openness of the country at the primary level and various other factors like host country investment environment, factor endowments, infrastructure and technology and country risk at the secondary level. The research methodology studies the variations in long-run rates of the economic growth across the countries by Levine and

Africa facing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Africa facing - Essay Example t under developed countries, 37 of them are countries in Africa (Krabacher, Kalipeni & Layachi 3)Indeed Africa is underdeveloped and a majority of its member countries are considered by the outside world as third world counties. This can be attributed to a number of factors. One significant factor that has affected Africa is the presence of poor governance and corruption among government officials in most of its member countries. These leaders steal the country’s wealth running the continent dry. Another factor that has attributed to Africa’s poor economy is pandemics especially HIV/AIDs. HIV/AIDs as killed a lot of people in Africa hence limiting its workforce (Krabacher, Kalipeni & Layachi 3). Governments have used billions of dollars in trying to eradicate the disease. This money could have been used for development. Another factor that has led to the underdevelopment of Africa is wars and conflicts. Countries have fort both internally and with each other with the aim of controlling mineral resources. This has in turn scared investors away hence limiting the growth of Africa’s economy. Poor climate and inappropriate agriculture methods are another key factor that has limited Africa’s growth. This is because most of the African lands are covered with arid and semi-arid areas. Where there is good climate in Africa, people use poor farming methods which encourage soil erosion which renders land unsuitable for cultivation. Small scale farming is also a problem in Africa since most people do not produce food for economic purposes. However, Africa is rising up, and its economy is rising steadily. African countries are taking measures to rid themselves of corruption and poor leadership. They are setting up commissions to investigate corrupt leaders and promote civic education on the choosing of appropriate leaders, governments are also investing a lot on infrastructure which is in turn attracting investors hence increasing its economy. Governments are also

Supply Network Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Supply Network Strategy - Essay Example It also improves the relationship of each link in the chain and improves the benefits of all partners in the supply chain. Finally, a three dimensional network model of a supply chain can better show that dynamic nature of the behaviors and way of information, services, and materials. A network view guides those who are responsible for strategy design, implementation, and execution to see the difficult relationships of a typical supply chain into the future. This also helps in field of "economies of scope" between the business enterprises. According to above, Supply chain management is represented as a dynamic not as static. This view of Supply chain management has its crucial point on the logical and global attitude of business and its relationships. Information technologies are the facilitators. In which there is not least absence of performance. The theory of supply chain management has commands over the products or services that are beneficial for the company. It is also involved the procedure that is faster then the cost. The term management in Supply chain management has a conservative view of its managerial dimensions, these dimensions can be planning, organizing or controlling the over all activities but there is a very little knowledge about the management of service supply.

Tolerance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Tolerance - Essay Example Thus, this paper helps to provide an insight into the marginalised Muslim society or community within America on the basis of how they have tagged themselves to be the ‘other’ community in the midst of a diverse cultural background. America has a diverse society full of individuals who need to be respected for who they are. In the recent past, the Muslim community was barred from constructing a Mosque near Ground Zero where the Twin Towers had once stood only because of the allegation that it was their religion that had brought about harm on the rest of American society by the bombings. However, this is a false accusation because people need to be tolerated no matter what religion they follow; others need to understand that just because they follow the same religion as the terrorists did, they are not part of the same way of thinking or way of life. Americans as such are losing out on their tolerance levels towards accepting other people within their society. They fear l osing out on their individual identities. However, they need to understand that accepting and tolerating other people will only expand their culture and further give others a chance to experience the same. All of this has made the Muslims in America want to tag themselves as different people with different priorities, living a life away from pure bred Americans. Despite being born and brought up in America, they do not feel at home because of the treatment that they are given by Americans. At the end of the day, everyone is a human being and thus there arises no question of a superiority complex that many people live with. It is imperative for every man to be tolerant towards another’s dreams and ideas as well because everyone has certain desires that they want to fulfil. According to a research conducted, Muslim Americans themselves support neither of these assumptions of posing a threat to American society. â€Å"Interviews with 3,627 Muslim Americans in 2001 and 2004 by t he Georgetown University Muslims in the American Public Square (MAPS) project and 1,050 Muslim Americans in 2007 by the Pew Research Center show that Muslim Americans are diverse, well-integrated, and largely mainstream in their attitudes, values, and behaviors.† (Read, Jen’an) Tolerance should stop stepping in only when one’s needs and wants conflict and do not coincide with another’s to a reserved extent; this means that when people start hampering each other’s lives then others should stop being tolerant towards them. It is obvious that one will not be tolerant towards terrorists, however, other Muslims around the world have not done any harm to anyone in a personal or derogatory manner and thus it does not make sense to bar them from building their mosque. Thus, why does the question of them staying away from the rest of society come in? A number of Americans feel that Muslims are foreigners, ethnically, culturally and politically monolithic in nature, oppress women, are home grown terrorists and want to incorporate the sharia law in the US. (Rauf, Feisal Abdul) However these notions are completely untrue and mythical because Muslims follow the laws of their own land according to their own free will and the modern Muslim only wants acceptance into society and does not believe in imposing his ideas upon others. Similarly, there are a number of prevailing issues in society today where it is not acceptable for

Global Financial Crisis and the Ramifications and Impacts upon Ethics Research Paper

Global Financial Crisis and the Ramifications and Impacts upon Ethics and the Developmen of Ethical Behavior - Research Paper Example As such, this brief paper will analyze some of the ways in which this researcher believes it could have ultimately been prevented, the means whereby ethical standards were violated. Although it is oftentimes noted that hindsight is 20/20, it is worth discussing these mechanisms as a function of gaining a further insight into the way that the market works and seeking to prevent a similar situation occurring within the future. Due to the high level of understanding that current economists have with regards to the Great Depression, many forms of protection have been placed within the current economy as a means of ensuring that the same type of catastrophe, based on the same causal factors, does not occur within the current market. However, these forms of protection were not always present and it can be effectively argued that these were some of the main reasons why the crisis itself was able to be perpetuated and had such long and damaging effects. Finally, as a function of understandin g the crisis, what precipitated it, and what furthered it, this analysis will devote a degree of time to analyzing behavioral bias that existed within the system. Background and Analysis of Causal Factors and Precipitators: As such, it is necessary to know, understand, and discuss the forces which could have prevented or at least greatly assuaged the crisis as it has been presented to the financial markets and subsequent global economies over the period of the past 5 years time. In this way, such an exploratory look into the realm of the financial crisis and its subsequent aftermath can allow for a more informed understanding of how the crisis itself could have been prevented as well as the formulation and creation of new and insightful ideas within the reader with regards to how such a situation might be stopped in the future. The first aspect of anticipation and reduction to the crisis came as early as the mid to late 1990s when a number of lawmakers and political analysts began t o make a series of warnings concerning the untenable nature of the ways in which the financial sector was being deregulated (Liang, 354).1 Although this deregulation has been attributed to both sides of the political spectrum, in all fairness it can be assumed from a moderate interpretation that both sides were complicit in the wholesale deregulation of the financial sector which ultimately caused the collapse of the real estate bubble (The Banking Crisis 9).2 Moreover, the first real and measurable signs of impending difficulties on the horizon were first demonstrated around the year 2006 when the Department of Commerce noted that new home permits had dropped an astounding 28% (Hsu 497).3 Normally incremental increases and/or decrease in the reduction or expansion of new home permits are little cause for alarm; however, when something as earth shattering and innately odd as nearly a 1/3 reduction in the demand for housing should have been a major red flag to the Federal Reserve as well as the entire regulatory system. However, rather than heed such a statistic, the Federal Reserve remained unrealistically optimistic regarding how the economy would likely behave over the next several months and years (Horner 33).4 This allowed for the current situation to continue to extend itself for approximately another 2 years time before the final result of such a failure in oversight and monetary policy was noted by the stock market in the painful round of

Improving Business to Business Marketing in TCL Business Research Paper

Improving Business to Business Marketing in TCL Business - Research Paper Example Over the past two years, most small and medium businesses have been badly impacted by the recent economic downturn with TCL not having been spared from the impact. During this period most businesses are cutting costs in order to remain competitive in the business, this grossly affects TCL’s business as its revenue stream is mostly reliant on the marketing budgets that companies set. Over the past year, with reduced business, TCL recorded a drop in revenue by 25%, and the business is increasingly finding it hard to get new business and establish new clients. It is imperative that TCL make a change to its current business to business marketing. In view of this, this business report analyses and addresses various aspects of a business to business marketing that TCL needs to address in order to be able to efficiently meet its objectives. In doing so, the report will focus on how TCL can restructure its marketing mix, how the business networks and relationships impact TCL’s business, how it can rearrange its sales team for effective impact at low cost. With the recession, most of TCL customers are cutting back on their marketing spending. As can be noted from TCL’s product portfolio, TCL gives precedence to offline business marketing using tools such as radio and television for their clients. The very nature of such advertising means being expensive implies that TCL is losing a lot of money in this area. Since TCL also offers other marketing services such as online marketing, it is important for the company to explore its product portfolio and see how it can restructure it well enough for the business that is focused on cost-cutting. Trends in the recession show that more companies which are cutting costs are tending towards online marketing not only because it is cheaper, but because of the reasoning that most end consumers being thrifty during these periods also tend to go online in search of better and cheaper deals (Chlebisova, et al, 2011:1 234-1236). Indeed Court (2009:71) note that key advertising tools that most companies use for advertising and marketing during the recession are the use of the internet, mobile devices and the social networking which are far cheaper and much more effective in a recession-stricken economy. Most companies prefer to use a combination of these with traditional media (Bulearca, & Bulearca, 2010).

Paper chromatography Essay Example for Free

Paper chromatography Essay Aim : to separate and identify of the pigments in leaves by paper chromatography Principle of design: In this experiment, a strip of filter paper containing a small spot of concentrated chlorophyll pigment is dipped in a mixture of developing solvent, the pigments was carried up the strip as the solvents move up. Since the solvents moved at different rates and pigments had different solubilities in them, the pigments gradually become separated. When the solvent was near the top of the paper, the paper was removed. After that, Rf (Relative front) for that substance were calculated. In this experiment, Rf values were used to identify the different substances present in the leaf extract mixture. Instructions: 1. 3 leaves of spinach were ground in pestle and mortar by 2 cm3 of extraction solvent 2. the developing solvent was added into the boiling tube and it just touched the lower edge of the paper strip. 3. The tube was kept stopper to allow it to saturate with the solvent vapour 4. Both sides of paper strip were trimmed to make sure that the sides of paper strip didnt touch the sides of the boiling tube 5. A light pencil line was ruled 20mm from the lower edge of paper strip 6. A capillary tube was dipped into the extract and a small drop of the extract was put in the middle of the starting line. When it was dried, another drop was added and adding was continued until the spot was quite dark. The spot was kept as small as possible. 7. One end of the strip was folded at 90 so that when the paper strip was suspended with a pin from the stopper, the opposite end would just dip into the surface of the solvent. 8. The chromatogram was allowed to develop until the solvent front is 2 cm from the upper edge of paper strip. 9. The paper strip was taken out and a light pencil line was ruled to mark the solvent front. 10. The pigment patches were circled immediately with a pencil. 11. The Rf values for the different pigments in the leaf extract were calculated. Results: The distance that the solvent travels = 9.3cm Rf of the top yellow spot = 8.9/ 9.3 = 0.96cm Rf of the middle orange spot = 6.8/ 9.3 = 0.73cm Rf of the bottom bright green spot = 5.7/9.3 = 0.61cm Rf of the lowest green spot = 4.4/9.3 = 0.47cm Therefore the top yellow spot is carotene pigment, the middle orange spot is xanthophyll pigment, the bottom bright green spot is chlorophyll a pigment, and the lowest green spot is chlorophyll b pigment. Discussion: Chromatography is an effective method of separating the solutes in a solution. Paper chromatography is the process we used to separate various chemicals found in the pigment, in the case is chlorophyll. The four pigments that being separated were chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, xanthophyll II, and carotene. These pigments were each separated at a different point on the paper. This is because of few different factors. First, each pigments has a different mass, and therefore are heavier and cannot travel up the paper as far, or as quickly. In this experiment, the heaviest pigment is chlorophyll b as it is the lowest, and the lightest pigment is carotene as it is the top of all pigments. The second factor was the solubility of the pigment. The least soluble pigment should travel up the shortest distance, and the most soluble pigment should travel up the longest distance. In this experiment, the least soluble pigment was chlorophyll b, and the most soluble one was carotene. The third factor was adsorption, that is the ability to attract other substances strongly and hold on their surface. The pigment with the greatest adsorption ability traveled up the shortest distance, and the pigment with the weakest adsorption ability traveled up the longest distance. In this experiment, carotene had the weakest adsorption ability, and chlorophyll b had the greatest adsorption ability. The strip of filter paper should be freely suspended in the test tube, this is because the movement of the pigment on the paper in contact or near the glass would cause the particles to be attracted to the side such that net charge of the force would be towards the side. The test tube must be stoppered. This is to produce a saturated atmosphere in the test tube. Also, it was to prevent the evaporation of the solvent, which is toxic. Conclusion: There were four pigments being separated from chlorophyll, they were chlorophyll b, which is the least soluble, heaviest and have the greatest ability of adsorption, chlorophyll a, xanthophyll II and carotene, which is the most soluble, lightest and have the weakest ability of adsorption.

Effect of Alzheimer’s on the Family

Effect of Alzheimer’s on the Family Alzheimer’s: the effect on the family Introduction Alzheimer is a medical problem that can also be termed as a type of dementia. A patient who suffers from Alzheimer experiences problems in regard to his memory, thinking process, and behavior. This disease can be defined as a medical problem that is irreversible, and damages the brain gradually. It starts destroying the memory of a person and then eventually the patient starts experiencing problems in carrying out the activities related to his or her daily life. This is a problem that is caused especially in older people, the ones, who have crossed the age of 60. As mentioned above, this is one of the most common types of dementia that is caused in older people. Researchers have been working on the Alzheimer since 1906, when a doctor first examined the case of a woman who was thought to be dead due to some sort of mental illness. The common symptoms that were witnessed by the doctor in that lady included the problems related to memory loss, psychological and mental behavioral problems, problem in speaking and understanding what other people are saying, etc. after the death of this female patient, the doctors examined her brain and found that there were a lot of abnormal amyloidal clumps in her brain. Apart from this, a lot of entangled fibers were also found in the brain of this lady during examination. (Casado, 2012) These two findings, i.e. the plaque as well as the tangles are considered to be the two main features that help in providing the description of the Alzheimer’s disease. Apart from this, the third factor that proved to be responsible for causing Alzheimer in the patient was the loss of contact between the neurons with each other in some or all the parts of the brain. It has been seen that with the help of proper medication, the doctors have been successful in treating and controlling the symptoms of the Alzheimer. But till date there has been no cure that is discovered for treating the Alzheimer disease in a perfect manner. The working of the brain under the influence of Alzheimer disease Not many researches have proved to be successful in determining the exact details about the Alzheimer disease. The questions like how and when the process or Alzheimer begins in the brain is not known. It is generally believed that the symptoms are visible in the patients much later when the disease starts damaging the brain. The patients do not exibit the symptoms in this stage but there are a lot of toxic changes related to this disease that start taking place in the brain. The brain starts depositing a lot of protein in the brain and this protein eventually starts forming clots and tangles of fibers in the brain. When this quantity increases, it starts affecting the working of the neurons. This is exactly the situation when the neurons start dying and the signs of Alzheimer are visible in the patients. (Feldman, 2013) The first place or part of the brain that gets affected by this entire process is known as hippocampus. This is that part of the brain that plays vital role in forming the memories in the brain. This region of the brain starts shrinking as soon as the neurons start dying. It is very difficult to identify Alzheimer in the initial stages. And eventually, when the patient goes and consults a doctor regarding his problems, it often gets too late. (Lim, 2011) Statistics related to the Alzheimer Talking in context to the United States, there are more than 5 million people who are known are the patients suffering from Alzheimer. Most of these people are in the age group of 65 and above. Since there is no exact and effective treatment for this disease, it is difficult to put a brake on the rising number of the patients. There are three stages that occur in Alzheimer, namely a preclinical stage, a mild cognitive stage and the final stage. This is not those types of disease which may cause death to the patients. But because it is caused in people with older age, Alzheimer mixes with other diseases and then may cause death in some years. Living with the Alzheimer- the effect on the family Since this medical problem and the number of patients suffering from it are constantly increasing, you may also witness that some person in your family supports from this problem. It is important to understand here that you are not the only one whose dear one is suffering from this problem. A lot of old people these days suffer from this medical problem. A lot of care and precautions need to be taken in order to help the patient live a proper life when he or she suffers from Alzheimer. Along with the patient, it is the patients family as well that has to deal with a lot of stress on a daily basis. It is not only the patient itself who lives with the Alzheimer disease, but it is his or her family members as well. (Elliott, 2010) The family of the patients suffering from Alzheimer disease needs to be very supportive towards the patient. Most of the people, who suffer from this disease, are not able to handle or manage the tasks that need to be done on a regular basis. they need to mandatorily seek help from others in walking, sitting, standing, etc. since you are the care givers for the patient, it is important that you take care of all the unique needs of the patient. Some of the general tips that may prove to be helpful for you in the case you have to take care of patient suffering from Alzheimer disease are mentioned below- Set up a routine for the patient and make sure it is seriously followed Make sure that you help him do his works. Don’t just treat him as a person who cannot do anything on his own. Since the patient stays confused and feels weak all the time, taking care of his or her dietary habits is very important (Thies, 2013) Give healthy meals and drinks to the Alzheimer patients Serve food that the patient can eat by himself easily Keep in mind that the patient is an adult and not a child. He or she may have mood swings and therefore do not force him or her for anything that is against their wish The patients lose control over their brain and the thinking process. so it is important that someone is always around the patient in order to keep the patient safe Encourage the patient for regular exercising If the situation worsens, you can take him or her for counseling sessions It is important for the caregivers that they take care of themselves as well. The family members of the patients suffer from the mental as well as physical trauma. It is important here that the caregivers are provided with constant support. Many people may think that it is unfair on their part to take care of someone who isn’t treating them right. It is important that the family members of the Alzheimer patient keep themselves patient and calm. Conclusion There has been a lot of advancement in the research related to the Alzheimer disease in the last few years. It should be remembered that the Alzheimer disease is one of the most serious problems that has been faced by the country presently. It is important that the scientists keep on working in this field and quickly find out a way in which they can treat the patients of the Alzheimer disease in order to make them perfectly healthy. Apart from this a lot of work in respect to the prevention of this medical problem also needs to be done in order to control the rise in the number of patients suffering from Alzheimer. (Theofilou, 2012) Taking from the point of view of the caregivers and the family member’s o the Alzheimer patients, it is important that they handle the patient with utmost care and affection. In cases when the family is not capable of handling the patient, they can take the help of care homes as well that are made in order to serve these patients. References Works Cited Casado, B. . (2012). Correlates of caregiver burden among family caregivers of older Korean Americans. Retrieved 5 6, 2014, from Casado, B., Sacco, P. (2012). Correlates of caregiver burden among family caregivers of older Korean Americans. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 67(3), 331-336. Elliott, A. F. (2010). Enhancing caregiver health: findings from the resources for enhancing Alzheimers caregiver health II intervention. . Retrieved 5 6, 2014, from Elliott, A. F., Burgio, L. D., DeCoster, J. (2010). Enhancing caregiver health: findings from the resources for enhancing Alzheimers caregiver health II intervention. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 58(1), 30-37. Feldman, A. L. (2013). Familial Coaggregation of Alzheimers Disease and Parkinsons Disease: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. . Retrieved 5 6, 2014, from Feldman, A. L., Johansson, A. L., Lambert, P. C., Sieurin, J., Yang, F., Pedersen, N. L., Wirdefeldt, K. (2013). Familial Coaggregation of Alzheimers Disease and Parkinsons Disease: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Neuroepidemiology, 42(2), 69-80. Lim, J. G. (2011). Coping strategies influence caregiver outcomes among Asian family caregivers of persons with dementia in Singapore. . Retrieved 5 6, 2014, from Lim, J., Griva, K., Goh, J., Chionh, H. L., Yap, P. (2011). Coping strategies influence caregiver outcomes among Asian family caregivers of persons with dementia in Singapore. Alzheimer Disease Associated Disorders, 25(1), 34-41. Theofilou, P. (2012). Evaluation of quality of life for caregivers of patients with Alzheimer’s Disease. . Retrieved 5 6, 2014, from Theofilou, P. (2012). Evaluation of quality of life for caregivers of patients with Alzheimer’s Disease. J Alzheimers Dis, 2(1). Thies, W. . (2013). 2013 Alzheimers disease facts and figures. . Retrieved 5 6, 2014, from Thies, W., Bleiler, L. (2013). 2013 Alzheimers disease facts and figures. Alzheimers dementia: the journal of the Alzheimers Association, 9(2), 208-245.

The Republican Party: Overall Issues, 1860-1868 :: essays research papers

The Republican Party: Overall Issues, 1860-1868 The Republican party during the 1860's was known as the party more concerned with "civil rights" and the common American. This came about through a series of sweeping changes in the party that occurred during two major time periods: the 1860-1864 and 1864-1868. The changes in the party reflected the attitude in the North as opposed to the confederate, democratic South. The main issue that divided the two was slavery and its implications for control of the nation. The best illustration of the party's anti-slavery sentiment (as contrasted to abolitionism) in 1860, is the fact that although the party was against slavery , it refused to attempt to stamp it out of the regions it was already present. For example, in the Republican Party Platform for 1860, the party states its abhorrence for slavery and declares that slavery should not be instituted into new territories, but it never tries to outlaw it from Southern states. "That the normal conditions of all the territory of the United States is that of freedom...and we deny the authority of Congress, of a territorial legislature or of any individuals, to give existence to Slavery in any Territory of the United States." In the first four years of the 1860's, the North and South waged war over these issues, with the Republican North emerging victorious. The Republicans took charge of the national political power. Although he worked with an anti-slavery platform, President Lincoln attempted to make a generous peace with the South, with hopes of expanding the power of the Republican party with support from the South. Examples of this can be found in the fact that Confederate officials were not barred from public office, compensation for lost slaves was not ruled out and Lincoln hinted that he would be generous with pardons to rebel leaders. With the Emancipation Proclamation, the Republicans gained freedom for slaves, but not social or political equality. During the years of 1864-1868, the Republican platform again changed with the public opinion in the North to one of abolition. In the platform for the National Union Convention, the party affirmed its support for an Amendment to "terminate and forever prohibit the existence of slavery within the limits or jurisdiction of the United States." The 13th Amendment confirmed the death of slavery. However, the so-called "Black Codes" that Southern governments implemented forced abolitionist Republicans in Congress to clash with President Andrew Johnson over the passage of a new Freedmen's Bureau bill and a Civil Rights Act. This clash signified a division between the old Republican values of tolerance and the new platform of slave rights. The Republican Party: Overall Issues, 1860-1868 :: essays research papers The Republican Party: Overall Issues, 1860-1868 The Republican party during the 1860's was known as the party more concerned with "civil rights" and the common American. This came about through a series of sweeping changes in the party that occurred during two major time periods: the 1860-1864 and 1864-1868. The changes in the party reflected the attitude in the North as opposed to the confederate, democratic South. The main issue that divided the two was slavery and its implications for control of the nation. The best illustration of the party's anti-slavery sentiment (as contrasted to abolitionism) in 1860, is the fact that although the party was against slavery , it refused to attempt to stamp it out of the regions it was already present. For example, in the Republican Party Platform for 1860, the party states its abhorrence for slavery and declares that slavery should not be instituted into new territories, but it never tries to outlaw it from Southern states. "That the normal conditions of all the territory of the United States is that of freedom...and we deny the authority of Congress, of a territorial legislature or of any individuals, to give existence to Slavery in any Territory of the United States." In the first four years of the 1860's, the North and South waged war over these issues, with the Republican North emerging victorious. The Republicans took charge of the national political power. Although he worked with an anti-slavery platform, President Lincoln attempted to make a generous peace with the South, with hopes of expanding the power of the Republican party with support from the South. Examples of this can be found in the fact that Confederate officials were not barred from public office, compensation for lost slaves was not ruled out and Lincoln hinted that he would be generous with pardons to rebel leaders. With the Emancipation Proclamation, the Republicans gained freedom for slaves, but not social or political equality. During the years of 1864-1868, the Republican platform again changed with the public opinion in the North to one of abolition. In the platform for the National Union Convention, the party affirmed its support for an Amendment to "terminate and forever prohibit the existence of slavery within the limits or jurisdiction of the United States." The 13th Amendment confirmed the death of slavery. However, the so-called "Black Codes" that Southern governments implemented forced abolitionist Republicans in Congress to clash with President Andrew Johnson over the passage of a new Freedmen's Bureau bill and a Civil Rights Act. This clash signified a division between the old Republican values of tolerance and the new platform of slave rights.

Free Glass Menagerie Essays: The Character of Tom Wingfield :: Glass Menagerie essays

The Character of Tom Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie  Ã‚   Tom Wingfield is a determined young man. He has decided against everyone else in his family's wishes that he wants to leave the dismal life of a factory job, to pursue a chance in the Merchant Marines. He realizes that he would be running off like his father and this is probably the only thing that kept him from leaving this long. Amanda, Tom's mother, deep down knows the day is coming that Tom will leave. She says "But not till there's someone to take your place." She wants Laura, if not herself to be taken care of. At that moment in the play Tom is the breadwinner in the family and up to this point Tom is the underpriviledged child that wants to move on. He wants to pursue his dream, a more adventurous life. Tom was a likable character until we find out he didn't pay the electric bill with the intended money. When Jim is over and he says "I paid my dues this month, instead of the light bill". At this point, Tom becomes a more selfish character. There is less sympathy given in his d irection. In fact, this is probably where we feel a little more sorry for Amanda. Amanda has probably not done everything right for her family, but her intentions have always been good. Tom has lost patience and wants to pursue his journey away now. There's no waiting to save the money for the dues. He doesn't stop going to the movies for a week or quit smoking to save money. He takes the money for the light bill. We know this is a painfully big deal and he has intentionally hurt his family at this point. He knows he has put himself in a position of no turning back. Now, he has to go. As if to make it okay in someway, he says, ""I'm like my father. The bastard son of a bastard! See how he grins? And he's been absent going on sixteen years!" Now we know, he doesn't plan to come back. He has justified his not feeling obligated to his family by saying he gets it naturally. He is his father's son. Of course we have to decide if Tom has a choice. Is Tom withering away where he is. His family is full of dysfunction and he wants to help Laura out also.

Women at Work

Assignment: Article summary The article â€Å"Family Coping Strategies: Balancing Paid Employment and Domestic Labour† by Meg Luxton sheds a different view on the responsibilities laid out in family life. In today's society it's almost a necessity to have both parents working, to support a family. This fact, along with the improvement of females having independence, is the cause of the ever growing number of working women. These, along with many other statistics are showing the rapid improvement and change that woman and families are showing. Year after year we can see the dynamics of the family shifting.It is not the same anymore, that women are the housewives doing all the housework and childcare. However women still have to work to get the equality, and not have to face â€Å"The second shift† once they get home. Husbands need to start stepping up and help out. Workplaces too need to step up, in the sense that they need to try and create better working environments f or women. Unions have been formed to try to perfect benefits, and to shed light on the negative aspects they may have. This whole article shows an interesting view on family coping strategies, and gives lots for people to think about.Society's gender roles are changing significantly with the rise in the amount of women who are contributing to the yearly income of their household's. It has been proven that because women are starting to contribute to household incomes it has resulted in increased satisfaction between husbands and wives and excuses from males such as â€Å"I'm the one bringing home the money, I deserve to rest when I get home† are becoming less valid. A statistics Canada survey in 1995 stated that 64% of women who worked said it was essential for their happiness and 55% agreed that it was the best way to be independent.Females at work who are married no longer have to depend on their husbands for their needs because they are able to provide them on their own. Un like the many women who stay with their spouse in an unhappy or abusive relationship due to the resource theory which is a theory that explains how women will not leave in fear that if they do they will not be able to support themselves, most working women with a stable job will easily find the strength to leave because they are more independent.Having a job gives women a sense of control of their lives and an overall high self-esteem because they are recognized by their husbands as well as children for their work. Not only does it give women something to do, it also ensures stability in one's family income. Here are a few statistics that demonstrate the challenge of balancing paid employment and domestic labor within the family setting in Canada. This challenge arises because of the inequalities between what men and women earn in the work force and also because of the uneven distribution of chores in unpaid domestic labor.If we compare salaries in 1997, men had the higher income of the couple in 77% of Canadian families. (Globe and Mail 21 Feb. 2000). This situation has however improved since the early 60's when 70% of women in male-female couples were dependent on their spouse as the sole income provider. (Oderkirk, Silver and Prud'homme 1994. ) Also when couples divorced men's incomes raised on average 10% whereas women's income usually decreased by 23% in 1997(Toronto Star 10 April 1997).Women feel pressured to work from home or part-time because they are often expected to do most of the domestic labour and this is their way to balance the two. In 1993 they represented nearly 70% of Canadian part-time workers (Ghalam 1993). On sharing of domestic labour front, are still generally the ones to do the bulk of it although men have been more active in this part of family life since the 70's. Women are involved the most in childcare. In 1998, 80 percent of women spent more than 15 hours on childcare compared to only 49% of men (Statistics Canada 1998a).These sta tistics show some improvement in the overall equality between the work load divided between men and women in families. However women are still usually found in a position of disadvantage compared to men. The fact that women have joined the work force doesn’t seem to have impacted the way man act at home. Even though there have been many chances throughout the years on how women are seen in society and there role it, there hasn’t been much change when it comes to domestic labour. It is still very sex segregated.In the past adult man were those had the primary responsibility of earning the income for the family while the role for an adult woman was to act as the housewives whose primary responsibility was running the family home, having children and caring for its members. Yet now that women share the responsibility of bringing in the income, the logic would that man also help around the house but instead what is now happening is that women find themselves carrying out t he â€Å"double shift†, where they go to work in the morning and then they go home to cook, lean, get the kids to bed and have their things prepared for next day. Due to this inequality of household work between men and women, women find themselves at a disadvantage because they have to learn to balance both domestic labour and paid work, which results in them not putting as much effort in their job as they could, therefore they do not reach their best potential which results in lack of opportunities for them. Some workplace calls their work â€Å"family friendly†.What this means for them is: women can come at work a bit earlier and leave earlier. A few women have struggled to make workplaces more cooperative for their person lives. They have fought for maternity, parental, etc. in order to take care of their love ones. â€Å"Family friendly† workplace as well includes women taking their specific amount of â€Å"sickness days† (allowed days off) to go tak e care of their family and once those days ended, therefore will unpaid for additional days taken.Some will have three weeks off to taking care of their hospitalized husband but will be paid only one week. They are basically losing 66. 7% of their paycheck due that. Those women will have to leave their husband at home to take care of themselves and will have to go back to work due to the time allowed was only three weeks. What the employers do not know is the fact they become anxious therefore difficult to focus at work. Most workplace relies on women workers who are experienced or more skilled because it is hard to replace them.Therefore, those women are more advantaged to have more privilege than others. The time you have off at work it is very limited that women will have to sacrifice in order to balance family and paid work. Employers do not understand or ignores the fact that those women have family and the time (days off allowed) given is insufficient for them. In conclusion n owadays it’s harder to survive with only one income so both men and women have to bring an income to be able to accommodate to today’s needs.A job for women brings a sense of control to their life and independence. Although employers have given benefits to women such as maternity leave which is great because women don’t have to worry about since they will have an income coming while caring for their newborn , yet these benefits that employers give them can sometimes be seen as superficial because they know that women tend to need to leave work more often than men ( because they take care of the family) employers are most likely going to ive promotion to men or hiring men for the more important position witch leaves women in what is known as the glass ceiling where their chances of going up in their career is reduced . Women don’t only face inequality at work but they also face it at home where domestic labour is still sex segregation and women come home t o the second shift where they are expected to take care of household work. We all need to realize that women are both important in the workforce and for the childrearing therefore we should encourage them to keep doing both by giving them the proper support that they deserve.

Business Manager

Develop in your own words the definition of Operations Management Strategy. Why is it important to have an effective Operations and Supply Chain Management.? A: The concepts in Operation Management â€Å"MM† are today more important and crucial than ever before, especially with the Intense global competition among companies. It Is critical to understand how to boost the bottom line while keeping costs from ruling and malignantly or even Improving quality.In our book we have for key points that are integral part of MOMS those are: Supply and Chain Management Strategy and Sustainability Forecasting Capacity Management/ with a learning curve. In explaining the concepts' above one can conclude that in the process of making good business decisions the quantity and amount of products as well as the appropriate mix of products to be produces is a critical part of â€Å"Aggregate Planning† in which determining the demands of the products is so very important, as well as the smo othing in production, avoid or forecast bottlenecks, planning horizon and the linear programming.All of the above mentioned is intrinsically connected and responsive to the appropriate levels of staffing, capacities and resources all of these re business decisions within the aggregate planning stages. Inventory Management; Production management; Operations Scheduling: Facilities/layout and location; Quality and Reliability. Are all parts of the decision making in MM.We can then conclude that Operations Strategy is the development of a long-term plan for using all major available resources available to the firm placing it in a better path to better succeed and abbey with its long term goals. MOMS, will address all of these concerns and In a step by step mode how to go about making It possible. Below a chart on a sample of operations strategy Process Problem 2. 1 As an operations manager, you are concerned about being able to meet sales production report: Find the average monthly prod uctivity (units per machine hour).

Strategy Palnning for a farming company LTK

LTK1 was incorporated on 16th October 1986. It is situated at Durian Tunggal District, Malacca. The principal activities of LTK are production of chicken eggs and manufacturing organic fertilizer. LTK is one of the leading eggs producers in Malaysia. The production capacity of LTK is 1 Million eggs per day. Part of the production is for local consumption while the rest of the production is mended for export. Presently, LTK is exporting to Singapore, Hong Kong and Indonesia. With the collaboration between LTK and MARDI2, LTK become the sole producer and distributor of Omega 3 eggs in Malaysia. The LTK Omega 3 eggs provide up to 5 times more Omega 3 and 4 times more of Vitamin E compare with ordinary eggs. The consumption of Omega 3 will reduce heart disease, hypertension, LDL cholesterol, breast cancer, colon cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. In additional, Omega 3 is vital for the development of brain and retina tissues3. The daily production capacity of LTK is 1,500,000. In order to maintain the quality of eggs, LTK applies TQM throughout the whole production processes. Figure 1.0 Production Flow in LTK Chapter 2.0 An analysis of the market, customers and macro conditions of LTK Chapter 2.1 Market Analysis LTK is one of the leading eggs producers in Malaysia since 16th October 1986. But, Omega eggs are still new in the market. Therefore, in the short term the demand will still be low in the market. Nevertheless if the demand of the omega eggs continues to increase, it will benefit LTK in the future. This can be seen as product development strategy. The market where LTK operates in is some sort between perfect competition and monopolistic market. This is because the market is full of egg producers who hold commodity rather than product. On the other hand, this market is full of buyers who purchase eggs for different purposes. However in term of Omega eggs, LTK has made a right move to shift egg as commodity towards branded product. Thus I assume LTK Omega egg is operating in a monopolistic market. Thus, it is the time LTK have the thorough planning and strategic marketing to satisfy customer requirements profitably and sustain competitive edge in a long run Chapter 2.2: Customer Analysis Omega eggs actually are the simple product that the consumers can consume everyday. The marketing strategist should keep track of the customers' behaviour. It is because the switching cost to buy the eggs is very low. Thus, LTK should conduct research from time to time in order to answer the following research questions and hypothesis. > Research Question: Why do consumers buy omega eggs? Hypothesis: Consumers manage to understand the explanations make by LTK through TV, newspaper, magazine and salesperson in the distribution outlets, so they buy Omega egg. > Research Question: Who participates in the buying process? Hypothesis: Most of the time, housewife, mother-in-law or husband participate in the buying process. > Research Question: Where consumers buy omega eggs? Hypothesis: Consumers buy Omega eggs based on convenient or not. Through years of experience and fieldwork research, LTK understand the consumers' behaviour very well. LTK buyers can be divided into 4 categories: the retail market, the business market, the government and non-profit organisation. The retail market refers to the normal consumers while the business market refers to confectionaries and bakery in the southern part of peninsula Malaysia. On top of that, the government market refers to the barracks or army camps in Johor and Pahang. Lastly the non-profit organisations are like school canteens, old-folk home and orphanages. Above and beyond, LTK also concluded that consumers' decision would be influenced by some external stimuli. Therefore, LTK not only provide quality eggs, but convenient pack size, reasonable price (RM0.399), ordinary eggs same size price (RM0.299) and convenient outlets. Chapter 2.3 PEST Analysis Malaysia is a potential market for international marketing because the political and legal environment is mature and stable. Furthermore, the AFTA agreement enable LTK product to flow freely throughout the whole South East Asia region without political barrier. Thus LTK involve very low or no political risk continuing the operation in Malaysia. Although the overall economic performance in the Malaysia had declined, a thorough study will explain that the decline is mainly due to the poor performance in the global economy. No matter what is said and done, LTK performance will not be badly influenced by the economy because eggs are fast moving household product. From the social perspective, LTK goods should be acceptable because the Malaysian should be aware that their current main source of protein is badly affected by the JE Disease and polluted environment. Thus the society has phobia towards consumption of pork and poultry, thus egg is the alternative source of protein and it is a very health source of protein too. Besides, the aging population is also very much concerned about their daily eating habit, so LTK product should be acceptable. Besides, I feel that the rate of product diffusion for LTK enriched egg should be faster because the literacy rate for the target market is higher. Figure2.0 Diffusion Process of LTK goods In term of technology, there isn't any disadvantage for LTK since the product doesn't require any other technological support. However, biological engineering or medical science might assist LTK to increase its production or reduce the rate of defect. Chapter 2.4 Microenvironment Analysis As mentioned above, the enriched egg is new in the Malaysia market; hence the level of intense competition is relatively low. Based on Michael Porter 5 forces analysis, there is no bargaining power for supplier because LTK is the supplier. On the other hand, the bargaining power of buyer is very strong because the retailers in Malaysia are corporate giant like Parkson, Jusco, Top, Makro, Carrefour and Fajar. The threat from substitute is small because the society is suffering beef and pork phobia. Besides, a lot of doctors advise the public to reduce the consumption of red meat and go for the white meat. The entry barrier is the solely most worrying factor for LTK as the entry barrier for such industry is very low. Therefore, it is crucial for LTK to establish strong brand equity before the competitors creep into the market. Figure 2.1 Michael Porter 5 forces Chapter 3.0 Internal Corporate and Marketing Conditions (SWOT) The SWOT analysis is one of the most useful marketing planning outfit that aids the analysis of the firm's overall situation because it provides a clear picture from complex data. LTK incorporated since 1986, one of the strengths of the company is the organization structure is very lean. Therefore, breakdown in communication rarely happened in LTK. Furthermore, the organisation is able to response effectively because the organisation is flexible. In the company, the CEO practices the product category management. Therefore, each department are doing their task efficiently. The second strength LTK possesses is the government support. LTK is the only private organisation in Malaysia that is linked with Mardi. Thus there is a lot of technological transfer and LTK manage to save lots of R&D expenditure. The third strength of LTK is that the organisation has a strong goodwill in the market and a lot of chick food suppliers support the company. On top of that, the distribution network of LTK is relatively widespread throughout Peninsula Malaysia. The fourth strength of LTK is the quality standard has been maintained very well throughout these years. The defective and crack rate is lesser that 7.94% for every period of six months. The weakness for LTK is lack of fund in conducting research and development. As we known that if the products do not get improvement sooner or later the competitor will become the leader in the market. The second weakness for LTK is that the production is inelastic within a short period of time. Even when there is a strong demand for the product, LTK is unable to double or triple the production. The opportunities in this market is nowadays consumers are more concern about their health. Omega plus can improve the brain functions; can reduce heart disease, hypertension, LDL cholesterol, breast cancer, colon cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. Therefore, the demand will accelerate due to positive word of mouth and publicity over the press. Besides, the annual population growth in Malaysia is still rising, thus the demand will definitely rise because more mouths to be fed. There is also an opportunity when the AFTA come into the picture. The Omega egg can flow freely to neighbouring countries and increase sale for the company. The threat to LTK is the competitors enter into the same market. When most of the consumers accept the product, it is also the time more and more players come into this market. Thus, LTK must do more R&D to enhance the quality of the products. Chapter 4.0: A Portfolio Analysis of the Competitive Conditions (BCG) Relative market share Figure 4.0: BCG Matrix The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix is a well-known approach to conduct portfolio analysis that provides corporate strategists with an insight of important strategic relationships between internal cash flows, market share, competitive position and growth trajectories. The characteristic of LTK omega plus eggs in BCG matrix is under STAR. First, it is because LTK is the initial player in the market of omega eggs. Thus LTK haven't tapped the total market and the percentage of share is very low. Second, omega eggs are now in a fast growing period and haven't reached the maturity stage yet. A lot of people are curios about these eggs and some people still do not believe whether the egg is so miracle and healthy as they claimed. On the other hand, the traditional egg produced by LTK is in the Cash Cow stage. This is because the market growth rate has been stagnant for very long time and the PLC is in the maturity stage. Moreover, the relative market share for LTK is very large if weight against the total market in Malaysia. The profit earned from the traditional eggs can be transferred to develop the star. Although the Omega eggs do not generate substantial profits compare to the ordinary eggs, but LTK believe that the trend is moving towards consumption of such eggs. Strategic planner must follow the trend in order to develop sound long term strategic plan. Chapter 5.0: Segmentation Strategy Segmentation is a process of subdividing broad markets into varied and differing smaller groups of buyers. They are consisting exclusive of characteristics. The benefits of segmentation are strategist able to accumulate sufficient market sector knowledge as well as sustain customer loyalty. LTK also segmented the customers into several clusters. The objective is to avoid confusion and provide strategies with the opportunity to approach available segment with the right marketing strategies. LTK should segment its market based on income level, attitudes towards health, education level and psychographics. It is because the price of omega egg is slightly higher than ordinary eggs. Thus, only certain segments of the consumers are willing to pay for it. For instances, the business market of LTK will not be interested with this new product but to prefer conventional egg to keep the production cost as low as possible. Therefore, LTK market segment should be those in the middle class and it is practical since Malaysia has a relatively big middle class society. The consumers' decision whether or not to choose Omega egg also determined by the health awareness among consumers. It is because in the market there are too many health foods. Therefore, most of the consumers will think that omega egg is just another propaganda made by the producer. Education level is also the main reason LTK should consider since it can influence consumers DMU. It is because the higher education group of consumers only understand the meaning of Omega 3 and how the eggs can provide up to 5 times more Omega 3 and 4 times more of Vitamin E compare with ordinary eggs. The consumption of Omega 3 will reduce heart disease, hypertension, LDL cholesterol, breast cancer, colon cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. In additional, Omega 3 is vital for the development of brain and retina tissues4. Psychographics also will be the factors that can influence the customers whether to buy or do not buy omega egg. As we know that nowadays majority of the customers prefer to buy the products that have a brand. Previously it is no way that consumers can accept that even egg should have a brand identity. Those days, branded goods were toys of the rich and famous. However, today people perceive branded goods as quality assurance. Thus LTK should portrait a healthy lifestyle image in the overall promotion campaign. LTK should aim those who cherish healthy lifestyle and always engage in exercise or outdoor activities. In such a way, the company not only able to enhance market share but also building up a strong brand equity. Chapter 6.0: Positioning Strategy For all these years, consumers treat all the eggs are the same. The only noticeable different is the size and the hardness of the shell. However, LTK successfully draw the differentiation line between Omega eggs and the ordinary eggs. Therefore, LTK should position omega substances as the distinctive and important element for the growing years. In such a way, general public as well as target market will draw attention on consuming more omega substances and association such need with buying LTK Omega egg. This is known as classical learning in consumer behaviour study. Chapter 7.0: Marketing Objectives Marketing objectives may divide into quantitative and qualitative. In LTK case, the quantitative objective is to enlarge the market. The CEO of LTK plans to exploit the South East Asia countries as well as western countries. LTK also wishes to increase the market share by 35% within the next 5 years. It is because LTK plans to spend 20% of the revenue in advertisement to promote the new product and healthy lifestyle. LTK also wishes to increase profitability by 7.6% in the coming year. In order to improve profitability LTK will empower and delegate more authority for the marketing department and sales force to carry out necessary tasks. The qualitative objectives set by LTK are to build up the company image and product's brand equity. Besides, the company also wishes to train more middle managers in line with the strategic expansion. In conjunction with the expansion, LTK also wish to increase the marketing department employee welfare to boost up organisation spirits and morale. Besides, LTK wishes to have stronger affiliation with large-scale retail chains. Chapter 8.0: Marketing Strategy (Strategic Direction) LTK is the market leader; a leader must be at a state of constant alertness and maintain watchfulness because other firms will attacks its weaknesses and try to offset LTK strength. The competitors also can do R&D and become more innovate than LTK. Thus, if LTK wish to sustain their positions as a leader, LTK should be more proactive. First, LTK must pursuit the strategy of expanding the total market. LTK should â€Å"welcome† new users including the low-income earner. LTK can categorise the size of the eggs. It is because now omega egg only has one size. If LTK sells the smaller size egg cheaper than the other, lower income consumers will try to buy it. Besides, LTK could develop new market such as South East Asia and EU continent. Thus, LTK not only concentrate the Malaysia market but the overseas market too. As the market leader, LTK not only must expand the market, but to protect its current market share. Pre-emptive defence is crucial to undermine the competitors before they do. Furthermore, counter-offensive defence is also necessary to cut off the challenger's operational base. Chapter 9.0 Developing the Marketing Programs for LTK In order to achieve the preset objective, LTK must balance off the attention for domestic and foreign market. Until now, the main focus for LTK should be domestic thus LTK should establish an overseas subsidiary in Asia and other state in Malaysia. However, LTK must always conduct research pertaining the consumer behaviour to segment the market. LTK must bear in mind that consumer insight will differ base on geographical differences. In addition to segmentation, LTK should aim for the most profitable target market. In my humble point of view, I will consider the segment which earning per year is above 30,000 with a family size of 2-5 members. This segment will be the single largest segment in Malaysia and Asia countries. Thus the segment is sustainable, measurable, profitable as well as accessible. This subsidiary is also responsible to gather market information in Malaysia market and distribute the company product to neighbouring countries such as Thai, Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei. The subsidiary is responsible to keep close contact with the retailers in these countries. After establishing the distribution network, it is more important to ensure the product is acceptable by the consumers. The marketing department must understand that the company long-term objective is to move from core value to augmented value. Therefore, the media department must develop the advertising message that suits the taste of the target audience as well as meeting the company long-term objective. Furthermore, the message must be informative, educate and entertain. In this point of time, I think the advertising theme must focus on introducing the public to the benefit of LTK Omega 3 enriched egg. The choice of media is also important when developing brand equity. It is a prudent move to place some advertisements in the health magazine in these countries. Besides, the company can place some advertisements in selected local newspapers and radios stations. If the budget allocation allows, the company can consider placing advertisement on television. Whatever said and done, I think it is more appropriate to employ local agencies to handle the advertising activities since they are more familiar as well as more efficient. Below is sample of advertisements that LTK has applied in the local context. The marketing department must monitor the performance of the advertising agencies from time to time or apply the payment based on performance scheme to motivate the agencies to put in more effort or pull up their socks. Promotion campaign is equally important to stimulate trial for this product. The trial is very important because it will enable the company to portrait the superior quality of the egg and relate it to the brand name. The planned promotion campaign that I intend to carry out is the demo session in major supermarket and hypermarket. In this demo, I will show the audience how different is the LTK Omega egg from ordinary eggs. It is totally different in term of colour and elasticity of the yolk5. You can pick up the yolk of LTK Omega egg from the albumen and the yolk will not break or burst. This demo can be recorded and broadcast in the TV as part of the advertising campaign too. On the other hand, the company can also visit school and give away free bookmark and sample to the students when they are having cooking classes. In the supermarket, the company can employ sandwich man dress up like Humpty -Dumpy. Besides during Easter day, LTK can do promotion like buy 12 eggs and get an Easter egg for free. Publicity is the most convincing tool for LTK Omega egg to persuade the consumers to purchase the product. The company should invite nutritionist to do scientific research and tell the public that whether LTK Omega eggs is really as good as the company claim. The consumer movement groups and the public watchdogs are also invited to examine the quality of the product. If their comments are positive, then LTK Omega egg will easily penetrate into the Asia market. Packaging serve two purposes for LTK Omega egg. First of all, it will protect the egg and maintain its freshness. Secondly, the packaging can reflect the augmented feeling if it is nice decorated. However the company must bear in mind that the packaging must be environmental friendly and recyclable too. The target consumers in these countries are very much concerned with environmental issues like plastic container and too much paper wrappers. On top of that, the company should establish global web site, regional web site as well as country web site to provide health concern consumers about health facts pertaining to LTK Omega eggs. Suggestion box must be prepared to keep in touch with consumers. Furthermore, the company can do on-line delivery to enlarge the distribution coverage. Lastly, LTK should enlarge the distribution channel to make this product easily available to the target market. There should be more state division wholesalers to support the distribution effort of LTK. Chapter 10 Implementation, Evaluation and Control Although all the strategic plan has been laid down in detail, the implementation is equally important to enable the plan to be carried out smoothly. All the tasks must be delegated accordingly. On top of that, there must be coordinating mechanism to facilitate decision-making process. Above and beyond, there must not be any breakdown in communication within each level and within departments as well. There should be weekly report and meeting to exchange ideas on improving the organisation activities. The Kaizen Methodology is very good in turning LTK into a learning organisation. Since there is a preset quantitative objective, it is possible to evaluate the actual performance against the preset standard. If the difference is too wide, corrective measurement must be taken. Other than comparing the actual result with the preset standard, LTK can measure the performance based on other sources such as customers' feedback, retail audit, distributors' feedback, survey and toll free calls. In conclusion, the strategic plan must be review from time to time because the business environment is always dynamic and volatile in nature. The holistic audit of various aspects will definitely benefit the company with coming out a more complete strategic plan.

Research of Restaraunt for Business Research

Table of Contents Introduction3 Research Objectives3 Research Questions4 Answers to Research Questions5 Answer to Research Question 1. 5 Answer to Question 2. 6 Answer to Question 3. 7 Answer to Question 4. 8 Answer to Question 5. 9 Answer to Question 6. 10 Recommendations for the Remington’s Restaurant11 References14 Introduction The Remington restaurant, located in Tampa Florida, wanted to better understand their customer’s views and opinions of the restaurant by using a survey method.This method would reveal the perception of the customer to see what category the Remington restaurant is in, what performance the customer expects, and how satisfied the customers are when they leave the Remington restaurant. This is the best way for the Remington restaurant to improve their service because it paints a picture of what how the customer views their services. Even though competition is important to any business, the customers are the biggest asset to the company.By research ing the customer’s perception of the restaurant one will see how the customer chooses the restaurant desired, how important performance is to the customer, and what was the overall satisfactory. One can acquire such information by reviewing and discussing the survey, finding out what is most or least important to the customer, seeing what is expected on how the restaurant performs, and discussing the satisfaction of the customer. In order to get this information, different methods will be used such as coefficient of variation, coefficients of determination and other tatistical techniques. There are six main research questions that will be addressed that will help the Remington restaurant see how the customers view the restaurant as a whole, and show the restaurant where and how to improve their business. Research Objectives 1. Discuss the type of survey used by the Remington Restaurant and how effective it is by using a research survey design. Compare effectiveness of the res earch to the other research designs of the subordinate data, experiments or observation in the context of collecting information for this project. . Describe the demographic profile of the average Remington customer. 3. Classify and describe which influence is most important to the customers in selecting a place to eat, and what is the least important factor that influences customers in selecting a restaurant. 4. Examine the Remington Restaurant scores on each of the six perception of portions of food, knowledgeable employees, food quality, swift service, atmosphere, and prices. 5. Justify if the Remington Restaurant is providing the expectations that customers want when choosing a restaurant. 6.Decide if there is a connection between being satisfied with the Remington Restaurant and the service, food portion, smart employees, quality of food and fast service. 7. Review the surveys to see what the Zagat Review Research Questions 1. What kind of survey did the Remington Restaurant us e? What kind of result was found by the research design? Compare the effectiveness of the survey research to the other subordinate data, experimentation or observation in the perspective of gathering information for this project. 2. What is the demographic profile of the average Remington Restaurant customer? . Which is most important to the customer when selecting a restaurant and what is least important when selecting a restaurant? 4. How does the Remington Restaurant score on each of the six perception measures of food portions, smart employees, food quality, fast service, atmosphere and prices? 5. Is the Remington Restaurant producing a good influence when selecting a place to eat? 6. Is there a connection between customer’s satisfaction with the Remington Restaurant with the perception of large food portions, smart employees, food quality and quick service?Answers to Research Questions Answer to Research Question 1. The purpose of this section is to answer the first rese arch question. The first question, which is; what kind of survey did the Remington Restaurant use? What kind of result was found by the research design? Compare the effectiveness of the survey research to the other subordinate data, experimentation or observation in the perspective of gathering information for this project. The type of survey that the Remington Restaurant used was the self-administered Internet survey.This kind of survey is probably the cheapest survey for the person collecting data. It involves minimum personnel and low cost as compared with other methods. Since 73% of American households are actively using the Internet, an Internet survey would be the best idea to cover a large location fact while conserving energy, money, and time (Cooper, Schindler, 2008). Internet survey’s can also give one access to graphs, charts and percentages automatically. Also, the Internet survey will be able to give one an idea of the customer’s attitude and perception of the Remington’s Restaurant.By using secondary information one would be able to see general information such as, what the demographic is of the average family is in the area, what is the general income, and how many times the family eats at restaurant in a week. By shifting the focus off of the Remington’s Restaurant and on to the genre of restaurants the Remington’s Restaurant is associated with would dilute the information the Remington’s Restaurant wanted to know about their customer’s satisfaction with the Remington’s Restaurant. Methods such as observational and experimental research would not be ffective for the Remington’s Restaurant. The observational method would not be effective because it would only tell one the behavior of the people such as body language. The experimental method would require a laboratory setting and would not be practical. The main goal for the research is to find out how the customers perceive the perfo rmance of the restaurant and their satisfaction. Also, the Remington’s Restaurant wants to know how their customers select a restaurant. Answer to Question 2. The purpose for this section is to answer the second question.The second question is; what is the demographic profile of the average Remington Restaurant customer? The main variables are as follows: the children who live at home, viewed advertisements, gender, income, age, and familiar competitors. The questionnaire was simple and easy to understand. The applicant had to answer just one number on each question. On the table below one will see the demographic of people who visit the Remington’s Restaurant most often. In statistics the number (or in this case the persons) that occur most frequently is the mode.The information is from the results from the survey taken by customers. Table 1: Demographic Description of the Remington Restaurant’s customers ——————— —————————- VariableCentral TendencyResultStd. Deviation Age335-491 Gender0Male0 Number of Children11 to None1 Advertisements 0No0 Income235k-50k1 Competitors1Outback1 ————————————————- One can see by looking at the table above that the people who visit the Remington’s Restaurant frequently are males who are between the ages of 35 and 49, and make 35,000 to 50,000 a year.These men also have one child, have not seen advertisements for the Remington Restaurant, Outback, and Longhorn. One can also see that the major competitor is Outback Steakhouse. Answer to Question 3. The purpose for this section is to answer the third question which is; which is most important to the customer when selecting a restaurant and what is least important when selecting a restaurant? The variable for this question are as follows ; large food portions, smart employees, excellent food quality, fast service, good atmosphere, and good prices. The choices for these questions are fixed.The applicant had a choice to rate each variable from 1 to 7, which 1 was strongly disagree and 7 was strongly agree. The answer below includes the mean and standard deviation. Table 2: Remington’s Patron’s Criteria In Restaurant Selection ————————————————- ————————————————- VariableMeanStandard Deviation Large Portions5. 86 Quality of Food61. 02 Speed of Service71 Atmosphere5. 95 Reasonable Prices51. 04 From the information from the table above one can see that anything rated over 5 is important to the customer.The variable competent employees were rated under 5 and therefore not important to the majority of customers. Answer to Question 4. The purpose of this section is to answer the fourth question, which is; how does the Remington Restaurant score on each of the six perception measures of food portions, smart employees, food quality, fast service, atmosphere and prices? One will see what kind of perception the customers have of the variables listed in the question. These questions were asked in the same format as the third section. The questions had fixed answers from 1 to 7 with 1 strongly disagree and 7 strongly agree.The answers in the table include the mean and standard deviation. Table 3: Remington’s Patron’s Perceptions ————————————————- ————————————————- VariableMeanStandard Deviation Has Large Portions3. 91 Has Quality of Food6. 9 6 Has Speed of Service31. 21 Has Atmosphere61. 21 Has Reasonable Prices5. 81 Has Competent Employees41. 35 ————————————————- One can see from the table above that large portions and speed of service is below average. Food quality, atmosphere, and reasonable prices are above average.Competent employees are average. Answer to Question 5. The purpose for this section is to answer the fifth question; is the Remington Restaurant producing a good influence when selecting a place to eat? The variables in this case are similar to the previous question and include large food portions, competent employees, food quality, fast service, atmosphere, and reasonable prices. These variables were rated by the customer and given a choice to choose one number for each question. The numbers that represented the answers for the questions were at a range from 1 to 7.The number 1 represented that the customer strongly disagreed and the number 7 was that the customer strongly agreed. Table 4: Importance and Perceptions ————————————————- ————————————————- VariableWhat Customers Expect (Mean)Actual Performance (Mean) Quality of Food66 ————————————————- Fast Service63 One can see here that the Remington’s Restaurant is performing how the customer expects them to perform as a restaurant. This is almost one of the most important factors of the restaurant.The quality of food as expected, but the fast service needs improving. Answer to Question 6. The purpose of this section is to answer the final question, is there a connection between customer ’s satisfaction with the Remington Restaurant with the perception of large food portions, smart employees, food quality and quick service? From the table below one will find the correlation between the variable and the satisfaction of the customers. Table 4: Importance and Perceptions ————————————————- ————————————————-Variablerr2 Large Portions. 41. 17 ————————————————- Competent Employees. 55. 31 ————————————————- Food Quality. 33. 11 ————————————†”———- Speed of Service. -. 6. 004 ————————————————- Good Atmosphere. 40. 15 ————————————————- Good Prices. 06. 004 One can see here that there is a weak and positive relationship between the large portions and satisfaction. The large portions were 17% of the change in satisfaction.Having competent employees was a modest and positive correlation with satisfaction. If the competence of the employees increases, so does the satisfaction. There was a weak positive relationship with the food quality and satisfaction. Food quality was only 11% of satisfaction. There is also a weak and negative correlation between speed of service and satisfaction. In the end one can see that the competent employees are rated the highest in customer satisfaction. R ecommendations for the Remington’s Restaurant Regarding question one. The Remington’s Restaurant has done a good job in the survey method.The self administered, web based survey is the best way to cover a large geographical area in a short amount of time. The survey method is also a good way to retrieve data fast. One of the most important aspects about the survey method is how one can rate an attitude toward something. Regarding question two. The Remington’s Restaurant main customer was a 35-49 year old male who makes 35,001 to 49,000 dollars a year and has one child. The main customer has never seen an advertisement for the Remington’s Restaurant or any of its competitors.A good recommendation for the Remington’s Restaurant would be to advertise more. Also, the competition has not made an impact in the advertising category and would be in favor of the Remington’s Restaurant to pioneer this field. Regarding question three. The average custo mer held competent employees, atmosphere and quality of food of high importance. Being that the Remington’s Restaurant is in the food business, it should strive to keep the quality of food as a high priority. Having competent employees is an asset to the company but should not be valued over the quality of food.Regarding question four. When one looking at table 3 one can see that the Remington’s Restaurant is doing well with the quality of food, atmosphere and employees, but there are areas that need much improvement. Large portions and the speed of service are below average and must far exceed the customer’s expectations. Any business should not settle for average or below average results. Training the employees on time management and having a smooth flowing system to better serve the customers would be ideal in this situation.Also, if the portions can not expand anymore the restaurant should offer the customers free appetizers that are cheap and filling. Bread and chips would be a good start for this process. Offering the customer cheap food will allow for the portions to stay the same and not lose any money on the main courses. Regarding question five. The food must stay at the top of the priority list. The customers value food the most and should expect the food to always be outstanding. A strict procedure to test the quality of the food must be practiced on a regular schedule to ensure that all customers are receiving the same unique aste of the restaurant. Regarding question six. The employees must know what they are serving. The customer’s rated the employee’s knowledge 31% which is over a third of the satisfaction. It may be just a fraction, but it can also the opening and closing of a sale. When a customer feels like he is being taken care of, the sales will increase and the testimony of the company will prosper. Most people do not eat alone and will bring others with them References Cooper, D. & Schindler, P. (2008) . Business research methods (10th ed. ). New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin