Explain what is SWOT

McDonald's possesses good market share. It has the largest fast food market shares in the world with outlets from over 100 different countries. Heavily Invested In advertising, McDonald's spends almost $2 billion In advertisements yearly. Customers are aware of McDonald's latest promotion and products from TV commercial, leaflets and signboards. In addition, McDonald's has a superior reputation. Its brand recognition is valued at $40 billion.Every age group has heard of and knows about McDonald's. Furthermore, it is highly owned by independent franchise. More than 80% of McDonald's' restaurants are operated by franchise, allowing the restaurants to improve their service systems. Lastly, McDonald's targets at children by serving a vast variety of kids' meals which are complimented with different popular toys. Many restaurants also have a segmented play area for children. 2. 2 Weakness Howard Crawford (May 201 3) has also shared the following weaknesses of McDonald's restaurants.Unheal thy food menu Is a weakness as McDonald's main menu is burgers, fries and coke. McDonald's Is said to disrupt the eating habit of people especially the youngsters. Another weakness of McDonald's its negative publicity as it has always received negative remarks for its workers' bad service, creating environmental problems such as using environmentally unfriendly materials for its packaging and infringing animal rights. For example, using chickens from chicken farms whose reputation on treating their animals is questionable.Low differentiation is yet another weakness. Other brands of fast food restaurants such as Burger King and Wend's serve about the same type of menu as McDonald's. 2. 3 Opportunity Howard Crawford (May 201 3) commented that McDonald's has tried to expand Its customers base by entering Into new and popular products. MacAfee offers premium coffees, smoothies and cakes to attract more customers and to retain its existing New, healthier food items have been incorporated into McDonald's menu in a bid to attract more consumers.Corn cups, apple dippers and apple Juice have been introduced as a healthier alternative to the unhealthy fries and soft drinks. In the future, McDonald's can consider serving baked potatoes, cherry tomatoes or even whole meal biscuit for the healthy-conscious consumers. McDonald's can consider expansion into foreign markets. Although McDonald's is the world largest fast food restaurant, some countries like Vietnam, Jamaica and Yemen still do not have McDonald's in their countries. It can also consider expanding the area of its home meal delivery service.Most area n Singapore has McDonald's delivery service but countries like UK still does not have a delivery service. 2. 4 Threats Increasing societal focuses on healthy eating may be a threat to McDonald's (Howard Crawford, May 2013) as more people increasing more health conscious of eating healthy food which could in turn, reduce the demand for fast food. Competitor pressure i n developed countries is another threat. There are already many fast food restaurants like Burger King & Wendy in developed countries. It is very difficult for McDonald to achieve large financial growth in this overcrowded market.

Cinderella and Fairy God Mother Essay

Cinderella’s story portrays a perfect example of that GOD is with those with whom no one is. Poor Cinderella grew up without her mother, and then later was raised fatherless in an abusive environment by her wicked stepmother and two stepsisters. Deprived of her possessions, rights, and dignity, she is forced to toil daily in the house her family once owned but although she lost a lot but she never loses hope. Cinderella is shown as a good hearted young lady. She is hard working and does her best to make her dreams true. She is loyal to her friends and her work, she never lets her friends down. She is also good in studies and fulfills all of her duties without negligence which shows that she is responsible. She is smart and sensible. Her character displays her kind nature, she is very obedient she has been emotionally and physically tortured by her step mother and step sisters but still she respects and obeys them and does her best to keep them happy. She is just like a normal high school girl, with large hopes and ambitions. She quietly searches for her prince charming to find peace of heart. She gets her heart broken again and again but yet she never lets herself get broke. She is not evil and avoids being in conflicts at school, even while being bullied she does not react back which shows that she is very decent. She tries to make others happy by putting others ahead of her own self. THE ROLE OF FAIRY GOD MOTHER: Without fairy God Mother cinderella’s story would not have been complete, fairy god mother in the form of her friend helps her through out her journey. She is very good towards cinderella she Supports Cinderella both verbally and practically, shows her the right path through the darkest of times and guides her to meet her unknown friend. Fairy Godmother always appears in the right place at the right time. Fairy God mother is a god’s gift to Cinderella. Cinderellas good character and the role of fairy god mother in her life are the only reasons that in the end she gets what she truly deserves.

Ignition Systems and Electrical Theory (Aircraft Powerplants) Essay

Ignition Systems and Electrical Theory (Aircraft Powerplants) - Essay Example Several parts of the electrical theory of operation are difficult to understand. I least understood the ignition systems for gas turbine engines for the reason that the spark discharge of a turbine ignition system is superior and potent than the spark in an automobile engine (Tooley and Wyatt, 2009). A number of sparks are necessary to guarantee fast and consistent engine starts although a singular good spark will start combustion of the fuel/air combination in a turbine engines combustor. The different types of DC input turbine engine ignition exciter makes it difficult to know the required number of sparks. In addition, at times, the engine needs to be relit at some stage in an in-flight shutdown, and I found it difficult to understand exactly when the ignition systems job is complete. This part of the electric theory of operation requires mastery to ensure fluency of operations. The operation is also necessary when the next operational sequence of the aircrafts auxiliary power unit (APU) or turbine main engines starts once

Trade preferences for developing countries Essay

Trade preferences for developing countries - Essay Example On the other hand, in 2005, the OECD3 conducted an empirical research and reached to the conclusion that multilateral trade liberalization implemented by the EU has resulted in comparatively higher sizeable corrosion of predilections than the liberalization processes implemented by countries like Canada, Japan, Australia, and the United States. Thus, the importance of the trade preferences provided by the EU proved to be relatively less in comparison with the preferential schemes provided by other countries. The conclusion of OECD has also been maintained by Nilsson in his empirical research conducted in 2007. In the year of 2007, Persson and Wilhelmsson4 put their effort to find that some particular EU preferential deals had produced great impacts, specifically the schemes that were offered to the Pacific countries as well as the African Caribbean nations. These kinds of findings had earlier been reported by Nilsson in 20025. However, the preference schemes of a donor country should be seen with respect to the overall trade openness of the donor. For instance, if a benefactor does not have a high figure relating to the imports covered under the preferential schemes, then this would result in the entrance of a bulky share of the donor’s imports under the mechanism of MFN-0 tariffs. In this case, the capacity for preferences is limited as well. As a result, no matter whether the utilization of the rate of preferences in such state of affairs is high or low, it no longer becomes so vital. For getting an accurate picture of the openness of a donor to imports from less developed or developing nations, it is vital to study the share and the quantity of imported commodities entering the EU under the scheme of MFN-0, the proportion and volume of dutiable imports, the proportion of imports entitled to preferential arrangements, and, finally, the rate of preference utilization. This paper will put its effort to examinee the impact of EU trade preferences towards developing countries with special focus on India on the basis of existing literatures. However, before moving onto analyzing the impact, the paper will discuss the existing trade preference scheme. Then, it will consider general impact on developing countries a s a whole and finally it will put its special focus on India. Scope and coverage of trade preferences forwarded by EU: The fundamental principle of World Trade Organization is to practice the non-discriminating attitudes among the trading partners. However, it has been accepted that the developing nations should get favored treatment, compatible with their relatively disadvantageous economic situations. During 1971, following one of the UNCTAD’s (United Nations Conference on Trade & Development) recommendations, it was pointed out that the nations that had entered into the agreement under the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), predecessor to what is now known as the WTO, had agreed upon on a waiver of ten-y ears for the

G&D's own Ice cream cafe in Oxford Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

G&D's own Ice cream cafe in Oxford - Essay Example Both these new outlets have also been able to gather the kind of popularity as the popular outlet.    It all started with an idea from George Stroup, who was himself a student of the Oxford University. The motivation to set up such a shop came from his own observations that in 1990 there were no quality ice cream parlors in and around Oxford, where people can get value for money products. Thus he sensed a business opportunity in providing quality ice creams at reasonable prices. He also believed that people should enjoy their food in a congenial atmosphere along with decent service provided by the staff. It was decided that in order to provide quality products to the customers, the ice cream should be manufactured indigenously. To transform the idea into actual work, supplies were arranged from the local suppliers and machines were ordered to suit the specific needs.   G&D has set up in house production facilities for all its products. This helps in maintaining the quality and taste of merchandise and to live up to the customer’s expectations. After significant increase in the business, G&D’s has shifted the production unit of baked goods to the George and Denver shop in 2002, while the ice cream production facility remained at the original George and Davis on the Little Clarendon street. Company’s focus was always on delivering quality and tasteful flavors to the customers. Hence the production unit keeps on experimenting with the ice cream recipes to churn out new and innovative flavors. Use of any kind of artificial flavors and preservatives are strictly avoided and stress is put on using only the best quality natural ingredients (like the jersey cream) available in the market. Added to this is the â€Å"slow turn, quick freeze† technique (G & D’s, n.d.), unique to G&D’s, which results in richer product s of superior quality. Hence, it is not without reason that just after two months of setting up the operations,

Pre Optometry Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Pre Optometry - Personal Statement Example This is because Optometry would provide me with an opportunity of being part of a community and to interact with other people as I offer them services. In the preparation for training in this profession, I engaged myself in different activities. For example, I was a member of the Phi Theta Kappa- International Honor Society of the Two-Year College ---05/13/2012. My participation here provided me with the opportunity for the development of leadership and service, and this stimulated my interest to become an Optometrist in order to exercise the leadership and services skills obtain from my participation. I have several qualities and experiences in Optometry. I have a 2-year experience in the Optometrist field which has increased my aptitude and motivation. I practiced at Steven Lowinger EyeCare, where I worked with three optometrists who graduated from NOVA, with two of them having more than 10 years experience in the field. This made me learn a lot and acquire a lot of knowledge in the field. I am also part of the VOSH Southeast Organization team that went to Chiapas, Mexico to provide eye treatment to over 2000 people in the region on July 2014. The eye exams we did for free increased my skills and knowledge on eye and visual examination services. My previous achievements have also motivated me into the Optometrist field. For example, I received a gold medal from The President"s Volunteer Service Award (Gold Level) on 07/09/2013 for achieving over the required number of hours in service over a period of 12 months. This quite inspired me to become an optometrist in order to be of s ervice to people with eye problems. My future career goals is to offer eye examination services to different people from different locations, and this is after I graduate as an Optometrist. I would also like to provide lectures to other Optometrist students and help them acquire the necessary knowledge and skills. I would also like to operate

Sustainability and the Green Supply Chain Essay

Sustainability and the Green Supply Chain - Essay Example This can be justified with reference to the fact that contemporary organisations intend to develop green supply chain related procedure in order to sustain in this competitive landscape and thereby, preserve their leadership positioning. The notion of Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) is often identified as the key attribute in such measures applied by contemporary organisations, fundamentally described as â€Å"the process of using environmentally friendly inputs and transforming these inputs into outputs that can be reclaimed and re-used at the end of their lifecycle thus, creating a sustainable supply chain† (Cognizant, 2008). It is worth mentioning that a sustainable supply chain is typically observed as a sole entity instead of a sequence of fragmented constituents that encompass various significant aspects such as manufacturing, procurement and distribution among others (Rushton & et. al., 2010). It can thus be apparently observed that the focus of a sustainable GSCM is to support modern organisations through increased customer value, profitability along with overall productivity and attaining superior competitive positioning over their chief business market participants (Christopher, 2012; Wisner, 2011). The major facets of a sustainable GSCM include safeguarding the environment, value creation, fostering innovation in every operational procedure of the organisation, forming as well as developing effective interrelation with every organisational member and minimising any sort of hazards that are likely to arise while performing diverse operational functions. Specially mentioning, the modern organisations tend to prioritise forming a sustainable GSCM, owing to certain significant benefits that it delivers to them in this present globalisation and technological era. These benefits are usually recognised in the form of enhanced brand image, lessened logistics, manufacturing or other related costs, optimised manufacturing procedures, expansion to n ew business markets and developed SCM process among others (Morana, 2013; Dai, 2011; Cognizant, 2008). With this concern, the essay intends to describe the imperative aspect of sustainability and green supply chain by considering a particular real organisation, which has an international profile. In this regard, BP plc has been taken into concern as the organisation. The major concerns of sustainability along with green supply chain relating to BP plc have also been described in this essay. A Brief Background of BP plc BP plc, which was formerly acknowledged as British Petroleum, is currently regarded as one of the foremost global oil and gas companies throughout the globe. The company conducts its operational functions in numerous nations, employing a substantial number of personnel that stood at nearly 85,900 during the year 2012 (BP plc, 2013). The company mainly deals with various sorts of business functions ranging from delivering fuel to customers for transportation, energy fo r light along with heat and lubricants for keeping diverse kinds of machines to petrochemical products that are used for preparing daily items (BP plc, 2013). The mission of the company is to become a worldwide leader in the respective industry. The company focuses upon maintaining certain values that are coined as one team, respect, safety, excellence and respect in order to attain its predetermined business targets (BP plc, 2013). Assessing its recent sustainable strategies, it has been recognised that BP is often regarded as one of the well-known brands, which has been operating since its commencement in the 19th century. One of the major strengths of the company can be apparently observed in terms that it

Research methods on financial management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Research methods on financial management - Essay Example This paper analysis the Fishers hypothesis using data for the UK over the last 20 years, the main aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between interest rate and inflation, the main aim of this analysis is to show that real interest rate is equal to expected inflation rate plus nominal interest rates, the paper also analysis the underlying theories that depict the relationship between the variables. Interest rates and inflation are important economic variables, high levels inflation in an economy shows that there is something wrong in the economy and policy makers will try and reduce the high inflation rate. However the Fishers model may not hold in the short run given that the policy makers may alter interest rates in the short run, a study by Yuhn (1996) showed that the relationship between interest rate and inflation was stronger over the long run than in the short run. The Fishers hypothesis depicts that nominal interest rates do not depend on monetary policy measures and that there is a positive relationship between nominal interest rate and the expected inflation rate. The Fisher hypothesis model states that real interest rate is equal to nominal interest rate plus expected inflation rate stated as R = I + ÃŽ  e where R is real interest rate, ÃŽ  e is the expected inflation rate and I is nominal interest rate. The Fishers hypothesis model is also stated as I =ÃŽ ± + ÃŽ ²ÃŽ  et where I is nominal interest rate and ÃŽ  et is expected inflation. The value of ÃŽ ² is expected to be positive and a value of ÃŽ ² = 1 shows the strong version of the Fishers hypothesis. The paper analysis the correlation between the variables and help identify whether there is a strong positive relationship between inflation and nominal interest rate, however the correlation coefficient value only shows how two variables move together and this means that there is need to run a regression model that states the

Dance Philosophy Essay Example for Free

Dance Philosophy Essay Dance is the reason I exist and as cheesy as it sounds its true. In 1982 my father met my mother at a dance club. He said after watching her dancing with her friends he had to talk to her. Dance has the power to cross boundaries and touch one’s soul. As a form dance can be anything. Rain falling into a pound, an individual tying their shoe, a swan boureeing across a stage or man rolling across a stage can all be dance. Dance is a series of movements stitched together with an intent and frame. Weather the intent is to express emotion, showcase technique, or make a statement it is all dance. I started dancing in high school after a teacher of mine recommended I take a class. My first real dance class was ballet. It was a foreign language to me. At first it was a string of movements empty in meaning and emotion. I just danced through the motions until one day my teacher told us that we needed to bring the movement to life. I did not understand this concept at first, how could movement come to life? It wasn’t until I began taking a modern class that I understood this concept. I could use movement to express my own thoughts, fears, joys, and questions. When I try and analyze what dances means to me, ultimately, I see it as a multifaceted entity. Dance is part of my identity and without it I believe I would struggle with understanding who I am. First and foremost dance for me has always been a form of therapy. Growing up I hated conflict and as a result internalized my issues. Through dance I was able to find a reliable outlet to release my frustrations, fears, and inhibitions, which allowed me to explore my personal struggles through movement. Secondly I believe that movement has the power to transcend boundaries and make statements that are often hard to say. Movement is an outlet to foster awareness, dialogue, change and growth while bridging the gap between artistic expression and community dialogue.

Improving Organizational Performance Essay Example for Free

Improving Organizational Performance Essay Celsey Evans, of Airdevils, has hired Peter Mallow, of Dream Teamworks, to address the problems currently existing in and affecting the Airdevils Company. These problems consist of dissatisfaction among customers, less wins at award ceremonies, a high turnover rate, and low job satisfaction among employees. Surveys, amongst other factors, determined that job dissatisfaction is particularly high among the stunt performers. With the stunt performers as the target group of the study, Celsey and Peter will identify the reasons for psychological underpinnings of low job satisfaction in the company. Using motivational and behavioral approaches and making adjustments to the core reasons for employee dissatisfaction will help Airdevils attain the status that they seem to have lost. Determining the underlying causes, implementing interventions, creating a team for preparing innovating stunts, and reducing stress among employees are the keys to catapulting Airdevils back to the status it deserves. According to the JDI and JIG (survey) scores for Airdevils’ employees the stunt performers are the least satisfied in general, but all of the employees are dissatisfied below acceptable levels in Promotion (infrequencies) and Pay (too low). Supervision and Work are also low with stunt performers but higher than â€Å"good† among other employees. If one were to rely on this information alone, one would determine that pay and promotion needs to be examined and adjusted. Further information provided, blogs and profiles, show that there are issues with ‘holier than thou’ attitudes among E8’s, less time at home with family members, low salaries, and drudge routines. After examining these factors one can determine generally that the main cause of low job satisfaction among stunt performers at Airdevils is that the stunts lack exciting challenges. Because the members of Airdevils performing teams were put into hierarchal positions, they were placed into spe cialized stunt routines. This created a more rigid organizational structure. * Though the budget does not allow a perfect overhaul to Celsey’s organization, many interventions can be chosen to be simply delayed. Recommended for the Airdevils immediately are allow participation in open competitions, entering in a new line of stunts, rotation in industry meets, and offering performance-based incentives in salaries. Allowing performers to perform outside work and cross-training are factors that should be considered quickly. After implementation of these interventions there proves to be a marked increase in the company’s performance and there is an improvement in job satisfaction. * In the next phase of the reorganization, Celsey wants to create a group of three people to begin preparing innovative stunts for the regular customers of the Airdevils. Should this idea work well, the customers will like the plans and will want to spend extra money for stunts consultation. In this case, the Airdevils will form a stunts consultancy division. Given seven excellent candidates for this three person team the three chosen by Dream Teamwork’s for Celsey’s team are Cari, Charlie, and Alverta because of their combined work experience, enthusiasm for the job, personalities, and high probability of achievement. Applying this decision is successful. The mixture of experience, high skill levels, and high emotional stability prove to be an excellent combination to make a powerful team for the Airdevils. * In the next phase, Dream Teamworks helps Celsey choose what measures should be taken by the Airdevils to reduce stress among the support crewmembers. After considerations of the measures available to the Airdevils those that would most benefit the company and its staff are relaxation training, stress-inoculation training, software training, modifying team structure, offering transportation services, establishing a code of conduct, and allowing a flexi ble work schedule. These are the best measure possible to reduce stress levels among crewmembers. The results are lower absenteeism, less stress, more teamwork, more personal time with family, and a better ability to cope with stressors from work (Britt Jex, 2008). Absenteeism, turnover, job performance, and counter-productive behavior can be addressed through motivation. Based on the situation illustrated in the simulation the theories of employee motivation that could be used by Celsey and the management team of the Airdevils team to tackle issues are need-based theories, cognitive process theories, self-determination theory, and job-based theories. A need-based theory such as need for achievement would be an effective place to start. Need-based theories propose that achievement and power are needs evoked by different stimuli in the environment (Britt Jex, 2008). Maslow’s need hierarchy does explain that the higher one gets on their hierarchy pyramid, from physiological to self-actualization, the more content a person becomes. This could explain why Airdevils has a need to reorganize their corporation. Making employees content in more factions of their lives makes more productive employees. ERG is another needs-based theory that could be considered. ERG allows for the possibility that the stunt performers in the Airdevils may be regressing because their needs at the most basic level of their work are not satisfied. They are too concerned with the issues that the they may have with the redundancy of the routines and personality issues. Also, they are not allowed to experiment and show their own individuality and true colors and feel as thpugh they are failing to live up to their potential. Need for achievement theory is another that could be considered for this situation. Those who have consistent distinguishing characteristics of perso ns who have a high need for achievement can describe many of the stunt performers at Airdevils. These characteristics include the tendency to set moderately difficult performance goals, seek feedback, and work long hours because they absorb themselves in work (Britt Jex, 2008). Goal-setting, Control, and Equity theories and behavioral approaches are just some examples of further applications that can be studied for this case. Many theories could be applied to the Airdevils’ situation. Should Celsey and Peter go through each of the theories that could be applied to their situation, they may find that each theory will touch on a subject currently adversely affecting the company and its profits. Through examining them all, they could reach conclusions on correcting behaviors throughout the company. Knowledge of human behavior, cognition, and affect can be used to enhance relationships in the workplace. Understanding how people interact with each other and why can help management can place people together in teams accordingly. It can also prepare the company for behavioral changes among the employees. This knowledge can help solve problems, create stress free workplace environments, and create productive and powerful teams. Employee workplace stressors can be reduced by organizations. By paying attention to the results of surveys, blogs written by employees, and general complaints throughout the company any organization can come to understand what particular stressors affect their particular employees. Clear definitions of job titles and descriptions of jobs would assist an organization from having role stressors. Workloads should be studied and divided amongst employees according to ability and pay to alleviate workload stressors. Independent control over their own workloads could be considered. For example, in regard to Airdevils, allowing more team members freedom to decide on adjustments to routines could reduce stress levels there. Alleviating interpersonal conflict by teaming like members together is one way that companies like the Airdevils can control stressors. Reducing organizational constraints is another example. In the case of the Airdevils’ organizational constraints, they do not allow their employees to participate in open competitions or rotate in industry meets. Releasing these constraints could strengthen the organizations relationships with their employees as well as relieve some of the stressors they face. Perceived control and work-family conflict are further stressors that should be examined. Making adjustments to schedules, pay, and employees behaviors will relieve many organizational conflicts and stressors and benefit the company greatly. Job security, layoffs, mergers and acquisitions are not currently affecting Airdevils but do affect other organizations. Stress management training, adjusting work schedules, providing telecommuting options, offering family-friendly benefits, and offering health and fitness programs are further ways that an organization can combat stress among its employees (Britt Jex, 2008). Careful consideration of each aspect by the organization will ensure that they can make informed decisions regarding each stressor. After analysis of survey, employee blogs, and paying attention to the behaviors of its employees, Celsey and Peter can make the changes that Airdevils desperately needs to survive and grow. The company has a superb foundation and understands that changes must be made to achieve success. By applying studying and understanding employees’ behaviors, cognition, and applying relevant theories Dream Teamworks and Airdevils can create a prospering work environment for Airdevils’ employees and will find more satisfied employees, be subject to less turnover, win more awards, and satisfy customers better than they ever have. Reference Britt, T. W., Jex, S. M. (2008). Organizational psychology: A scientist-practitioner approach. (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons