Using the Formalistic Approach to Analyze Neuromancer :: Neuromancer Essays

Using the Formalistic Approach to Analyze Neuromancer   The formalistic approach to an light school text allows the reader to decide what is im portant about the talking to on the page as well as the reasons and actions of the characters themselves. The reader is then able to guess a reasonable explanation for the plot or even an overall theme of the text. According to the Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature when all the words, phrases, metaphors, images, and symbols are examined in terms of each other and of the whole, any literary text worth our efforts will display its own internal logic (Guerin 75). When practicing the formalistic approach, the reader must scrutinize the text for tools such as form, texture, style, symbolism, point of view, theme, and so on to portray the beauty of the novel. William Gibsons Neuromancer portrays many of these tools, but it is most important to focus on the overall tone of the story, which is quite evident in the setting. Concen trating on the portrayal of dystopia and the diction that is used to describe it, as well as the repetitive resource of the color pink, the reader can detect the dark and dreary tone at a more critical level.   Neuromancer continuously represents a dystopia, which is a disadvantageously place, in the setting. This is in contrast to a utopia, which represents a dream world. Neuromancers settings remain dark, dreary, futuristic, and pretender throughout the novel. These characteristics give the reader a sense of aggrieve or even a foreshadowing of bad situations. The author portrays this type of setting in the very beginning when he writes, The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel, (Gibson 3). Already, the reader has an initial look at death and confusion, creating a dismal tone in just the first line. The words even create mystery, leaving the audience in question of what could possibly happen next. Later on in the story, the portrayal of d ystopia is still evident when the text states, Lost, so small amid that dark, hands grown cold, body image fading down corridors of television sky, (Gibson 31). The characters in the novel are unable to escape this dystopian lifestyle since it has taken control of their every thought and action.   Besides acting as a dystopia, or bad place, a fake and phony setting illustrates the tone as well.

The Forbidden Paw :: Creative Writing Examples

The Forbidden Paw     Once, a very long time ago there was a crazy family that decided to go on vacation to Manakesh, Morocco. "What a dump Why would Princess Grace live in a place like this?", the obtain asked in a curious way.     "Dad, thats Monaco.", the daughter replied with quite an annoyed tone to her voice. The family continued walking through the market, they adage a contortionist doing his acrobatic thing.     "I can do that, but I dont want to.", replied the misfit son. (Who was obviously lying out his $)     At the next vendor, the crazy dad saw a monkeys paw, and he decided that he just had to have it. The vendor of that booth told him that it granted four wishes to whoever owns it.     "Sir, I must potently advise you. Do not purchase this. Behind every wish lurks grave misfortune. I myself, was once president of Algeria.", warned the agi ng old man.     "Come on, pal, I dont want to hear your life story. Paw me", was in all that the father had to say to him.     The mans wife was not pleased by his senseless and careless purchase. The wife asked where he had gotten that ugly thing.     His reply was straightforward, "Why, at that shop right overthere?" (But all that was left was a puff of wind) The husband gasped and said, "Oh, no, wait, it was over there." As he pointed to the shop. And as the family was leaving, all they could hear was the vendor saying, "Youll be sorry"     At home, the paw sat on the java table. The son wanted to wish for x-ray specs that really work. But the daughter decided she would rather wish for peace on earth. While they were arguing, the 2-year-old coddle grabbed the paw and made her wish. A limo pulled up outside, and the father was very pleased, "Good Baby" The dr iver brought her a shiny pacifier, then sped off. "Oh, MAN", was all that the dad could say.     The son decided he had waited long enough, and so he wished for the family to be rich and famous. The father agreed, "Now youre talking" Immediately, they were showered with money. The dad took the family to the fanciest eating place in town, the Gilded Truffle. The maitre d showed them to their table     As the family was enjoying dinner, the wife piped up and said that maybe fame and fortune wasnt as bad as they say.

Essay --

I am an aficionado of the intense sports. Today, extreme sports have been accepted by all over the world. In this regard, an increase number of people ar actively participating in extreme sports. They are different from other sports in that it needs not only brilliant competitive level, but also a great measure of courage. They have been christened the game of the brave. I have always likened extreme sports to art, until I sink from the skateboard and realized in that respect are many encounters in extrema sports. I try to explore the psychological and sociological factors that form part of the culture of this evoke sport, as well as how the ball club views those involved in this sport considering its risks. Let me begin by reiterating that an extreme sport is about extreme risks and danger. The activities that patch up extreme sport involved extreme risks that no measure of change in rules can eliminate. Questions continue to arise about such sports, whether it is ethical and the society should continue to permit it. By definition, these sports tend to involve an element of great speed, great heights, and a great degree of physical exertion. Some extreme sports that are becoming more common in todays society include surfing, skateboarding, rock climbing, rafting, and mountain biking among many others. Research continues to study the motivation stinkpot these forms of sport despite the very clear knowledge of the risks and dangers that come as a part of them (Mcnamee 15). Additionally, people are trying to study the co-relation between these sports and the macrocosm that it majorly attracts together with the personality types that have been observed to dominate these sports. This knowledge people suppose will help dr... ... sense as well as an patent quality of personal sameness and continuity, paired with some belief in the sameness and continuity of some shared world image (Self, et al., 185). In conclusion, it must be considered tha t people have personal rights in whatever they choose to. A rule with a moral reason as Amartya Sen calls them. He argues that if there is a moral right to take personal risks, it would be morally wrong to stop a person from taking such a risk (McNamee 47). One of the pertinent problems in relation to voluntary risk taking is whether the risk is reasonable relative to what one wants to achieve. First we need to find a degree of probability of harm or injury as a result of the action. Secondly, we must look at the seriousness of the harm caused. Are extreme sports valuable, are they morally acceptable or should some of them be prohibited by law.

Essay examples --

The Bible primary purpose and focus is on Gods love for us and His plan of redemption for our salvation, but it also provides us with insight into spiritual leadinghip. From Abraham to Issac and from John the Baptist to Luke, and ultimately thru Jesus, God has used spiritual leaders ultimately to fulfill His purpose. The Bible gives us examples of spiritual leadership and human leadership with a number of these writings in the book of Proverbs. True leaders confront problems and find a solution. (Prov 282) When thither is moral rot within a nation, its government topples easily but with honest, sensible leaders there is stability. When the church or your life is in chaos, its easy to come up with solution, but it takes a real leader to actually change things. Where you have raft you encounter problems and most problems do not solve themselves they usually get worse with time. Real leaders realize that God is the only solution to our problems so we must seek Him for wisdom and fol low thru. The sooner you deal with a problem the easier it is to fix it. The sooner you surrender your life to God, the faster God suffer make you a real leader. Effective leaders deal with problems as soon as possible for the good of others. Effective and Godly leaders residue truth and love. As (Prov 2028) says, If a king is kind, honest, and fair, his kingdom stands secure. The same is true for a leader, if he truly is kind, honest, and fair he testament prosper. Love without truth is a just an emotion, while truth without love is a cold, hard reality. However, truth and love together have the power to convert the lives of others and ourselves. True leaders who possess wisdom utilize love and integrity to confront others and get them on the ... ...ith people who harm Jesus Body. Some of us are natural leaders and some are natural followers, however, all of us have been given leadership in some area. Parents have the God-given accountability to lead their children. Pastors have the responsibility to lead the congregation towards God and strengthen their relationship. We all share one thing in common, and that should be our willingness to lead others to Gods providence grace. Following these principles from Proverbs will not guarantee success, but they do guarantee that Gods work will move forward. We are not called to bring home the bacon but to be faithful to Christ. The Lord did promise that, He who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished (Phil 16) When we are faithful to Gods principles of leadership, we can be sure God will ensure the forward movement of His kingdom.

Death to the Old or Death to the Young? Essay -- Science Cloning DNA P

Death to the Old or Death to the Young?Since Dolly the cloned sheep was born on February 24, 1997, arrest cellphone inquiry in the United States has been a widely debated topic, especially after President Bushs distinguished 9, 2001 speech, allowing national funding for limited stem cell research. topic cells, obtained from an embryo, are cells that have not developed to the stage in which they are specified. Thus, a stem cell can develop into any type of cell in the adult human body. In the process of obtaining stem cells from week-old embryos, the embryos are destroyed. Many scientists believe that stem cell research holds the key to finding cures for diseases much(prenominal) as diabetes, Parkinsons disease, and Alzheimers disease. The issue is complicated by the fact that there are several different ways to obtain stem cells for research purposes and there are several pros and cons for each of these methods. There are four ways of obtaining stem cells, which are taken from week-old embryos, including using unwanted embryos from fertility clinics, embryos from aborted fetuses, cloned embryos, and/or embryos created for research purposes. Stem cells can also be taken out of adult bone marrow, but scientists do not think that adult stem cells hold as much medical potential. Conservatives are against federal funding for stem cell research because they feel through this funding the government would be contributing to murder. This idea is rooted in religious beliefs, which include the belief that life begins at conception, therefore an embryo is a human being. However, liberals support federal funding for research using embryos because they question whether embryos are full human beings and believe the research could expedite potential... ... Online. Infotrac Expanded Academic.3.Kinsley, Michael. Michael Kinsley Reason, Faith, and Stem Cells theGovernments impertinent Research Rules are an Attempt to Reconcile the Irreconcilable. Editorial . Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. September 1, 2000 3. Online. Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe.4.Novak, Michael. An Embryonic Religious Conservative. The National Review. 16 July 2001. http//www.nationalreview.com/contributors/novakprint071601.html5.Pollitt, Katha. Baby Its Cold Inside The Nation. August 20,2001 4. Online. Infotrac Expanded Academic.6.Stem-cell Research Drawing the Line. Editorial. The Lancet. July, 21,2001 3. Online. Infotrac Expanded Academic. 7.Weigel, George. Stem Cells and the Logic of the Nazis. Editorial. Los Angeles Times. September 3, 2000. Online. Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe.

Death to the Old or Death to the Young? Essay -- Science Cloning DNA P

Death to the Old or Death to the Young?Since Dolly the cloned sheep was born on February 24, 1997, tooth root cell query in the United States has been a widely debated topic, especially after President Bushs August 9, 2001 speech, allowing federal funding for moderate stem cell research. report cells, obtained from an embryo, are cells that have non builded to the stage in which they are specified. Thus, a stem cell can develop into any type of cell in the adult human body. In the process of obtaining stem cells from week-old embryos, the embryos are destroyed. Many scientists believe that stem cell research holds the key to finding cures for diseases such as diabetes, Parkinsons disease, and Alzheimers disease. The issue is complicated by the fact that there are several different ways to obtain stem cells for research purposes and there are several pros and cons for each of these methods. There are four ways of obtaining stem cells, which are taken from week-old embryos, including utilize unwanted embryos from fertility clinics, embryos from aborted fetuses, cloned embryos, and/or embryos created for research purposes. Stem cells can also be taken out of adult bone marrow, but scientists do not think that adult stem cells hold as much medical potential. Conservatives are against federal funding for stem cell research because they feel done this funding the government would be contributing to murder. This idea is rooted in religious beliefs, which include the belief that life begins at conception, therefore an embryo is a human being. However, liberals support federal funding for research using embryos because they question whether embryos are full human beings and believe the research could expedite potential... ... Online. Infotrac Expanded Academic.3.Kinsley, Michael. Michael Kinsley Reason, Faith, and Stem Cells theGovernments New Research Rules are an Attempt to Reconcile the Irreconcilable. Editorial. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Se ptember 1, 2000 3. Online. Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe.4.Novak, Michael. An Embryonic Religious Conservative. The National Review. 16 July 2001. http//www.nationalreview.com/contributors/novakprint071601.html5.Pollitt, Katha. Baby Its Cold Inside The Nation. August 20,2001 4. Online. Infotrac Expanded Academic.6.Stem-cell Research Drawing the Line. Editorial. The Lancet. July, 21,2001 3. Online. Infotrac Expanded Academic. 7.Weigel, George. Stem Cells and the Logic of the Nazis. Editorial. Los Angeles Times. September 3, 2000. Online. Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe.

Organic foods

fundamental nutrients be defined as sustenances without pesticides, antibiotics,or gefetically altered organisms. fundamental realm began in the late 1940s in the united states, and in recents years it has workn into a multi-billion dollaer industry. Sales for organis aliments in the past decade arouse increase annually by 20%. Its 20% incurth is ten times as much as non- perfect nutrients growth. total food makes up only a fraction of the food market even though there are over ten million removers. The gross revenue of thorough foods are expected to climb to over 6 billion dollars within the upcoming years. blur is besides a crucial component of the inwrought process. Soil is say to be organic when it has been deemed clean for three years. Making a commitment to healthy afford is a great start towards a fitter life. beyond eating more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and good fats, however, there is the question of food safety, nutrition, and sustainability. Ho w foods are grown or raised can impact twain your health and the environment. This brings up the questions What is the difference between organic foods and conventionally grown foods? Is organic always best? What about locally grown foods?Organic food, inbred cleaners, chiliad businesses, even organic clothing natural and organic products advance to be the centre of attention for those seeking a healthier lifestyle, unless notwithstanding what is organic food, is this organic trend long-lasting, and what organic food facts provide compelling reasons to grow, shop, cook and eat organic food. Today, organic food accounts for 2% of global food sales and is growing at an average rate of 20% each year. Today, you can pee your organic food delivered, buy it online, at your local securities industry store, grow it yourself and order organic food at many restaurants.This continuing rise in demand lay downs a need for regulations to protect both consumers and farmers. Organic food i s not the same thing as natural food. Natural refers to the way a food is processed rather than the ingredients. A food that is turn of additives and preservatives, tho collars commercially-produced ingredients, is considered natural. Organic food softens primarily organic ingredients, while natural foods may be made with items grown with the aid of chemicals as well as genetically modified ingredient and it is not just apples and bananas. Nearly every food available also has an organic version in todays market.Organic milk, chicken, and even pasta can be found right on the shelves of your neighbourhood supermarket. Many leading food manufacturers are creating organic food in convenience packaging to fit into modern lifestyles. Canned organic tomatoes and frozen organic peas are among many options. Organic food is not categorical and tasteless. In fact, most people claim organic ingredients are fresher and more flavourful than conventionally grown foods. Chemical residues, adde d ingredients, and hurried, mass production cut down from the natural juices within fruits and vegetables. Organic food is free of chemicals, leaving nothing but pure, fresh flavour.Regulations and procedures for organic certification are still relatively revolutionary but organic farming and cultivation are not. Farmers were using natural, chemical-free methods of growing long before pesticides and fertilizers were available. As more look continues to reveal the dangers of these chemicals to both valet de chambre and the planet, consumers continue to explore the benefits of organic food. The advantages of arganic food are that you can choose to grow and/or buy food that is healthier for you, and the environment cooking and eating organically also often offers more flavor and remediate tasting foods.Use organic farming methods and organic gardening tactics such as organic garden fertilizer and compost to grow your food the organic food advantages and organic food benefits are s ignificant for you, your family and the planet. Organic food benefits have been a hot topic for more than a decade now but it wasnt until relatively recently that these advantages were supported by more than just hearsay. blanket(a) research conducted over a number of years has proven that organic food not only tastes better than commercial foods, but it is also better for us and our children, as well as our animals, wildlife, and the environment as a whole.Care and maintenance of landed estate, and preventive farming methods like crop rotation create fruits and vegetables that contain up to 50% more vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients than intensively farmed foods. Encouraging natural and organic farming methods and gardening practices, will allow organic soil to build and contribute healthy vitamins and minerals to feed the crops, and you. Organic foods have higher levels of many disease-fighting antioxidants and essential vitamins, including Vitamin C.Industrial pesticides and fertilizers used in intensive farming contain synthetic, unhealthful chemicals, residues of which remain in the food they are involved in producing. Organic farming uses natural, synthetic-chemical-free methods that produce foods much safer for the humans, as well as the animals, that consume them. And if you grow your own fruits and vegetables, using organic garden fertilizer, natural pesticide methods, and organic soil Such chemicals are responsible for a number of common allergies and have also been linked to serious diseases like cancer and Alzheimers disease. An organic diet significantly lowers these risks.Organic foodsOrganic foods are defined as foods without pesticides, antibiotics,or gefetically altered organisms. Organic farming began in the late 1940s in the united states, and in recents years it has grown into a multi-billion dollaer industry. Sales for organis foods in the past decade have increased annually by 20%. Its 20% growth is ten times as much as non-orga nic foods growth. Organic food makes up only a fraction of the food market even though there are over ten million consumers. The sales of organic foods are expected to climb to over 6 billion dollars within the upcoming years.Soil is also a crucial component of the organic process. Soil is said to be organic when it has been deemed clean for three years. Making a commitment to healthy eating is a great start towards a healthier life. Beyond eating more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and good fats, however, there is the question of food safety, nutrition, and sustainability. How foods are grown or raised can impact both your health and the environment. This brings up the questions What is the difference between organic foods and conventionally grown foods? Is organic always best? What about locally grown foods?Organic food, natural cleaners, green businesses, even organic clothing natural and organic products continue to be the centre of attention for those seeking a healthier lif estyle, but just what is organic food, is this organic trend long-lasting, and what organic food facts provide compelling reasons to grow, shop, cook and eat organic food. Today, organic food accounts for 2% of global food sales and is growing at an average rate of 20% each year. Today, you can have your organic food delivered, buy it online, at your local grocery store, grow it yourself and order organic food at many restaurants.This continuing rise in demand creates a need for regulations to protect both consumers and farmers. Organic food is not the same thing as natural food. Natural refers to the way a food is processed rather than the ingredients. A food that is free of additives and preservatives, but contains commercially-produced ingredients, is considered natural. Organic food contains primarily organic ingredients, while natural foods may be made with items grown with the aid of chemicals as well as genetically modified ingredient and it is not just apples and bananas. Ne arly every food available also has an organic version in todays market.Organic milk, chicken, and even pasta can be found right on the shelves of your neighbourhood supermarket. Many leading food manufacturers are creating organic food in convenience packaging to fit into modern lifestyles. Canned organic tomatoes and frozen organic peas are among many options. Organic food is not bland and tasteless. In fact, most people claim organic ingredients are fresher and more flavourful than conventionally grown foods. Chemical residues, added ingredients, and hurried, mass production detract from the natural juices within fruits and vegetables. Organic food is free of chemicals, leaving nothing but pure, fresh flavour.Regulations and procedures for organic certification are still relatively new but organic farming and cultivation are not. Farmers were using natural, chemical-free methods of growing long before pesticides and fertilizers were available. As more research continues to reveal the dangers of these chemicals to both humans and the planet, consumers continue to explore the benefits of organic food. The advantages of arganic food are that you can choose to grow and/or buy food that is healthier for you, and the environment cooking and eating organically also often offers more flavor and better tasting foods.Use organic farming methods and organic gardening tactics such as organic garden fertilizer and compost to grow your food the organic food advantages and organic food benefits are significant for you, your family and the planet. Organic food benefits have been a hot topic for more than a decade now but it wasnt until relatively recently that these advantages were supported by more than just hearsay. Extensive research conducted over a number of years has proven that organic food not only tastes better than commercial foods, but it is also better for us and our children, as well as our animals, wildlife, and the environment as a whole.Care and maintenance of soil, and preventive farming methods like crop rotation create fruits and vegetables that contain up to 50% more vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients than intensively farmed foods. Encouraging natural and organic farming methods and gardening practices, will allow organic soil to rebuild and contribute healthy vitamins and minerals to feed the crops, and you. Organic foods have higher levels of many disease-fighting antioxidants and essential vitamins, including Vitamin C.Industrial pesticides and fertilizers used in intensive farming contain synthetic, toxic chemicals, residues of which remain in the food they are involved in producing. Organic farming uses natural, synthetic-chemical-free methods that produce foods much safer for the humans, as well as the animals, that consume them. And if you grow your own fruits and vegetables, using organic garden fertilizer, natural pesticide methods, and organic soil Such chemicals are responsible for a number of common allergies and h ave also been linked to serious diseases like cancer and Alzheimers disease. An organic diet significantly lowers these risks.

New friends vs Old friends Essay

Friendship is adept of the most important relationships of people in their daily lives. Its certainly a blessing if you have a portion of friends in your life. People make friends because they want to interact with some(prenominal)one who has the same interests and share their experiences and feelings. Some people think it is more important to bread and butter ones old friends than it is to make forward-looking friends. However, in my opinion, I cannot agree with this view one hundred percent, I think making new friends is also important in my life.First of all, encountering a new environment is a big challenge for m some(prenominal) people. They will face a lot of troubles when trying to adapt to this new circumstance. Making new friends is a way that helps people to deal with those problems. For example, when I was a freshman in university, I matte strange about everything on campus since the campus is much larger than my high school. At that time, I made some new friends in my classroom. We often do some interesting things like playing electric games, hiking and fishing. Thanks to my friends, I had an exciting first year in my university and I did not felt frustrated any more.Secondly, making new friends is a grave chance to practice kind skills. In modern society, no task can be done by a single person. More and more business require people who not only specialists in their fields, but also skilled in social interaction. Given the need for collaboration, social skills and team spirit are necessary qualities for any successful person. Through the process of making new friends, we could learn how to go out peoples attention, how to introduce yourself, how to start a conversation, how to be a good listener and how to pursue common interests. The social skills will be a foundation stone in our successful career life.Thirdly, even though you have a great deal of friends, it doesnt mean you have good quality friends. The best friendships are the ones tha t nurture you and help you grow to be a more complete person. Perhaps you have not met those one or two key friends who get you and will help you to feel comfortable. Therefore, dont be afraid to get out and meet new friends, because one of them might unexpectedly change your life for the better.

Sales Report Hema

TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION3 COMPANY ANALYSIS (external + internal + SWOT)4 INTERNAL & EXTERNAL ANALYSIS4 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY4 HEMAS STRUCTURE4 VISION OF THE COMPANY4 MISSION STATEMENT5 scrape GROUP5 HEMAS STRATEGY & POSITIONING6 FINANCIAL POSITION & COMPETITION7 PRODUCT-MARKET COMBINATION8 MARKETING MIX8 TRENDS IN RETAIL9 SWOT ANALYSIS10 STRENGHTHS10 OPPORTUNITIES11 THREATS12 MARKET RESEARCH13 THE 7CS OF EFFECTIVE WEBSITE DESIGN13 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH15 sales PROPOSAL17 Executive Summary17 Our understanding17 YOUR COMPANY17 YOUR NEEDS17 DESCISION CRITERIA18Our Solution19 FOOD SECTION CLEANLINESS IMPROVEMENT19 PRODUCT RESTOCKING19 finale19 COST AND BENEFIT ANALYSIS20 REFERENCES23 MYSTERY SHOP REPORTS24 NATALIA ROJAS24 VICTORIA TORRES24 MAIKE BOUWER24 ANNA ZAJAC25 CELIA BAUMGARTNER26 ANOUK VAN NULAND26 INTRODUCTION In September 1926, the dream of dickens Jewish entrepreneursArthur Isaac and Leo Meyeropened their first workshop on the Kalverstraat. The comp some(prenominal) b ecame a part of the Maxeda group, which renamed from Vendex KBB. It owns Bijenkorf, Hunkemoller, V&D, Praxis, Plan-it and Brico, Dixons and many other computer memorys.In 2007 Maxeda sold HEMA to a British company c tout ensembleed Lion Capital LPP. The company primarily foc hires on leveraged buyoutinvestments in Europe. HEMA has expanded into other European countries, with retentivenesss intheNetherlands, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and France. In this report we do a sales analysis of the Hollandsche Eenheidsprijzen Maatschappij Amsterdam, HEMA. HEMA is a Dutch discount snitch chain that is characterized by relative minor price of standard field of operationsw bes, which ar in the main made by the chain itself in beautiful and innovative introductions.HEMA offers a really wide variety of crossroads, from books and housew ars to intellectual nourishment. HEMA is located completely around the Netherlands, with in aggregate 445 branches and thous of employees by M arch 2011. We analyzed HEMA from varied standpoints we analyzed the housewares return particle and also the food section. We visited in total 12 different retentivitys all(a) in different locations of the Netherlands from Amsterdam to Maastricht and we did qualitative research by analyzing the companys external and internal environment. The goal of this report was to welcome out what HEMA can do to amend sales.COMPANY ANALYSIS (external + internal + SWOT) * INTERNAL & EXTERNAL ANALYSIS HISTORY OF THE COMPANY HEMA is a company with long tradition. The first store was opened on Kalverstraat on 4th of November 1926. Two Jewish entrepreneurs, Arthur Isaac and Leo Mever who pack witnessed the hardest economic crisis of that century, c formerlyived the idea. They have seen a lot of people struggling and having difficulties to make ends meet so their concept was to clear a shop with different household items of affordable price precisely still maintaining a high spirit.Thanks to Alfred Goudsmit, the director of Amsterdam-based Bijenkorf, this dream became earth and Hollandsche Eenheidsprijzen Maatschappij Amsterdam (known better as HEMA) was set up. The principle was so successful that late(a)ly refreshing stores were opened in Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. Additionally, in 2007, HEMA was sold to a British company called Lion Capital LPP. * HEMAS STRUCTURE HEMAs structure has changed over the years, as dickens different groups have owned it, and to each one one of them had a different way of discourse their operations.The Dutch company identifies itself as an aligner, because wherever they open a forward- tone store they try to suss out into the new environment and implement point of intersections that are applicable for the tar sterilise audience they are pursuing. Additionally, the CEOand shareholders play an important role in all forms of termination making for the companys processes and changes, being constantly informed of any new ventures being pursued. * VISION OF THE COMPANY HEMA has clearly stated that what drives them toward attaining goals is the need to oblige to what consumers really want, in this constantly changing environment. We are driven by our pedigree goals in everything we do. Consumers require are changing and we continually adapt to those needs. Over the time HEMA has been developing its brands, and now have more crops than what they had when they opened their very first store. MISSION STATEMENT According to official weather vanesite, HEMAs bearing statement consists of the fol embarrasseding The HEMA style can be summarized in two words exceptional simplimetropolis, by which we mean that our increases are some(prenominal) artless and exceptional. Long before the term home brand was invented, we were creating and manu itemuring our own products.This concept should be applied non still to products they offer but also to emoluments. HEMAs armorial bearing is to turn day-to-da y products into something exceptional and yet affordable. A nonher aspect is to recognize the continuously changing nodes need and satisfy them. TARGET GROUP Originally, HEMAs food market place portion was mainly the middle-low class with its consequent medium range income. However, over the years HEMA has attracted more individuals with a higher income, due to the guaranteed quality their products offer at a very affordable price.HEMA states that its target group are men and women of all ages and socio-economic classes as everyone can find at that place something for himself. However, different surveys have shown that the volume of the audienceis mainlybetween the ages of 14-32, identifying youngparents,and students as part of this segment. Lately we can none HEMAs tendency to focus more and more on younger customers by different promotion techniques and actions. For example, they recently made a contest for students that were studying any form of design, inviting them to cr eate a new HEMA product with their own fresh ideas.In this digital age, all companies must be aware(predicate) that if they truly want to succeed they must create their target group done up-to-date methods. in that respectfore, HEMA reaches well-nigh of its customers through TV commercials, Internet, magazines and horizontal direct mail. The most important of these, in this modern time and age, has to be its main clearsite, which not unless allows customers to shop online but also provides all the information necessary on current promotions and activities. HEMAS STRATEGY POSITIONING As said above, HEMAs charge is to make peoples liveness a little more convenient, independently of where they live.That is why the company is planning on expanding across Europe and in all probability also further. HEMAs executives call back that the formula they offer is a bully product and could go global. The companys strategy is to captivate new trends and adapt to customers. To be so successful it is essential to have motivated and dedicated staff. To achieve it the relationship of trust and commitment must be created. That is why all decisions, which are being made, are based on belief that all employees are entitled to respect for dignity, individuality and diversity.The positioning of HEMA is based on the disparateness of its designs, which are done in-house by HEMA designers, and all the products at HEMA are HEMA branded (in most cases), which makes it stand out in the market by being at once recognizable to customers. The capable price is another factor HEMA sells as a positioning point, although competition has made its low prices seem relative in comparison to all the other options now offered at the same price range or at level(p) take down prices. HEMA often underlines its bequeath to act with accessible responsibility.Thus, also the way of producing and delivering goods to customers is of high importance. The corporation uses a naturally HEMA a pproach to protect the environment. Whenever it is time to change the uniforms of their employees, they recycle and use them for something else, instead of throwing them into the garbage can. moreover, in each one of their stores they practice a recycle culture and waste collection programs. FINANCIAL POSITION COMPETITION HEMA has been one of the most favourite Dutch stores in the Netherlands, and gradually is gaining hearts of other markets abroad.In the Dutch market, HEMA has 445 stores, in Belgium 62, Germany 8, Luxembourg 3 and France 7. In total HEMA has 10,000 employees, of which 80% are women and the remaining 20% are men. Currently the company is participating in a project called return to sender. However, it does not seek to make a profit by marketing these products it rather strives to support fair trade in third-world countries making sure that profits return to the manufacturers by means of development projects and education in the regions of origin.Hema achieved pre ferably good results in the year 2011 peculiarly if we take into consideration the challenging conditions. It had to face declining non-food retail spend, increasing competition, higher raw material prices as good as declining consumer confidence. Compared to 2010 (loss of 18. 3 mln), net sales increased by 3%, and so did the net profit rising with 11 mln, mainly because of g abase funding constitutes. According to the statements released by HEMA, the share in all categories improved. The company continues on investing, in 2011 spending 57 mln (amount comparable to 2010).However, the profit margin suffered (0. 5% lower in comparison to 2010) due to increase in price of oil, coffee and cotton. Total capital after(prenominal) the acquisition by Lion Capital is estimated on 1. 4 billion, of which 35. 4% is financed by shareholders. As far as competitors go, HEMA has found its largest competition against Jumbo Groep Holding B. V and Koninklijke Ahold B. V. , which comprises itsel f of Albert Heijn, Etos, and Gall Ga. , among others. Additionally, other competitors in retail include Kruidvat, DA, and Zeeman. PRODUCT-MARKET COMBINATIONHereby is sum up of the best and the worst of HEMAs products, according to each box/category of the matrix STARS-Le Lapin tea tympanum QUESTION MARKS-HEMA Beauty CASH COWS-Sausage (worst) DOGS- MARKETING MIX Price Based on an overview of the online website, www. hema. nl, the price of products ranges from as little as . 50 to as more as 250 euros, specifically for the bicycles. However, most products range under the 20 euros or less mark, especially when it comes to its office supplies, cosmetics, beauty products, and foods & beverages.They also use many discounted product prices to bring up sales. Product The products offered at HEMA are of a colossal and wide variety, and are divided into clothing, accessories, cosmetics, skincare products, office/school supplies, domestic appliances, home items, textiles (curtains, duvets , and so forth ), food & beverages, and finally, its photo printing service, exclusive to but some HEMA stores. According to the principles of its product mix, the products themselves are not necessarily all consistent with each other, as their diversity is large.The depth of some of the products is also not as varied, though HEMA tries to have in most cases at least two different variations, generally in price range/quality or color presentation, of the same product. Promotion HEMA is avid in its promotion of products, especially those that are discounted from hebdomad to week and new to the store. They use, as mentioned above, TV advertisements, billboards, employ the use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Google+ and Pinterest, and as fountainhead as Internet advertising through their online website. rig HEMA products are sold at HEMA stores and online at www. hema. nl.There are several variations of a HEMA store, ranging from very large warehouse style to sma ll outlets in train displace and airports. Also, specialized stores are popping up recently, such as HEMA Fotos, HEMA Beauty, and a HEMA with only its ready-made food, in a similar to go style as its competitor Albert Heijn. The products are sold directly, passing on from HEMAs own suppliers in Hong Kong and Shanghai to the stores for selling. TRENDS IN RETAIL For 2012, several trends were present in the retail business in general. Firstly, the investment in mobile applications and services has increased enormously over the past year.Customers are now able to find store locations, prices, customer reviews and eventually order said products all through their mobile phone. With the continued modernity of cellphones, it is no doubt this trend will keep on acclivity and showing its importance in the retail business. Another trend this year has been the stagnant sales due to the low economy in recent measure. Customers are spending more on necessary products rather than retail, and it is of great importance for retail companies to find a way to demonstrate the added value and worthiness of the product they are selling, as well as placing it in a competitive price range.Additionally, globalization has taken over the world and influenced greatly on retail. More and more retail companies are encouraged to expand themselves abroad, giving them the competitive edge they need to succeed. Lastly, another trend related retail is that economic generation and high prices are forcing stores to become more compact, which has actually been well ingestd by customers, who do not wish to wander in a thousand square meters to get the one product they need. SWOT ANALYSIS * STRENGHTHS Dutch citizens have been acquainted with HEMA since 1926, which means that a large quantity of the population is link to their brand. They have one of the most important utilitys that a company can have loyal customers. * HEMA can be proud of its customer-oriented and committed staff, people who d o their best every day achieving at the same time high customer satisfaction. * Contrarily to majority of retailers, HEMA sells its own original brand. The company has its own design department, where highly educated employees come up with new ideas and improved products.What is more, HEMA involves its customers, among them, young talented design students who are given chance to participate in new-product creation. * profess laboratory where all the products are being strictly tested before arriving on store shelves. * Highly creative marketing team often coming up with interesting actions and promotions attracting new customers and retaining the old ones. * Good advertising and multi channel communication with customers. HEMA broadcasts its own TV commercials, distributes leaflets, sends e-mails, tidingsletters and of course has a well organized website where web shopping is available 24h/24. Ability to track new tendencies and adapt them in a short period introduction of innova tive fashion or an internalisation of a cafe/restaurant into stores is one of many examples. * HEMA takes into consideration the environment during production and logistics processes. It strives to reduce amount of energy used for transportation as well as production, limits packaging to minimum, takes care of material used and the possibility of their recycling. * Offers a great diversity of household products at quite affordable prices. * Great trouble toward a customer and putting his satisfaction first.Thus, each customer that is not satisfied with service provided can claim for refund. * HEMA stores expand with a high rapidity, even monthly. * Demonstrated support for various initiatives such as FAIR TRADE, Return to Sender etc. WEAKNESSES Although HEMA claims to produce its products in an ecofriendly manner, still a considerable reckon of products are made of hardly recyclable material. This aspect should be reviewed by HEMA departments and new solutions should be implemen ted and comply fully to companys mission of social responsibility. Based on the market research made, HEMA product quality is not the highest in most cases, especially if comparing it to other products with the same price tag. HEMA is currently in the process of suffering from the so-called commodity trap, in which its fellow competitors are selling the same comparable products HEMA does, at lower prices. In reference to our surveys, the cleanliness and neatness of the HEMA stores can be improved upon, as well as a better control of restocking products that are being sold. HEMAs great range of products, though a great strength, is also a great weakness, as the management of all these products can become overpowering, and the previously mentioned quality and cleanliness control become more difficult to handle. * OPPORTUNITIES Its current owner, the London-based private equity firm Lion Capital, has been trying to sell the company since 2011, but in that respect are still plans t o, in a year or so, retry its selling marriage offer. The main stakeholder in this would be Royal Ahold NV, who currently is the owner of the biggest chain of supermarkets in the Netherlands, Albert Heijn, amongst other investments.Pairing up AH and HEMA to sell their products together could prove itself as an incredibly profitable business synergy of brands. -As mentioned before in the retail trends, HEMA could take advantage of the recent mobile phone apps boost, and include an app version of their online store for mobile users to buy the products directly on the go. They already offer their HEMA Photos services online, but could plow more on this growing trend to improve sales. -Even though HEMA has a claim on the Corporate Social Responsibility as a company, they could move even further with their actions by actively timulating sustainability amongst their suppliers. Not only does this actively pursue good, it provides a new selling point for customers who believe in sustainab ility as an added value to a product acquire. Sustainability in companies itself is a growing trend, considering all the education new generations have had over global warming and the threat of the one C footprint. * THREATS With the recent economic crisis in 2012 with the European Union and the budget cuts, retailers in general in the Netherlands, with HEMA included, are suffering from these cuts.The Dutch government will boost the highest value added on consumer goods to 21% from 19% before the austerity measures were in place. This will affect most businesses who handle goods that are not foods or beverages, and even though HEMA does have a part of its business focused on that, it is loosely a mixed retailer. Dutch consumer confidence has hit an all-time low since 2003, notably dropping 1. 3% in February 2012. Due once again to the austerity, Dutch households are facing stagnant salaries with higher retail prices, which means the consumer spending will be reduced. As mentio ned before in the opportunities, its current owner, Lion Capital, has been trying to sell the company since 2011 but has so far been unsuccessful to reach its desired 1. 5 billion euro asking price. There are still plans to, in a year or so, retry its selling proposal, which would provide mental unsoundness within HEMA due to the change of ownership. Of course, it can not be determined whether this change will be beneficial or not, but it most for certain would be an adjustment to the company, and sales might suffer from it. MARKET RESEARCHThis section consists of an extensive and thorough market research analysis of HEMA, a multinational retail chain that caters several products in different areas of Europe. The report begins an explanation of its target group. Consequently, there is an analysis of the 7 Cs of web, and a final closedown is provided. The overall objective is to obtain a full understanding on the views, and behaviors from HEMAS customers, and how these influence w ithin their purchasing decisions. TARGET GROUP Originally, HEMAs market segment was mainly the middle-low class with its consequent medium range income.However, over the years HEMA has attracted more individuals with a higher income, due to the guaranteed quality their products offer at a very affordable price. The audienceis mainlybetween the ages of 14-32, identifying youngparents,and students as part of this segment. HEMA is focusing more and more on younger customers by different promotion techniques and actions. For example, they recently made a contest for students that were studying any form of design, inviting them to create a new HEMA product with their own fresh ideas.Moreover, they are also reaching youngsters through their parents, personalizing their own product is a key advantage to them. In this digital age all companies must be aware that if they truly want to succeed they must reach their target group through up-to-date methods. Therefore, HEMA reaches most of its customers through TV commercials, Internet, magazines and even direct mail. The most important of these, in this modern time and age, has to be its main website, which not only allows customers to shop online but also provides all the information necessary on current promotions and activities being organized. THE 7CS OF EFFECTIVE WEBSITE DESIGN In order to look into the 7 C S, a required observation of HEMAs main website (http//www. hema. nl) was necessary to regard how each one the forms of effective design were implemented. Context- The sites layout and design is dynamic, very colorful and appealing to the senses, making it an effective tool for marketing. Content- Varied is the most proper way to describe their content. Community- HEMA allows customers to interact with each other by participating in contests, activities and promotions, as well as allowing them to voice their suggestions and complaints.Customization-Since customers can subscribe themselves and create themselves a n vizor, it is possible to have their own customized web page, because the web site will display their most recent purchases and tailor itself automatically each single time. Communication-Their web page uses a two-way communication Connection-The site is linked to other web pages, such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. This enables the user to check HEMAs account in these 3 web sites and to show their most recent acquisitions by uploading pictures of the items. It creates a special bond between the customer and the corporate.Commerce- When there is a purchase of items, the options on payment are several, and allowing the customer to purpose what is his or her best option. In acknowledgement of the before stated reasons, HEMA does make a full use of the 7 cs. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH SURVEY ANALYSIS The questionnaire will probe the following 9 questions 1-Do you ever shop at HEMA? 2-If yes, how often? 3-Do you like HEMA, neither like it nor dislike it, or dislike it? 4-How clean are HEMA stores? 5-Compared to its competitors are HEMAS prices more reasonable, less reasonable or about the same. -In terms of quality, how good are HEMAS products 7-Description of HEMA in 3 words 8-On a scale from 1-10, which overall grade would you give HEMA 9-In a maximum of 3 words, please reassure us on what you would like HEMA to improve After a survey collection and thorough analysis took place, the results were the following 1-Do you ever shop at HEMA? 95. 2% of the people interviewed admitted to have ever shopped at HEMA. 4. 8% had never shopped at HEMA before. 2-If yes, how often? From the 95. 2% whom claimed to have ever shopped at HEMA, had 94. % purchase goods at the store once a week, the remaining 5. 6% went to the store at least 3 times a week. 3-Do you like HEMA, neutral, or dislike it? 19% of the interviewees likes HEMA a great deal, 47. 6% like it a moderate amount, 14. 3% like it a little, 19% are neutral 4-How clean are HEMA stores? 19% believe the stores are cle an, 61. 9% say they are moderately clean, 14. 3% state that it is slightly clean, and 4. 8% think it is not clean at all. 5-Compared to its competitors are HEMAS prices more reasonable, less reasonable or about the same? 47. 6% believes the prices are reasonable, and a 52. % that they are less reasonable than the ones of the competitors. 6-In terms of quality, how good are HEMAS products *90. 5% said the product quality was good, a 9. 5% said they were awful. * QUALITATIVE RESEARCH For the qualitative research, we went on a field rouse to several HEMAs to get a few in depth interviews with their customers. At the quantitative research, we mostly ask fixed answer questions to get integrated answers and get clear statistics from it. The qualitative is quite the contrary, we ask open question thus not trying to persuade the customers by giving them several options as answers.We asked the following questions that are relative to the marketing research 1. What are your experiences when shopping at HEMA? The majority of the interviewees were more than positive about their experiences. Not one had a negative experience at one of the HEMAs. One claimed that they even have everything in the little HEMAs in the small villages outside of the big city It is unbelievable (and quite scary) how accurate they know us, costumer Another costumer The employees are always friendly and boosterful, even though they cannot satisfy our needs as costumers. 2.How would you describe the quality of the products? Here again, the majority is very satisfied about the quality of the products. The price/quality ratio is fairly good. I know what to pass judgment from the products. Lets take a their china for example, I know their wheel wint last a lifetime. If I want bowls that last a lifetime I will shop at Georg Jensen. This way I can change my china more often and get a fresh new look in the kitchen. All the interviewees were satisfied with the products bought, though most of them t ake inconsideration that the products are not the best on the market. 3.What is your opinion about the tidy/cleanness of the stores? Positive feedback The stores look clean, Well organized, Good structure of the placement of the products Negative feedback Too many products fasten into too little space, Quite mess at the sales shelves, The floors are dusty, though this problem appears in most shops. The opinions on this question are fairly divided. The bigger shops seemed to have more negative feedback, due to its large variety of products. The overview was lost and the employers were having troubles keeping the shelves organized and the store clean.Response Summary Criteria-8 people were individually interviewed for more in-depth findings, and 40 answered a survey. SALES PROPOSAL * Executive Summary For HEMA a Dutch discount retail chain, which is characterized by relative low pricing products mainly made by the company itself, the customers opinion and view about the company is t he most important. Time by time, the company has been including new products and ideas to the company trying to make it more attractive to buyers, and then is when the food section came to HEMA becoming its pride with products such as rook worst, Tompouces and pies.However, after having done some research in different locations of HEMA, we found out that even though customers like the food of HEMA, most of them think that the cleanliness of the food section is not positive. Another fact is that since HEMA is characterized by having all frame of self developed articles concentrated on daily necessities, people like to go there whenever they need something especially urgent. According to our research, it happens often that products are not being restocked frequently. This leaves the client with a sense of emptiness after having travelled the solid store in search of that necessary product. Our understanding YOUR COMPANY HEMA is a company that makes life fun and easy in an inexpensi ve way. In HEMA you will find the remarkable combination of only the best items for everyday life, with its own especial design, for surprisingly low prices and with a staff that is always ready to help you with pride, commitment and with love for their company. YOUR NEEDS HEMA is a store where customers go mostly when they need to find something in particular, for example house ware products, school accessories or to have the 1euro eat. Customer who go to HEMA, mostly know what they are looking for and what they can find at HEMA.Therefore, HEMA needs to be always prepared to receive these customers, by knowing and having in advance what they are looking for. HEMA needs to create an especial importance to restocking of products. Since most HEMAs is a large store, where you mostly spend more time than in a particular store, clients do not like to go there, looking for something they know HEMA provides and not finding it because of restocking issues. Makeup, stationery, and house war e tools are some of the sections that have to be always filled. HEMA has a rather small food section, however it is famous for the good taste and low price of their products.The 1euro breakfast, the famous worst and the pastry attract fixed buyers day by day to the store. However, after our research we found out that clients were not especially happy with the cleanliness of this section. Most of the time workers who receive money are the same ones that fixed or deliver the food, this without changing or wearing away hand gloves. There must be in HEMA a clear differentiation between the person who is handling the cash and that who is touching the food. In the case that this is the same person there should be a imminent use of hand gloves for each of those actions. Prioritized list of needs More frequently restocking of HEMA products. * Improvement of cleanliness in the food section. DESCISION CRITERIA disclose Decision Criteria Importance(High, Med, Low) 1. Product Restocking Med 2 . Food Section Cleanliness Improvement High * Our Solution FOOD SECTION CLEANLINESS IMPROVEMENT * For the food section the solution is the implementation of gloves for all employees enough gloves to be changed after a certain amount of time. Another solution is the distinction of the person working at the register and the person handling and preparing the food. There should not be one person who can use cash and prepare food at the same time.If necessary and for the variation there could be shifts so the employees can also perform different activities, however for one employee the shift should not chance more than once daily. Example Natalia receives payments from 9 to 12 and then from 12 to 5 she prepares food. PRODUCT RESTOCKING * For the restocking problem, there could be more frequently revisions of the products that need to be restocked, maybe once a week. then(prenominal) the making of a product criterion should be made, recognizing which products are the most sold and there fore have to be always available.After the identification of those products, there should be made an agreement that within certain time (for example 2 weeks) those products will be delivered to the store, regardless of the already in store stock of that product. * Conclusion Our group chose HEMA as company for the importance of the store to the Dutch market. HEMA is a level with many years of experience and long trajectory in the market where customers go to purchase good quality products, with personal and innovative designs all for average low prices. Even though we did not find almost any negative points of the company and we were very leased with many aspects of HEMA such as the employees treatment towards customers or the large scale of products they offer, we all agreed on the fact that there are many times that the desired product by the customer is not in stock or the low use of gloves and cleanliness when aid the food section. These two are aspects that are rather easy to improve and that could increase the customers experience and loyalty for HEMA, of course also growing sales of new and fixed clients. COST AND BENEFIT ANALYSIS Last year HEMA obtain great results in an downsizing economie.It has maintained their position within the retail manufacture by winning the best retail yearprice by ING again Ronald Putting, CEO I am very proud that I can tell you that we, patronage a tough economic year, have been continuing our strong line of growth. During the past year HEMA celebrated its 85th anniversary Thus we have the recent openings of Gare du Nord and Gare Saint Lazare and next to those we already have several successful stores in France. HEMA has grown into an international retail company that continues to grow, with a strong brand that is comprehended by our customers both at home and abroad.This appreciation was once more when the consumer Netherlands HEMA in 2011 chose to best store. In 2011, market conditions were challenging and are expecte d to alter the crisis in 2012. Consumers will have more need of a shop where they can rely and which also continues to surprise. A shop where the staff is ready to help consumers with special designed products of good quality and for a low price. So every day we try to make the daily lives of our customers a little firearm more fun and easier. A few figures of the year 2011 Consumer sales went up to EUR 1. 02 million Net sales increased just as in 2010 by more than 3% to EUR 1,150 million The market share of HEMA in all categories improved The operating result (EBITDA) remained virtually unchanged (euro 155 million) 47 new stores were opened 33 in the Netherlands, 8 in Belgium, 2 in Germany and 4 in France. Improvements that can be made In our sales proposal you can read that the most important thing we think that HEMA can improve are 1. Product restocking 2. Food section cleanliness improvement Lets start of with the product restocking.To sum up the stocks in the store are not at neat as it should be. Some products are placed in the middle of the corridor, which gives a messy appearance of the whole store. In our opinion the manager who is responsible for the product division and visual standards should be educated about this particular subject. HEMA could decide to give those managers some extra training. For improvement of the HEMA food section employees can be trained by a dutch company called HACCP Direct. This will cost HEMA 69,- per store and they will receive a HACCP certificate that is needed to sell food in Holland.Because HEMA is already licenced to sell food the certificates are not necessary to obtain again. But we do think that some extra training is needed and can be obtained by following an online course. This course will obtain the following subjects 1. The importance of hygiene and the HACCP method 2. Personal hygiene 3. Cleaning, waste and vermin 4. Temperature Control 5. Furnishing of business premises 6. Purchasing, Storage and she lf life 7. (For) preparing, presenting and serving After these two points of improvement we believe that HEMA is right where they want to be, HEMA wants to be number one.The best in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, France and beyond. HEMA believes that the traditional Dutch success formula of special simplicity with everyone. Anywhere in the world from city to countryside, from Amsterdam to Tokyo. ING Retail Year price HEMA was chosen by the public overall succeeder and may have a year long Retailer of the Netherlands. With an average score of 7. 50 won HEMA in October 2011 even though the audience in the category Baby & Children. HEMA scored during the first round of the high aspect Value (7. 92) and Price level (7. 83).During the second round of voting where the public could vote only on the 26 category winners HEMA earned fifteen percent of the total number to earn points. HEMA won this award in 2003 and in 2008. In 2005 won the Jury HEMA Price Retail. Special HE MA Beauty shops HEMA opens two beauty shops named HEMA Beauty. HEMA Beauty has been opened the 12th of October 2012 in Amsterdams Kalverstraat and the day after the opening of the HEMA beauty store in the Barteljorisstraat in Haarlem took place. Now HEMA customers can come in for all their makeup, skincare, inspiration and personal advice. REFERENCES ttp//www. hema. nl/hema/over-hema. aspx http//www. hema. nl/SiteCollectionDocuments/HEMA_corporate_EN. pdf http//www. hema. nl/SiteCollectionDocuments/HEMA_corporate_EN. pdf http//www. hema. nl/hema/about-hema. aspx http//www. hema. nl/SiteCollectionDocuments/HEMA_corporate_EN. pdf http//www. returntosender. nl/en/about/partners http//www. hema. nl/hema/voor-de-pers/persberichten. aspx http//www. retail-business-review. com/companies/hema-b http//www. sas. com/news/sascom/2012q1/industry_spotlight. html http//berenschotstrategies. wordpress. com/2011/04/06/hema-in-de-commodity-tra/ ttp//www. marketwatch. com/story/dutch-retailer-hema-no -longer-on-block-sources-2011-06-22 http//edepot. wur. nl/167998 http//www. bloomberg. com/news/2012-05-08/dutch-retailers-face-profit-blow-as-taxes-chill-spending. html http//www. hema. nl/hema/over-hema. aspx http//www. psbydila. com/hema-beauty http//www. haccpdirect. nl/haccp-cursus/ http//perssupport. nl/apssite/persberichten/full/2012/03/27/HEMA+rapporteert+positieve+resultaten+2011 * MYSTERY SHOP REPORTS NATALIA ROJAS Maastricht and Leiden Comparing the two HEMA stores that I visited, I came to different conclusions.First it was appealing to me that both stores were clean and were being cleaned at the moment, so in both cases was the cleaning good. In the food counter in Leiden, even though I bought a closed product, which is a bottle, I did not see any of the employees wearing gloves at any moment, at Maastricht I passes by the food counter as well in the breakfast hour, but I did not see anybody with gloves either. That means in both Leiden and Maastricht the employees were not clean enough in terms of food. In Leiden I was looking for a whiteboard, I asked a girl if they had it, and she said that not in the moment.She knew about what I was talking about so she was acquainted with the store products which is good. the product I was looking for was not there but they had a similar option. In Maastricht I bought a covert and in the casa I asked the girl if she knew if the blanket was good enough for the Winter to which she responded good enough saying that it has a level 3 which means that it is pretty good for pretty much all seasons, so I was satisfied with my blanket. In Maastricht though the girl in the casa was trying to get rid of people fast because it was pretty much a rush hour and there were a lot of people on the line.However I was satisfied with the product information and personal service at both locations. In conclusion I would say that HEMA employees are well trained and know enough about the products and the store, even though all the p roducts that I needed were not there that is something that can happen everywhere. However probably the cleaning in the food section should be improved at all times and everywhere. VICTORIA TORRES Kalverstraat and hemareguliersbreestraat After analyzing patterns from one HEMA to another, we conclude that hygiene should become more of a priority.Both locations shared the same pitfall, which was not wearing gloves when in contact with food nor when touching money from the customer. However, employees are well trained and able to answer questions about their product line, for instance the materials used to fabricate such product or its origin. Moreover, the answers were quite well formulated in acceptable English, bearing in mind that this is not their mother tongue. In a nutshell, the personnel are competent enough, yet sanitization is not as efficient as it should be. MAIKE BOUWER Vleuten and Utrecht Vleuten is a small town right outside Utrecht.Only recently it has opened a HEMA sto re where the basics are being sold. There were two employees working in the store when I entered. The first one greeted me right when I entered the store. The second employee was prompt filling the shelves but still managed to say good morning when I passed by. Both staff members were wearing a HEMA shirt with black pants. The first employee helped me find the duvet covers, knew exactly where they were placed and which one I needed. Though observing the first employee helping another customer at the food section she did not wash her hands, neither was the use of cloves involved.Overall the HEMA in Vleuten is a neat store where everything is in place and the employees are friendly. They know the store very well, reasoning that the store is fairly small and has fewer products than the big stores in large cities. The food section, which one hardly can call a section, was not very hygienic. HEMA could improve their hygienic matters by using cloves or wash their hands before touching th e food products. Though the employee used a tang to take the sausage and did not get in contact with the sausage self. In general, the small HEMA in Vleuten is a well-organized store with well-trained staff.In comparison with the HEMA in Vleuten, the HEMA in Utrecht is huge. The store is two stories high and is very elaborated. While walking around for a while through the shelves, none of the employee bothered to greet me. Even though I had not received a good morning, the employees looked neat and were all wearing the same outfit. The food section in Utrecht is quite large though the hygiene is not well thought through. No cloves were used when I ordered my sandwich. Wondering if it was a coincidence, I stayed around the food section to observe the others ordering their food.None of the employees wash their hands in my time of observing. The other sections of the store were clean and organized however the food section is certainly a weakness. They could improve by wearing cloves and changing them regularly. Another advice I would give HEMA is to introduce freshly prepared food instead of pre-rolling sandwiches. ANNA ZAJAC Amstelveen and Schiphol The HEMA stores I decided to visit are situated in two different places. One is Amstelveen, peaceful outskirts of Amsterdam and the other, International Airport Schiphol. I was curious if there could be a difference in service delivered by the employees.As my report demonstrates, I have encountered a major interest, help and friendliness in the store situated in Amstelveen. In both situations the employees were kind and eager to help me. The first one helped me to find a model of a product I was searching for while the other prepared something that I probably should have done on my own. Both had no problem with speaking English with me and made me feel comfortable from the first moment. What is more, I was surprise by a discount I got at the checkout. The store overall was rather clean and kept in order. When it co mes to the second store my impressions are a little less positive.The stuff was less cheerful and in some cases they could not answer my questions at all The level of English was surprisingly lower than that of Amstelveens employees. It should be other way around considered that every day thousands of tourists pass through Schiphol Airport. Aspects I would like to seen improved are the employees awareness of the products they sell (FairTrade, for example), their readiness to deal with the customer and nicer attitude as well as better command of foreign language. There should be more pressure on keeping food fresh (it could be kept in special containers or coverages). CELIA BAUMGARTNERBijlmer Arena and Ferdinand Bolstraat The HEMA chain and concept is a wonderful idea that has spanned great success overtime. However, there are some points that could be worked on based on the day-to-day administration at their shops. The store has a very self-serviced mindset, but perhaps if they work ed towards improving their availability to customers, they would be able to improve their sales even more. Also, training employees is of great importance, and it would be nice to see a harmony in the quality of employees working at HEMA, considering it is rather jarring to have good and bad experiences from the same brand store.Product placement is ideal, and we know HEMA is aware of this, as they go to great lengths to display products on discount (they simply happen to be that price the whole time, but they make the customer feel as though they are buying something less expensive). It would be greatly improved if they would work on becoming more neat in their display arrangement, and once again, have more staff on hand to do all the arrangements, the same way AH is always stock full any time of the day.Not only would the displays look more lively and inviting, but it would give HEMA a greater opportunity to sell if their products are actually there to purchase. ANOUK VAN NULAND Kinkerstraat and Nieuwendijk I have visited two stores one in the Oud-West area of Amsterdam and one in the city center. To start of when I entered the store there was nobody to great me. They were all busy with doing their own tasks and were focused on that and on talking with each other. Even tough thats not what you expect when you come in to a store, in store like this it is fine by me.It just a feeling you get when you are in a store they are very friendly when you ask something and they enjoy their job. I think thats the most important thing there is. Next to the atmosphere in the store there are some practical things I would like to point out. The division of the stores is not really practical. Some large articles do deserve a place more place and in the middle of the walk there were lots of items on display which gives the stores a messy appearance. The foodarea of the HEMA in the Kinkerstraat was a bit messy. various kind of ingredients on the same work plate.Nevertheless the food tasted fresh and with good ingredients. The sales person was wearing plastic gloves when she picked up the food, but unfortunately she also received my money with that same hand. I do not think thats quit hygienic. 1 . http//www. hema. nl/SiteCollectionDocuments/HEMA_corporate_EN. pdf 2 . http//www. hema. nl/hema/about-hema. aspx 3 . http//www. hema. nl/SiteCollectionDocuments/HEMA_corporate_EN. pdf 4 . http//www. returntosender. nl/en/about/partners 5 . http//www. hema. nl/hema/voor-de-pers/persberichten. spx 6 . http//www. retail-business-review. com/companies/hema-b 7 . http//www. hema. nl/SiteCollectionDocuments/HEMA_corporate_EN. pdf 8 . http//www. sas. com/news/sascom/2012q1/industry_spotlight. html 9 . http//www. sas. com/news/sascom/2012q1/industry_spotlight. html 10 . http//www. sas. com/news/sascom/2012q1/industry_spotlight. html 11 . http//berenschotstrategies. wordpress. com/2011/04/06/hema-in-de-commodity-tra/ 12 . http//www. marketwatch. com/stor y/dutch-retailer-hema-no-longer-on-block-sources-2011-06-22 13 . http//edepot. wur. nl/167998 14 .

Dominican heritage

Angie Cruzs Soledad is a marvelous apologue of family and integrity, myth and mysticism, racial identity, assimilation and chaos and various other themes. The context of the author has deeply influenced the setting of the novel as the story is deeply influenced by her Dominican heritage. Author herself has testified that her pagan upbringing highly impacted the novel. heretofore though she authored it with keeping community in her mind, the novel in like manner turned out to be a story of family, relationships, girlhood, motherhood and extended to several other premises.The main voice in the story is that of an art student Soledad who wants to fly to her sick mother to take precaution of her. She is about to allow her neighborhood behind as only she can help her mother to recover from the emotional coma. Soledad also has her aunt Gorda, her wild cousin Flaca to tame in her family. As she comes back to her house, she is confronted with a big challenge to negotiate or forget t he painful or chaotic past for construct her fellowship with her mother. Family and relationships become the centre theme of the story.Soledad had left her contentious family at the age of eighteen as she got fed up with petty fights, struggles and endless tragedies. She joined as an art student at Cooper Union and also had a gallery job (along with a hip East Village walk-up). Soledad was imminently cool, fine, peaceful being infinitely far from her belligerent, superstitious neighborhood where she had her upbringing. Soledad however could not continue for a long time as she got call from transient ischemic attack Gorda verbalizeing that her mother badly needs her as she had slipped into an emotional coma. Soledads return was the only solution to save her mother.The love that remained for her family made Soledad to return home though she was haunted with the terrible recollections about leering men, open hydrants, and dreadful slick-skinned teen girls with bawdy mouths and snapp ing gum. Soledad had much to face in her home at West 164th Street. She had to coiffure with the raucous behavior of her cousin Flaca and had to keep her from falling for Richie, the neighbor. Soledad struggles and she falls into a big challenge. She was also disturbed by the memories and ghosts of her mothers past and also had to mend their relationship so that she may recover.She had to fight the memories of all painful past experiences to help her love her mother. The story is all about the family burden suffered by young Soledad. Soledad always had strained relationship with the family members, especially her widowed mother Olivia. Much of the novel is about the family of Olivia, her female relatives. Soledad had her aunt Gorda who can better be called a witch. She opt ceremonies and home remedies for treating her sister. Soledad had much to suffer from the fiery adolescent Flaca her cousin. More than all this was the nightmares, terrifying flashbacks and fearful memories.Soled ad struggles being caught between two worlds for the stake of her family. The bad images of her mothers Dominican youth, Soledad returns to her family. Soledads responsibility for her family and love for her mother constraints her to forgive or forget Olivias past as a prostitute, her unauthentic paternity, and the death of her father in the hand of Olivia. She says And when I surrender to the fanaticism of the water, I feel the past, present, and future becomes one. My mother becomes the ocean and the sky, wrapping herself around me. The family warmth engulfs Soledad as she gets into a spiritual epiphany.Soledad is found to be compelled by guilt and responsibility and a forced loyalty and start to take care of the family that she in one case left. This forced loyalty or the love remnants make Soledad come back to the place that she longed to leave and meet her family that she wanted to forget. Soledad took herself away from her collapsed family as she wanted to extradite a diff erent future than everybody else. She separated from everything, explored new paths and found herself successful in her new world. However the little love residue that remained in her centre of attention made her sacrifice everything for the sake of her family (or her sick mother).She was back to her old neighborhood and finds something that longed for and that she did not expect. She finally recognizes that everything she was yearning for was there in front of her. We can say that the novel Soledad is all about family relationships. The news of her mothers sickness melted the heart of young Soledad and made her take the crucial decision to leave her happy world and come to her family from which she was fleeing away. Even though Soledad was reluctantly returning to her family, her time with her family becomes too crucial in the novel that it occupies majority of the pages.Soledads engross was painful but her family members turned out to be characters that made the whole story inte resting, rather than Soledad. The background of the novel is in the family or cultural background of the author Angie Cruz. Authors childhood experience in the ethnic barrio of New York Citys Washington Heights neighborhood highly influenced the story. The story more or less appears as an autobiography where the family of Soledad represents the entire women folk of the superstitious neighborhood.The bizarre mother, jealous cousin Flaca, her crazy Aunt Gorda, the entire family of Angie Cruz speaks of the predicament of the entire neighborhood. Even though the whole story intended to report the helpless womanhood of the undeveloped neighborhood, the novel turned out to be a tale of family relationships that sprang up from an extremely collapsed background. The family of Soledad, her mother, cousin and her aunt filled the novel making it a tale family story. References Angie (2001) Cruz Soledad, Simon & Schuster Trent Masiki (2001) Soledad Review Black Issues Book Review, Matthews & Associates.

Flirting: Investment and Return

Solution to Case 02 jeopardy and Return Flirting With Risk Questions 1. Imagine you ar flower. How would you explain to Mary the relationship between risk and throw of individual stocks? I would explain to Mary that risk and think ar positively related, i. e. if 1 expects to earn higher returns, then one has to be volitioning to present in stocks whose price can vary significantly from year to year or in different economic conditions. For example, in the table on a lower floor we see that treasury bills would have yielded 4% with almost no variability, while the index number depot is expected to yield 10. 1% with a standard deviation of 9. 15%. Expected Rate of Return Scenari/o prospect Treasury Bill might Fund Utility Company High-Tech CompanyCounter-Cyclical Company Recession 20% 4% -2% 6% -5% 20% nestle Recession 20% 4% 5% 7% 2% 16% Normal 30% 4% 10% 9% 15% 12% Near Boom 10% 4% 15% 11% 25% -9% Boom 20% 4% 25% 14% 45% -20% Expected Return 4% 10. 10% 9. 2% 15. 40% 5. % Standard Deviation 0% 2. 82% 15. 69% 9. 15% 17. 69% 2. Mary has no idea what beta means and how it is related to the required return of the stocks. Explain how you would help her understand these concepts. genus Beta is defined as the systematic risk of an asset. It measures the relationship between the returns of an asset and a food market portfolio. Stocks that vary by more than the market have betas greater than 1 and vice-versa. The formula for calculating beta is as followsBeta = Covariance of stock returns vis-a-vis market returns Variance of market returns According to the Security mart Line equation, Required return on a stock = Risk free rate + (Expected Market Return Risk free rate)* Beta This shows that high beta stocks have a have a higher required rate of return than low beta stocks. business leader FundUtility Co. High-Tech Co. Counter-Cyclical Co. Exp. Return10. 10%9. 2%15. 4%5. 9% Std. Deviation9. 15%2. 82%17. 69%15. 69% Cov (Rs, Rm)0. 00300. 0276-0. 0144Beta1. 00. 301. 86-1. 54 Required Rate10. 1%5. 84%15. 37%-5. 41% *See spreadsheet for calculations 3. How should Bill demonstrate the meaning and advantages of diversification to Mary?Diversification refers to the strategy of investing in stocks, which are not highly correlated with severally early(a), for example, high-tech firms and utility firms, or high-tech firms and counter-cyclical firms. Diversification reduces the portfolios variability and thereby enables investors to earn a more stable rate of return. To demonstrate the advantages of diversification, Bill should calculate the expected return and risk (standard deviation) of a portfolio composed of equal investment in the High-Tech Co. and the Counter-Cyclical Co. since these companies are negatively correlated with each other and compare the results with the return and risk levels of the High-Tech Co. by itself. 50-50 Portfolio Scenario Probability High-Tech Co. Counter-Cyclical Co. 50-50 Port folio Prob. *E(Portfolio Return) Rp-E(Rp)2 *Ps Recession 20% -5% 20% 7. 50% 1. 50% 0. 000198 Near Recession 20% 2% 16% 9. 00% 1. 80% 0. 00054 Normal 30% 15% 12% 13. 50% 4. 05% 0. 000244 Near Boom 10% 25% -9% 8. 00% 0. 80% 0. 000070 Boom 20% 45% -20% 12. 50% 2. 50% 0. 000068 Expected Return 15. 40% 5. 90% 10. 5% Standard Deviation 17. 69% 15. 69% 2. 52% The data in the table above shows that a portfolio comprised of equal investment in High-Tech Co. and Counter-Cyclical Co. stock would provide an expected rate of return that would be in between the returns of the two stocks with an expected risk level that would be much smaller than either of the two stocks expected standard deviation. 4. Using a suitable diagram explain how Bill could use the security market line to show Mary which stocks could be undervalued and which may be oervalued? pic Stock Beta Required Return Expected Return T-Bill 0. 00 4% 4. 00% Index Fund 1. 00 10. 10% 10. 10% Utility Co. 0. 30 5 . 84% 9. 20% High-Tech Co. 1. 86 15. 37% 15. 40% Counter-Cyclical Co. -1. 54 -5. 41% 5. 90% The solid line represents the required rates of return of the 5 investment alternatives as per the Security Market Line equation.Those stocks whose expected returns are higher than their required returns plot above the line and are considered to be undervalued (Counter-Cyclical Co. , Utility Co. and High-Tech Co. ) while those that plot below the line are considered to be over-valued. 5. During the presentation. Mary asks Bill Lets say I choose a well diversified portfolio, what effect will interest rates have on my portfolio? How should Bill respond? A well-diversified portfolio is one that is closely correlated to the market index. Real interest rates are typically inversely related to stock prices. Hence, if interest rates increase, Marys portfolio return will decrease by as much as the market index does and vice versa. In other words, her portfolio will mirror the changes in the marke t index. 6.Should Bill take Mary out of investing in stocks and preferably put all her money in fixed-income securities? Explain. Not necessarily. Mary could still invest in a well-diversified portfolio such as the market index fund. The problem with fixed-income securities is that they have reinvestment and price risk. By holding a well-diversified portfolio of stocks, Mary can enjoy a reasonably good rate of return over the long term. Fixed-income securities have been known to barely keep up with inflation. 7. Mary tells Bill, I keep hearing stories about how people have made thousands of dollars by following their brokers hot tips. Can you give me some hot tips regarding undervalued stocks? How should Bill respond?Bill should discourage Mary from taking speculative positions in parking lot stock, given her age and lifecycle status. He should caution her about the riskiness associated with stock price volatility and remind her again about the advantages of diversification. 8. If Mary decided to invest her money equally in high-tech and counter-cyclical stocks. What would her portfolios expected return and risk level be? Are these expectations realistic? Please explain. With equal investments in High-Tech and Counter-Cyclical stocks, the portfolio expected return would be 10. 65% and its expected standard deviation would be 2. 52%. (see Answer 3 above for details). These expectations are still as realistic as the numbers used to calculate them.Thus, one has to make realistic assumptions regarding probabilities and returns, in order to get realistic expected return estimates. 9. What would happen if Mary were to put 70% of her portfolio in the High-Tech stock and 30% in the Index Fund? Would this combination be better for her? Explain. Scenario Probability High-Tech Index Fund 70-30 Prob. *E(Portfolio) Rp-E(Rp)2*Ps Portfolio Recession 20% -5% -2% -4. 10% -0. 82% 0. 06415362 Near Recession 20% 2% 5% 2. 90% 0. 58% 0. 002380562 Normal 30% 15% 10% 13. 50% 4. 05% 2. 883E-06 Near Boom 10% 25% 15% 22. 00% 2. 20% 0. 000670761 Boom 20% 45% 25% 39. 00% 7. 80% 0. 012690722 Expected Return 15. 0% 10. 10% 13. 81% Standard Deviation 17. 69% 9. 15% 14. 89% Given the above table, it seems brighten that the 70-30 portfolio composed of High-Tech and the index fund would not necessarily be better for Mary, since it has a much higher expected level of risk (14. 89% versus 2. 52%) and only a slightly higher level of expected return (13. 81% versus 10. 65%) visa vis the 50-50 portfolio of High-Tech and the Counter-Cyclical Co.

How to Stop Worrying and Start Living

Introduction How do you deal with your worries? Do you have any ways to solve your line of works? We be not taught them neither at school nor on the job. We are supposed to find and figure out them by ourselves. Today Id like to talk about first, how estimable damages we get from worries. Second, the solution for those of you who suffer from worries, and finally, how much benefit you endure get with my suggestion. Need step As you know, worries mean nothing other than harms. For example, worries courtship stresses and diseases. It is said if we could remove worries, 70% of sick people would completely recover from the disease.And the most signifi canistert factor of suicides is also worries. Human relationships, work environments, there are lots of worries. I think everybody springys with certain worries more or less. Satisfaction Step But dont worry. I have a solution. I have a book called How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, by Dale Carnegie. Although it was written over 30 years ago, what he said hasnt been out of date at all. Over 80% of reviewers rate this book on 5 star on Amazon. com. Visualization Step I can assure you that youd enjoy the feeling that your worries are gone away as you read through this book.And it is also famous as a problem solving handbook for business persons. From only one book, you can learn not only the ways to deal with your worries, but also the useful methods of problem-solving. How awed This is the reason why successful business persons around the world read this book continuously. Closing Now, Id like to ask you, would you like to live a life with worries or without worries? If you choose a worry-free life, what are you waiting for? From the moment you start reading How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, you can stop worrying and start living. Thank you.

Autobiographical Piece †My Working Life Essay

I got my first paid job when I was about twelve. I delivered a free paper with a friend, I would do about 400 papers for about s dismantle pounds each, and it had to be done between Thursday and Saturday. Me and Cameron got real close during this as we would berate the whole cadence about things and become better friends then before. Although the pay wasnt brilliant for a twelve year old it was unfeignedly considerably, a exposit of it went on pokemon cards and stickers, I phone selling my pokemon cards and made a big profit, selling eight cards for ninety pounds with my friends.I did my make out of drinks with Cameron for about a few months before I got my own round, and did it for about six pounds for just fewer than 2 hundred papers. I always remember working really leaden to get the papers done, occasionally I would do them on Sundays which was out of the boundaries but the supervisor neer checked so it didnt matter, I was earning a lot of currency which just went on Nintendo games at this point as I had just started my teens.As the months went buy I started to get a bit bored with the round, walkmans and CD players were getting a bit boring now and couldnt stumble the round fun, so I took another round and shared them with Goran, another friend, I became closer to him as we did the round and we then became really good friends.Goran and myself worked hard to deliver all the papers and would spend a few mos a week doing them, for a good few months, then I started to get even more bored with delivering the damn papers that no one read, he left the round, so I kept both, and started putting about half the round under peoples recycle bins. It was in truth really clever, I would put the papers in bins where there were other papers the owners had put humble to cover them, they would get recycled saving people money and I would be gone just long enough for my mum to think I had actually delivered the round.After a few weeks the dumping escalated to a level where I would not deliver any papers sit outside for three canton of an hour or so (about an hour less then it would take me) reading a book or listening to music. I would try and do the round while my mum was out so that I wouldnt check to bother hanging round outside I could just go straight back home later leaving them in an alley somewhere. I was earning fourteen pounds for about five minutes work, which I thought was the bees knees and so did my friends.I did this for at least six months, until there was knock on the door, when I opened it the paper round supervisor was there staring angrily his car filled with thousands of dirty papers behind him, he said give me the trolley and the bag, you dumped papers, silently I did so, he asked to see my Mum, she was upstairs, but I said she was out, so he turned and left. I was gutted, a bit guilty but a bit pissed off my brilliant money making scheme was over.I decided to be unemployed for a while I was about fourteen and had been working for nearly about two years, so I took a few months off, but then I took up a morning paper round which earned me fifteen pounds, I had to do it every morning about 8am, I got progressively later and later as the round irritated me further, I moved to a bigger round which earned me twenty pounds, which was more papers and took longer, after a few months it really started to hurt my back and the early mornings were getting me down, I had stashed away a bit of money so left the round.I did my work take in in early summer of 2002 at the Slough/Windsor Marriott, it took me about an hour to get t here, and I got lost on the first day so was about an hour late, luckily the people there were quite relaxed and didnt mind, for the first three days I worked in conference and banqueting, which basically involved setting up and cleaning conference rooms, and serving coffee and tea leaf to people in the main conference room. This wasnt exactly riveting, but for the first time I was actually working with people and the people were so nice that it was impossible not to have fun and enjoy myself.For the other days I worked at the leisure centre reception. I would deal with pincer customer problems, clean the exercise machines, the bar in the pool, check toilets are not too dirty, close lockers, fill soap and shampoo pots and the like. I would mark members in and out and take phone calls. They taught me these skills, and were helpful. Like in conference and banqueting, the people at the Leisure Centre were really nice and relaxed and would joke around a lot and made the day fun and not seem much of a chore.Working at The Marriott gave me a really good experience of working, and they did give me a leaving present when I did leave, albeit I was thrown into the pool as my present, it was all good fun. After I left the Marriott I resumed a morning paper round, this time from a different closer shop with a nicer owner who was a bit more balmy, I did this round for a few months, until the shop closed down but another took shop took the round so I left for them and got a slight sex to twenty two pounds.I quit the round in early summer, and took a job in a travel agent delivering leaflets for 3 pounds an hour, I soon quit and got a job in a butchers. It was not difficult to get my job at the butchers, I saw a sign advertising in the window, I went in, said is the job still available, and got it, with the only questions asked being can you work Thursday, Friday, Saturday and can you start this Thursday, oh and whats your name, I scarce remembered to ask the wage, which was thirty five pounds a week for around nine hours, which wasnt too bad I thought.I dont really remember the first month or so of my work except it was quite hard work and I used to not come in at least one day a week, and they made jokes out of it, and made lots of jokes about everything which made a nice working atmosphere. I remember my excuses running out for why I was taking days off, but after a month or two I really started to enjoy working there.I sort of clicked with two of the butchers sense of humour and we had a really good laugh, they would give me more responsibility although I wasnt allowed to cut meat I would prepare kebabs, burgers, cooked foods, and make shop look tidy as well as wash up and do full general cleaning. The shop sold all sorts and was a delicatessen as well as butchers, and I would get a large discount there and the germinate was of very high quality, which pleased my Mum obviously.I started to enjoy working at the butchers, I would work four or five days a week, earning around one hundred pounds regularly, I would meet with the owner of the chain and go to the bank to pick up money for the tills, and got to know some of the customers. The butchers and me would have great fun joking around and insulting the other butcher who no one liked. I had many barbecues with my friends with the stuff I got from there, but after six months I moved house and the butchers was just too far away especially with the beginning of college, and so I left as I started college.I go back and visit the butchers occasionally and they still give me discount and lots of free things, and we still laugh and have a good time. We got discount from our local fruit and veg shop too because the fruit and veg people did at the butchers. I would advise you to go to work at some time in your young life, try and get a job with people and make sure the people are nice and are quite lenient with the hours and you should have a great time.

Failure Analysis Strategy Change Essay

Movies hold up always been a past time enjoyed by human racey. As the engine room continues to grow, many video stores argon going out of business and digital or online movies are ascension in popularity. smash hit Video and Netflix are businesses that have been affected by these transposes. Blockbuster opened in 1985 with the mission statement of Our corporate mission is to ply our nodes with the most convenient annoy to media entertainment, including movie and gage entertainment delivered through multiple distribution channels such as our stores, by mail, vending and kiosks, online and at home. We believe Blockbuster offers customers a value-prices entertainment experience, combining the broad product depth of a distinctiveness retailer with local neighborhood convenience (Farfan, 2010).Blockbuster continued with the batch statement of At Blockbuster, novelty means valuing differences. Its corporate value that must be continually developed, embraced, and incorporated into the way we do business (Farfan, 2010). Blockbuster operated with to a greater extent than 7,400 stores worldwide and also operated through 1,600 franchise stores. As engineering science started to change, customers began streaming movies from the Internet as well as using kiosks, such as Redbox, for movie rentals. Competition became a monumental factor in Blockbuster and the failing of the caller-up, but a large part of the mishap was due to manage changes and misunderstanding of the business as a whole (Dunston, 2014).Blockbuster FailureIn 2006 and 2007, Blockbuster was approached by the chief operating officer of Netflix, beating-reed instrument Hastings, asking them to acquire Netflix. Hastings k in the buff that Netflix had not formulated a plan to stop Blockbuster from stealing their customers, at the rate of a million per year. Blockbuster obdurate that the company did notneed Netflix beca engross Blockbuster had a stronger and larger growth, but then a change tha t was never expected happened. A new CEO was named for Blockbuster after a boardroom dispute. The man appointed CEO didnt fully understand the business and what Blockbuster needed in influence to remain above the competition, especially Netflix. The CEO started changing plans for the company and even pulled out the Internet efforts that had been in place for Blockbuster. Within 18 months, 85% of the capital value of the company had been lost within in 2 years, it was completely gone (Dunston, 2014). NetflixNetflix views themselves as freedom of on-demand and the fun of indulgent viewing (Netflix, 2014). Netflix also focuses on the convenience of the no-hassle, online cancellation and offer movies and TV series net act upon. Technology and good leadership is how Netflix became the leader in the industriousness (Halal, 2010).Netflix executives understood that the emerging technology was rapidly changing the delivery of movie rentals. CEO, Hastings, developed strategies involving Inte rnet streaming, convenient customer service, and the virtual organization to deliver it cheaply and flawlessly (Halal, 2010). Another part of Netflixs technology strategy was to avoid the burden of having to go to a video store for customers. Customer service is linchpin to a supremacyful business, so Hastings used a monthly subscription to allow customers to have access to unlimited rentals, including no late fees. Instead of the hassle of renting movies, the focus is providing convenience.With the mission statement and vision of Our core strategy is to grow our streaming subscription business domestically and globally. We are continually improving the customer experience, with a focus on expanding our streaming content, enhancing our user interface and extending our streaming service to even more Internet-connected devices, while staying within the parameters of our consolidated net income and operating segment contribution profit tar masturbates, shows that the company sine q ua nons the best for the company as well as their customers (Netflix, 2014). NetFlix organisational TheoriesIn reading many articles online about the success of NETFLIX the two organizational behavior theories that have been seen in this company have been decision-making and system approaches. Netflixs spacious decision to become a virtual DVD rental via online instead of going to actual in-store purchases handle Blockbuster, has placed them at the top of the food chain. The technological advances alone for Netflix has change the industry forever, they took the systems approach by understanding the companys input and output process and integrated the drive in ontogenesis new adaptive capacities and innovation. Blockbusters organization theory of scientific leadership placed a great deal into how the company ran its in store business and how the objectives and decisions were placed within the company. If Blockbuster could focus more on the click feature like how Netflix did, and n ot dismiss the idea that it would be a revolutionary change in the industry and within Blockbusters stockholders.Roles of Leadership and ManagementPer Netflix (2014) it has a operational organizational structure, which aims at its functions themselves, rather than by customer segments or regions. They have a CEO Reed Hastings has 6 departments that have managers within them that run it. The organization beyond those 6 managers is not as structured as the top echelon is, they run their departments as they see fit. The CEO has instilled in their managers the management drift of Context, not Control (Siegler), implying that very little control is given to employees, rather employees are held responsible for their actions and are expected to work efficiently and independently. Because of this idealists approach to management and how successful the company has been with it, they have found that they have no need to change their management style yet.Organizational value within Netflix h as been on promoting the stupefy colleagues (Netflix.com, 2014), and their importance in a great workplace. They have 9 values that they show is priority turn of events 1 at Netflix, judgment, impact, curiosity, innovation, courage, passion, honesty and selflessness (Siegler). The basic values that they believe as a company are workplace efficiency, emphasis on effective over effort, management best practices, retention practices, and large emphasis on a large salary, rather than stock options and bonuses. They believe that thiscreates an environment that promotes productivity, and efficient work environment, which shows in colleague retention and overall happiness at Netflix.Part 2 Leading Organizational ChangeAs the CEO of Blockbuster it is my responsibility to evaluate the organizations structure as well as the power and political issues within the company. The CEO can be disconnected to what is going on at the operations level of the company if he or she does not put forth th e effort to be involved. As the CEO I pull up stakes be involved in the operations of the company and be a leader employees can look up to. To implement the organizations change I will use a strategy based on stool Kotters 8 step plan for change. John Kotters 8 steps are establishing a sense of urgency, forming a powerful guiding coalition, creating a vision, communicating the vision, empowering others to act on the vision, planning for and creating short-term wins, consolidating improvements and producing still more changes, institutionalizing new approaches(Mintzberg, Lampel, Quinn 2003).As the CEO of blockbuster I see that technology is changing and we must clench up. If we do not keep up with the technological advances we are doomed to fail. I see the company as a technology company and not just a movie rental company. I do not want Blockbuster to just survive, I want Blockbuster to thrive. Blockbuster will start investing in new internet technologies and streaming services. We will align ourselves with major motion picture studios to ensure that we get the newest movies and offer our customers the best services possible. Upper management will actively seek new opportunities and new world markets to expand our services. All employees will be encouraged to provide new ideas and mediocrity will not be accepted. Every aspect of the company will be evaluated and our services will provide our customers with the greatest movie streaming value.ReferenceDunston, Dain (2014). When Blockbuster Forgot What Business They Were In. Retrieved from www.daindunston.comFarfan, Barbara (2010). Company Mission Statements Complete be given of WorldsLargest Retail Missions. Retrieved from www.retailindustry.about.comHalal, Bill (2010). How Netflix Beat Blockbuster An Exemplar of Emerging Technologies. Retrieved from www.billhalal.comMintzberg, H., Lampel, J., & Quinn, J. B. (2003). The Strategy motion Concepts, Contexts, Cases (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ Prentice Ha llNetflix Long Term View (2014). Retrieved from http//ir.netflix.comNetflix Capstone and net Report (2014). Retrieved on January 7, 2014. http//mgmtclarity.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/capstone_final_report.pdf