The Differences Between the 18th Century and Contemporary Hospitality Essay Example

The Differences Between the 18th Century and Contemporary Hospitality Essay THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE 18TH CENTURY AND CONTEMPORARY HOSPITALITY According to Ackroyd (Ackroyd, 2005), London hospitality took its origins in â€Å"public place of cookery† by the Thames in the 12th century. Then followed cook shops in the 16th century and eating houses, taverns or coffee shops, incredibly famous in the 18th. Without denying, London hospitality has undergone lots of changes to become what it is nowadays. Or has it? Are there real differences between modern and 18th century hospitality or are there mere changes of its forms? To begin with, contrary to what Ackroyd says, lots of authors consider the 18th century to be the birth of the hospitality in Britain. It could be due to different reasons. It was a time of great experimentation, political but also social. Great Britain was economically strong and the development of its middle class could not but contributed to this phenomenon. The technology discoveries participated greatly in the process with, for example, new technology of spirit distillation. The attitude to food had changed and the British begin to eat out socializing, showing off or just enjoying the food in a different place that is neither their home nor the one of their friends, colleagues, etc. One of these places was a coffee shop and it is still popular nowadays. One could find some in the Threadneedle Street, in St Martin’s Lane or at the corner of Pall Mall, convenient because of making it easy â€Å"to make appointments in any part of town† (Macaulay in Ackroyds, p. 320). They used to be the business places with certain clientele to be found in every one of them. We will write a custom essay sample on The Differences Between the 18th Century and Contemporary Hospitality specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Differences Between the 18th Century and Contemporary Hospitality specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Differences Between the 18th Century and Contemporary Hospitality specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Smoking fog, periodicals, bewiggered gentlemen, news and rumours were particular to these places. Nowadays we can still find independent coffee shops with character, for example, Bullet Cafe (according to the guidebook of London). They are rare. A much more recent phenomenon are the cafe chains such as Starbucks or Coffee Republique. They tend to have little or no character, being built in a corporate style and often serve as a spare meeting room for local offices. Still serving as a meeting place with news and rumours, they are frequented predominantly by women. Actually, that is one of the main changes that have emerged the presence of women who used to be excluded from any kinds of public places in the 18th century with the exception of tea shops. Only men used to frequent the coffee shops and only men used to eat out in eating-houses which â€Å"in the 18th century became known as beef houses or chop houses, together with taverns specializing in more formal or protracted food† (Ackroyd). The famous ones were Dolly’s Chop-house in Paternoster Row or cook-shops behind St Martin-in-the-Fields. The common food was meat. The recipes were not sophisticated with little influence of foreign cuisines. At least they pretended to be so, as you could find elements of French cuisine, for example, in the cookery books of that time. Nowadays due to globalisation and social changes including the customers’ behavioural changes, the situation is completely different. There exist a great number of any types of restaurants in London, serving food of five continents with the ingredients of all over the world. They are eager to satisfy the demand of any customer, looking for a traditional or exotic food, heavy or sane, â€Å"expensive† or â€Å"cheap†, fast food or haute cuisine. You can find all these different types of food in another form of hospitality that existed also in the 18th century but at that time with the food particular to that period – take away. Surprisingly, in London it seems like this niche is not dominated by the global chains like McDonalds or KFC, etc to the extent they do in other countries. There exist lots of local independent businesses offering traditional fish and chips or Patoka or Chinese food and they constitute an important part of the take away market. We could also speak about new concepts of hospitality that didn’t exist before, like theatre cafe or restaurants with live music, clubs or degustation menus. Summarizing it up, we can agree that there exist differences between the hospitality of the 18th century London and of the modern one. We can cite globalisation, emancipation of women, technological advances, new organisational and social models as ones of the reasons of these changes. Yet one thing probably has not changed – seeing food as a symbol of the society it belongs to and being particular to its characteristics, the reasons why people eat out and the extent they could enjoy it. The thing is that every time we are looking for something new, different, special and the hospitality just follows us.

Strategic, PESTEL and Financial Analysis of Accor Hotels The WritePass Journal

Strategic, PESTEL and Financial Analysis of Accor Hotels 1.INTRODUCTION: Strategic, PESTEL and Financial Analysis of Accor Hotels 1.INTRODUCTION:1.1 COMPANY BACKGROUND:1.1a:Accor Hotels:Accor Services:1.2.Strategic partnership:(A group to group partnership strategy):2. History:3. Accor and Global Competitor:4. Accor Operations and Strategy:4.1:centers of Expertise(operations wheel):Purchasing:Construction and Maintenance:Distribution and Hotel website:Technological Support:4.2: Great Innovation by Accor:Corporate sponsorship:4.3. Dynamic Strategic Plan:5. Marketing   Sales:6.1 Career Advancement:6.2 New talents perspective:7. Management Finance:7.1 Financial Position and Result:8.SWOT analysis:  9.PEST –Analysis of Accor:10 Accor Ambition:10.1. Accor Spirit:10.2. Competitive Market:  11. Strategic Planning for future Market:11.1: Three pillars of Strategy:11.2: Accor Strategic Vision:12.: Result and Research questions:13. Goals and Implementation:13.1. Conclusions and Recommendation:References:Related 1.INTRODUCTION: 1.1 COMPANY BACKGROUND: Accor of France claims to be the leading Hotel operator in Europe and third largest Hotel group in the world. For more than forty   years, Accor has constantly reinvented its core competences to keep pace with the around it, with the goal of providing innovative, high quality products to Hospitality and Service customers. With their highly respected brands, interpersonal relationship and their unique skills to develop and deliver solutions that create wellness. Accor ,the European leader   in hospitality and tourism and the global leader in corporate service, operates in nearly 100 countries with 150,000 employees. It offers to its clients nearly 45 years of expertise in two core business: Hotels, with the Sofitel, Pullman, Novoter, Mercure, Suitehotel, All seasons, Ibis, Etap hotel, Adagio, Formule 1, and Motel 6 brands over 4,100 hotels and nearly 500,000 rooms in 90 countries, as well as strategically related activities, such as Thalassa sea spa, Lenotre, CWL. Services to corporate clients and public institution with 33 million people in 40 countries benefit from Accor Services products-meal and food vouchers, people care, rewards and incentives, loyalty programs and expense management. 1.1a:Accor Hotels: Accor operates includes about 15 complementary brands- from luxury to budget, that are recognized and appreciated around the world for their service and quality. Accor operates   under six brands in UK-the upscale Sofitel, mid-scale Novotel and Mercure, budget Etap, Formula 1,Motel 6.In USA it operates two budget brands Motel6 and Red Roof Inns. Accor sustainable development also made two more new brand Pullman and All Seasons. These two new brands acquisition is remarkable. The new brand has potentially represent a total of 10,000 rooms by 2010, through franchise contracts. Motel 6, Formula 1,Etap Hotel, Suitehotel, Mercure, and Novotol is running with modern innovation and following corporate strategy. Some development plan is organizing by the operational based. Accor always has taken those steps to target future progress under corporate umbrella. Source:Figure-1 htt://www.accor.com/gb/groupe/activites/hotellereie/activites_hotellerie.asp?flash=N Accor Services: The world leader Accor services constantly creates new high- value added, increasingly personalized services in such areas as a gifts and rewards for employees and government social benefit programme. they involves with wide range of marketing, social and community responsibility in advance. A great innovation part of the organization made life with comfort. that’s why they are increasing and diversifying the services they deliver to companies and public institutions-from food and meal-vouchers to a full range of solutions in such areas as employee incentive, customer loyalty, domestic services, culture and recreation health care and transportation. From highly secure paper vouchers, to electronic payment cards and internet and mobile phone also involves in new technologies, as evidenced by promising future for prepaid electronic services. the world leader in the service voucher market, Accor Services deploys a full range of products and services in 38 countries. All prepaid Accor services products have now been brought under the same †Ticket† umbrella brand with its universally recognized †red ball† symbol. Accor services provides tangible responses to changing lifestyles while helping to improve employee well-being and motivation. Accor services uncontested market leadership is based on the two original flagship products-Ticket Restaurant and Ticket Alimentation and its constantly expanding product portfolio is shaped by the growing trend toward urbanization and the resulting need for services and assistance. Each time, the goal is the same: listen to people’s concerns and provide the solution best suited to each situation, in both mature and emerging markets. This objective requires a constantly renewed capacity for innovation and in-depth knowledge of each market.   Source: Accor2009 corporate brochure. 1.2.Strategic partnership:(A group to group partnership strategy): Since 1998, Accor has been developing partnerships with major firms. These alliances manifest a strategic determination to adopt an overall group to group approach that is advantageous for both customers and partners. Naturally, this type of cooperation is concerned with business segments that offer a potential for synergies or that target the same customer base known for its mobility: transport, leisure activities, information and travel-related services. The business net-work is growing up more and more. 2. History: Accor is a best business infrastructure contains historical milestones. Since the opening of the first Novotel in Lille in French, team members have been driven by a pioneering, winning sprit. A key factor in Accor’s success, this mindset is also shaped by a constant concern for people and a commitment to the highest performance standards. 40 years of Innovation: 1967:opening of the first Novetel in life (Franch) 2008: creation of MGallery and launch of the A|club world wide loyalty program. 2009: an alliance between Accor services and Master card Europe to create prepay solutions.(source: www.corporatebrochure 2009.com) The short listed history focused on major successes and core brands. Each stage of the success is bearing so many historical activities. Today’s brilliant progress is supported by historical business performances. 3. Accor and Global Competitor: Accor are highly successful over the long-term effectively acquire, develop and manage resources and capabilities that provide competitive advantages. Their competitors are very smart and world wide famous business organizations. The organizations are Starwood, Marriott, Hilton, Intercontinental, Hyatt and Wyndham. All are established with strong business performance background and capability. 4. Accor Operations and Strategy: 4.1:centers of Expertise(operations wheel): Accor group the largest international hotel chain, confirmed its confidence in the world market as the major tourism market   to which the group pays special interest to implement and continue its strategic plan to promote its growth in corporate service. The centers of expertise model show the best organization infrastructure: Centers   of Expertise, Figure- â€Å"Accor has leveraged its more than forty years of experience to develop very high level skills platforms. These interconnected units extend across all businesses and countries to create a system that is truly unique. By sharing best practices and pooling costs, they enhance the performance of Accor’s brands, support hotel owners and employees in their day to day operations and guarantee that customers always receive the very best service.†-Accor corporate2009. Purchasing: Working with frontline teams and backed by a network of 200 buyers around the world, Accor has developed purchasing procedures and high performance tools that have made it an expert in the optimization of food, equipment and service costs. Recognized by franchisees, this expertise supports negotiations at regional, national, and global level with some 2,800 approved suppliers around the world. Construction and Maintenance: A traditional area of expertise and constant source of innovation, Accor’s construction and maintains platform naturally brings together teams from development, operations, finance, legal affairs, marketing and hotel systems. Experts manage several hundred projects a year, overseeing construction, renovation and maintenance while monitoring environmental impact ever more closely. Distribution and Hotel website: Web teams enhance hotel visibility and make booking easier via the accorhotels.com or individual brand sites. In addition ,they support the brand’s online development through partner websites. Each year, more than 90 million people visit Accor websites around the world. In 2010,some 12.7 million hotel nights were booked online, of which 80% on own sites. Technological Support: Technological support teams install wireless systems in hotels, help migrate services to electronic media and manage booking and distribution systems,with the goal of providing frontline teams with easier access to information and customers with the full range of Accor products at the lowest possible price. 4.2: Great Innovation by Accor: A responsible, community- minded enterprise: It was launched in 2006 to federate their sustainable development initiatives, the Earth Guest program provides a tangible response to growing environmental concerns and major health hazards. In 2010 the organization has taken more steps.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Its set a number of far-reaching goals. They are involving in local development, children protection, lead the fight against epidemics and promote balanced nutrition, for the benefit of Accor’s employees, customers and host communities, it also providing training in AIDS and malaria prevention to all employees. Other programs also provided to eliminate sexual tourism involving children, reducing Hotel water and energy consumption by 10%, equipping 200 hotels with solar panels and introducing waste-sorting programs in all European hotels.   source:www.accor.com Corporate sponsorship: A social responsibility is a part of any leadership, as Accor. In 2010, Accor’s corporate sponsorship priorities focused on their four commitment are local, health, culture and heritage, humanitarian aid. Corporate sponsorship is defined as â€Å"the provision of material support to a cause or person for an activity serving the general interest, with nothing received in return†. Every day, Accor employees support various initiatives through a very active corporate sponsorship program. 4.3. Dynamic Strategic Plan: Continuing expansions of the Hotels and Services business: more than 35,000   new rooms development program between now and 2015. Further divestments of non-strategic businesses: Through non-strategic assets disposal policy, the Group announced the sale of Red Roof Inns to a consortium comprised of Global Special Situations Group and Westbridge Hospitality Fund, L.P.for $1.32 billion. Another sale the Italian institutional catering business to Barclays private Equity for  £135 million. Ongoing program of property disposals: In first-half 2007, Accor pursued its assets-right strategy adapted to risk-reward profile of each market segment and region. The end of 2010,it realized more than  £450 million through the disposals of its property assets(450 hotels) of which more than 50% had already been secured by the end of April,2010 and another  £1.6 billion is expected to be generated in the period from 2010 to 2013.Over the 2009-2010 period, the Group is planning to change the operating structures of an additional 500 hotels. In all, more than 1,600 hotels will have been restructured by the end of 2011. Optimized balance sheet: Debt refinanced with new  £2 billion syndicated of credit and new share buyback program. 5. Marketing   Sales: Brands within the hotel industry are aimed at different customer segments and 2009 saw several companies launch new brands. International Hotels are opened a new brand in early 2009 to target the generation X customers while still being acceptable to older generations(Freed,2009).During the same year, Accor launched a project to reposition the brands. By rethinking strategies, reinventing products, redesigning graphic identities and reworking advertising campaigns, the teams have made the brands even more powerful, in local markets and around the world. â€Å"The Battle of Revenue†-Targeting highest revenue the Accor Marketing Sales. 6.Training Human Resource: In hospitality industry HRM takes an important role which is to forecast the demand for employees and also reducing undesired turnover, lavor cost, improving employee productivity and improving goods and services provided are goals of the HRM function(Demir,2004).Its other important components are developing succession plan, layoff, promotion policies, ensuring compliance with local labour laws(Demir,2004).Accor’s human resource policy focuses on career advancement through training, work, job assessment and motivation. They have always been committed to respecting, training, rewarding and supporting their employees. The goal is to help employees develop not only a skill set but also a mindset. Diversity and equal opportunity are also an integral part of this policy. Source of Accor: 80% of our employees are in day to day contact with customers 171,000 employees received training in 2010 90% managers were promoted from within the organization 6.1 Career Advancement: Accor developing all talents: Nearly 90% of managers got their job through internal promotions Every year Accor welcomes several thousand interns and apprentices. Depending on job vacancies, work study contracts are transformed into permanent work contracts in one of the many Accor brands. Accor strongly encourage: An assessment interview with manager on a regular basis to take stock of career evolution. People can easily have a position through job application. 6.2 New talents perspective: â€Å"Academie Accor Worldwide† network, whose ambition is to: Help employees climb the corporate ladder, by developing qualification training programs for future. Offer every year employee one training session a year, by reinforcing training in the workplace to improve quality. â€Å"In 2010,171,000 employees took part in one more training courses, including over 142,000 non managerial staff. The training budget totalled 2.2% of payroll.†(www.accor.com) Employee benefits: Accor employees receive an incentive bonus and could be obtained company share. Every employee receives a Bienvenue Card offering special advantages at all Group brands in every country where Accor is present. A good management support has been providing to employee to feel free and enjoy the work. Accor doors are always open for those who like to promote them. 7. Management Finance: The end of December 2010, Accor   reported that hotel revenue amounted to  £ 5,693 million, up 98% to increase this revenue  £75 million possible only for the efforts of approximately 145,000 employees(datamonitor 2010).That revenue held steady during the difficult economic condition in 2009,at  £236 million but in full-year it should come to around  £440 million versus the  £400- £420 million target announced in late October. At constant scope of consolidation and exchange rates, the like-for-like increase 8.7%,confirming the favourable trend enjoyed by the Services and Hotels businesses since the beginning of the year. The expansion strategy accounted for 9.4% revenue growth of the year. Disposal carried out under the ongoing asset-right strategy in the Hotel business and divestment of non-strategic assets including Go Voyages, which was sold in April –reduced revenue by 4.4%. Currency effect was negative 2.6% for the year. Press Release, Paris February 23,2011.In the midest of the recession, Accor is one of the multitudes companies facing this problem and came out through this situation because of their strong   strategy of business. Accor business success is remarkable. The financial records show the strong earning growth and dynamic implementation of the strategic plan. The whole businesses are benefiting from a favourable business environment, with the Services business enjoying structural growth in demand and the Hotel business lifted by an upturn in the European hospitality industry cycle. The recent 23 February 2011,press Release disclosed the current strong position of the company. The Q2 financial report take the place to focus on the current situation. (in EUR millions)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2009  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2010   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  % change  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   % change (9 months) (9 months) (reported) (like-for-like) Hotels  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   5,186  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  5,693  Ã‚     Ã‚  +9.8%  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   +7.4% Upscale and  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   3,026     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3,332  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   +10.0%  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   +9.0% Midscale Economy  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   1,626     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1,806  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   +11.1%  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   +6.8% Economy US  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   536  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   555  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   +3.8%  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   +0.7% Services  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   543  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  624  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  +14.9%  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   +12.0% Other businesses   977  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  863  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  -16.0  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   +1.0% Total  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  5,490  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   5,948  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   +8.4%  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   +7.1% 7.1 Financial Position and Result: Change in consolidation Development: In services, acquisitions accounted for 4.3% revenue growth for the first nine months, in line with the Group’s long term objectives. The development plan for the Hotels business provides for 101,000 new rooms to be opened in the period to 2014.During the first nine months of 2010,18,000 rooms were opened, contributing   partially to the 8.4% growth in revenue generated by development initiatives. Disposal: In 2010, Accor announced that it had completed the sale of Red Inn to Citi GSS Group and Westbridge, as part of its real estate strategy. The transaction added  £470 million to the Group’s cash position. 8.SWOT analysis: In this section, analysis the operating environment for Accor. The operating environment is internal to the organization and the environment most under the control of company. Many factors are affecting the operation of a hotel business because of growing number of competition in the hospitality industry and also economic downturn affect on external environment and internal environment is affected by its marketing strategy and its organizational structure. Strength: Internal resources to any organization are its strength which provide an advantage. For Accor, the most valuable strength are likely to be intangible of reputation, corporate culture, superior customer service. The hotel group, Accor whose has a great interest cover different regions and categories stable cash flow prospects. According to Datamonitor(2010),one of Accor key strength is its high brand recall. It has demands for upscale, midscale and economy lodging,   covering a wider market segment. It has Sofitel which is a prestige hotel brand in France and other cities in the world. The Novotel , designed for the mid-scale segment and Red Roof which are standardized hotels for the lower class segment. It is also engaged in many business that make more profit for company. Financial resource is also one of its strengths. Accor also allows its customers to get access on the information and able to have reservation through online. Weakness: In 2010, the weakness of Accor has its non-strategic business. By this non-strategic business they losing their brands. currently, the weakness of Accor can be seen from its being the operators may arise. Being hotel group it also a business with its fixed costs higher than other businesses. This may create problems when the demand in hotel decline. Improving the technological services is likely to be requirement to remain competitive but this is not a appear to be a weakness. Another future risk is to be maintain all brands by globally. Opportunities: In Global business there are huge opportunities in spreading operations over different regions like Asia, so it is to Accor take the opportunity with its experience in international operations business sector. Accor has established a name in hotel operations so merger and acquisitions not only in hotel industry but also in other business like restaurants and travel which is easy for growth strategies. To be a Market leader Accor has been developing partnerships with major firms. Different business idea assent-right strategy will open more business way from external side. As a part of the international marketing strategies of its brands, Accor has developed sponsorship actions in the whole world their new brand invention opportunity to compete global market properly. Develop advertising and through the web site they increase their sales and also using new technology Accor able to renew their communication target to internal promotions on language and the users country. For need to cre ate a system that is well integrated. Threats: Accor hotel and services operations are spread in whole world so that they have to face to risks of foreign currency fluctuations because about two thirds of its revenue coming from international operations. In the past the company’s revenues were severely affected due to unfavourable foreign currency fluctuations. For example, during 2003, the weakening of Latin America and US currency reduced its revenues by 4.3% over 2002(datamonitor,2003). This   risk will create a negative impact on its overall financial performance. In tourism and hospitality industry another threats is Geopolitical uncertainties and global and regional economic downturn such as terrorist attacks, the spread of epidemic, unfavourable political conditions, etc, have negative impact on the Industry. For example, in 2009,Accor was confronted with on exceptionally weak economic environment, which caused revenue to decline by 10.1%(datamonitor,2009). There are too many world-wide competitor in hotel industr y such as Hilton Group plc, Marriot International, Hyatt corporation, who are also struggling to overcome the unfavourable market and economic condition are another threats and also be pricing pressures which will affect the company’s margins. The company’s ability to proactively expends presence in the under penetrated markets and to take over independent hotels will determine its market position and growth in future. S.w.o.t Analysis:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     9.PEST –Analysis of Accor: Political factor: In globalized environment Accor the largest hospitality group in Europe now operates in 140 countries based in Every Cedex, France. Accor is highly influenced by the political and legislative conditions of these countries. In hotel industry, Accor French company still didn’t face any big threat because of their reduction in level of terrorism and also good relation with EEC country and others as well. Getting and giving favour through business channel they still do their business with whole world. Economical factor: Accor is a more profitable organisation, between 2006 and 2012 in chain hotels is expected to rise by 5.7% a year, compared with an increase of 3.7% a year for the market as a whole. Economic factor are concern to Accor, because they are influenced on demand, cost, prices and profits. One of the most influence factors on the economy are acquisition, merger and demerger. In last year, Accor was increased its stake in Poland’s Orbis by 4.9%,from 40.58% to 45.48% at a cost of  £42 million. From there financial report their earning objective is so good around the year. Socio-Cultural factor: Current situation indicate that Accor provide good service for customer they using 7 language through the online and graphics and maps also adding value to booking experience, which is due to variety of social changes. Demographic changes such as the aging population and   an increase the female worker because the company believes that men and women at the heart of its strategy. The company also focus on their employer and to make an increased   efforts more and more training place and of social advancement. Accor also provide franchises with added value and HR services and helping earth people they are involve in the Earth Guest programme with ECO and EGO and also developed corporate sponsorship for child aid, local aid, health, and cultural. In future Accor will continue to respect generation, cultural and professional differences. Technological factors: Technology is the major macro-environmental factors which has influenced the benefits of both customer and company. customer satisfaction rises because the world moves so fast, goods are readily available and services are more personalized. so that Accor utilise the following technology- Websites and Hotel Booking Up to date information systems Electronic media card (pre paid card) becoming more demandable. 10 Accor Ambition: â€Å"Accor Ambition is to become or remain the leader, on all continents, in service and in economy and midscale hotels, and major player in the upscale segment.†-Source: Accor 2009 corporate brochure. 10.1. Accor Spirit: Since the opening of the first Novotel in Lille, team members have been driven by a pioneering, winning spirit. A key factor in Accor’s success, this mindset is also shaped by a constant concern for people and a commitment to the highest performance standards for it. For more than forty years, across all bands and regions, Accor’s   five core values of innovation, spirit of conquest, performance, trust and respect have been shared by all employees now 145,000. 10.2. Competitive Market: Companies should focus on porter’s five   forces closely during the strategy planning process and continue   monitoring throughout implementation. These five forces are-industry competitors, new entrants, buyers, substitutes and supplier’s(Pearce Robinson,2004). Factor that indicate rivalries within the hotel industry include competitors that are roughly equal in power, numerous competitors, high fixed costs and high exit barrier’s (Pearce   Robinson,2004). Buyer’s power to use substitutions of porter’s forces that work together for Accor. Buyer increase in power when the products have little differentiation, does not save the money and when buyer’s has incentive to reduce purchasing costs (Pearce Robinson,2004). During the recession buyers of temporary has been more price-sensitive and low switching costs and seek to substitutes. Porter’s five forces analysis on Accor: 1.New Entrants Barrier’s-Low Hotel operating license Capital requirement Building distribution network Human resource requirment 2. Rivalry-High Many competitors Exit barrier 3. Power of Suppliers-Low Many suppliers Switching cost Advance technology 4. Substitutes-Low Readily available and attractive priced Not comparable Switching cost   11. Strategic Planning for future Market: For multinational company Accor, strategy plays a key role to take a place its operation in the diverse environment. As a service industry, the ability to meet the customer needs on a global basis is of growing strategic importance (Nahapiet,1998). Accor’s   always focus on what the customer wants and not what the hotel firm believes is one of their marketing strategies. As a part of their customer service they introduced the new concept at Sofitel to offer ultimate sleeping comfort,it also changes its corpora culture to the changing customers’ needs. Having a corporate governance system to decentralised organization as it takes international expansion, matching its organization’s capabilities and competencies to the competitive conditions of the external environment. For example, in China Accor management consists of Chinese people in order to understand the culture, taste and preference existing there. 11.1: Three pillars of Strategy: Geographically and Structurally balanced business portfolio-Accor hotel is present geographically with its current and future customer, that why it comes up in host countries should limit their exposure to economic and geopolitical rick. This Strength makes a position in other attractive market places. A disciplined, results oriented management-the company is committed to respect, give train, reward thus supports their employees. Their important asset is the quality services provide to their people’s professional skills, it is a main part of them to implement customer’s satisfaction and service quality. A set of powerful, aligned brand-its company aiming to become leader in all continents, Accor position them as umbrella brand to provide its operating brands. In order to support their ambitions its visual identify enhances. Expending the brand portfolio it offers non- standard and slandered products for more demands. 11.2: Accor Strategic Vision: In 2010, Accor become a pure-player in the hotel business. Having demerged from its service business, Accor intends to its strengths to step up the implementation of its strategy and provide its growth: comprehensive brand portfolio suited to needs, unique know how as the world largest hotel operator, a leadership position in four continents and a business model with sound fundamental that withstood the economical crisis. 12.: Result and Research questions: Finding 1.What type of generic strategy does an Accor hotel employ? Accor focus on their strategy that is geared toward identifying market and meeting the needs of the customers in these target groups. It use the guidelines in most of its acquisitions and merger to be the major stakeholder but also have a partner who can help the company with challenging in local market. In that case, they have local partner in France and in US it hold 44 per cent of economic hotels. So the company targets its market and also focuses on offering innovative services and competitive price in order to compete effectively. Again, the company’s success is a result of a carefully crafted generic strategy. Finding2.In competitiveness of the environment, how much opportunity exists of Accor in the international hotel business market? From the case data, the opportunities in tourist market are extremely great. One reason is because the market is going to continue growing. The number of hotels in Europe, the US, Japan will increase sharply. Asia, for example, will be an important market because of its large population and the most tourist places. By focusing on these more affluent markets and competitive prices, Accor has a very good chance of outdistancing the competition. Finding3. What basis would a firm like Accor evaluate performance? There are a number of bases that Accor uses in evaluate performance. One is market share. In evaluating its performance in Europe the company has been keeping track of its success among new subscribers and second way in terms of market capitalization. From the case data that after acquiring communications this value stood  £5,693 million. 13. Goals and Implementation: Every marketing plan must include a control component that compares actual performance with the planned performance. Through collecting performance data the gaps between the objectives and the performance will be evaluated regularly to pursuer required corrective action. Creating implementation plans and strategies is the necessary to the day to day actions of making the dream a reality. In that case Accor faces in product development, marketing, accounting and human resources management as they strive to meet the company’s long term strategic goals. With a focus on growth, Accor should emphasize product development in order to meet the needs of a larger segment of the market. According to research some perceptible improvement are follows- To improve how work together and how develop their people so that a high performance organisations. To deliver an outstanding experience for all customers. To improve the financial performance of the company and deliver for their shareholders. To maintain and improve their performance quality of processes. 13.1. Conclusions and Recommendation: Based on analysis, the following conclusions can be drawn about the nature, extent, and future of Accor Hotel Group. In hotel industry Accor faces some problem because there is shortage of employees 145000, this staff failures have the biggest negative impact on gust loyalty. Their poor services experience explains why 68% of customers shift brands. They should focus on there core/signature services and also service recovery and also target those guest segments who are still most likely to travel and pay a premium for luxury experience. In addition, that can be used as more focused marketing, utilize that premium experience with special offers and bundled packaging. Accor must be careful about their pricing system and advertising. Slashing prices as a reaction to the recession is never good for business in long term but also impact on brand image. Through business strategy Accor shows the best success when received the highest revenue 8.7%. The first half 2007,Accor pursued its asset-right strategy adapted to the risk-rewarded profile of each market segment and region. The organisation already presented their new business model to support and achieve organisation objective. Between 2006 and 2013, the number of overnight stays in chain hotels is expecting to rise by 5.7% a year compared with an increase of 3.7% a year for the market as whole. The supply and the demand chain will have better way to success in future. the business expansion will make the organisation stronger. Accor will be a best global leader in near future. It makes a constant focus on the long term sometimes taking bold action but never excessive risk. References: 1.Hamel,G and C.K Prahalad,(1994). Competing for the Future Boston: Harvard business School press. 2.Aian M .Rugman and Richard M.Hodgetts,(2003). International Business.3rd ed. Pearson education ltd 3.Geof Lancaster and Ian Waddelow,(1998).Strategic Marketing Planning. Journal of marketing management 14.853-878. 4.Laurie J Mullins,(1995).Management and Organisational Behaviour.3rd ed. Pitman publishing. 5.Phillip Kotler, Jhon Bowen, James Makens,(2003). Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism. 3rd ed.Prentice Hall. 6.Jonson Scholl and Gerry,Keven,(1999).Exploring Corporate Strategy(Text cases).6th ed.Prentice Hall Europe.

Gun should not be banned Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Gun should not be banned - Essay Example th Tidwell (August 15, 1996), the Columbine High School shootings on May 20, 1999 the Campbell County High School shooting on November 8, 2005, the Chardon High School shootings on February 27, 2012, the 2012 Aurora shootings, the Santa Monica shooting in 2013, the John F. Kennedy High School and Cesar Chavez Elementary School shootings in 2014 are some of the few examples of gun violence. Because of the profound prevalence of gun crimes, Vice President Joe Biden has been n tasked with looking at the list of recommendations on gun policy to the US President, Barrack Obama. Banning guns or gun ownership may not be a solution, even though there are those who have touted the move as a tenable alternative. Banning guns will not be a tenable solution to gun violence and the misuse of guns because doing so is making the assumption that a gun is an immoral object. On the contrary, just like any non-living thing, guns in themselves are amoral. Guns in the hands of responsible and law abiding citizens are merely tools of self-preservation, defense and maintenance of law and order. It is important to factor the truth that those who engage in gun violence and mass shootings are a small minority in the US population. In this case, banning guns would be infringing on the rights of the majority in the United States, to solve a section of the minority’s problems. Also, in this light, banning guns is an act that will be tantamount to deny law abiding citizens the right to protect themselves from criminals. The converse is also true that in the hands of troubled minds or people with criminal intent, guns will also become tools of terror, murder and grave injustice. In this case, it will be important that corrective measures are expended to deal with the portion of the minority that cannot handle gun rights well. That guns are amoral as previously stated in the discourse means that banning guns may not necessarily reduce crime. According to research studies on the 1994 Assault

Comparative Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Comparative Law - Essay Example Some scholars have furthered the realism and common sense approach to comparative law by arguing that laws can be effectively studied separately from the surrounding concerns and environment. Such formalized and deconceptualized approaches are evident from the fact that law comparists and comparative law scholars have hardly been engaging the other academic disciplines which in one way or the other influence the application and the understanding of law in different contexts (Balakrishnan, 2003). The aim of this treatise is to explore and examine how western approaches like realism and the common sense approach to various business values and ethics have influenced legal studies in comparative law. The paper will look into how attention has shifted in the preoccupation of comparative law and the written law codes to a social and culture based approach of understanding the legal matters. Pluralism is a phenomena whose impact is clearly evident in the field and application of competitive law. Antoine (2000) defines legal pluralism to be a theory that is used by social scientists whose basic idea is that several legal systems can coexist and intermingle in a single legal entity. The historical origin of this influence can be traced back to the middle ages, which faced the problems of the conflicts between the church laws and the sate laws. Anleu (2005) notes that a second historical evidence can be found in the imposition of various western laws in the indigenous laws of the countries that were ruled and influenced by western powers. In the more recent context, the phenomena has been seen as a result of globalization leading to the emergence of the global legal pluralism. The effect of legal pluralism in cooperative law has been witnessed in the legal families and the definition of legal systems. Authors and scholars who subscribed to legal pluralism define law in a very broad context. Their definition encompasses

2.4 Consumer Behaviour & Holidays Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

2.4 Consumer Behaviour & Holidays - Case Study Example be able to plan for a holiday successfully since every time they do so, other more important activities come in between and make them think otherwise about having a holiday. This makes holiday to be categorized under the fourth quadrant of self-satisfaction. In this quadrant, the holiday consumer would be having information about a holiday place, they haven’t been to that place before, they haven’t planned to go there but the thought to do so might have just been an impulse one which just came immediately the thought to go for a holiday rung in their minds. They then visit the place, they might feel the place is really refreshing and good for a holiday, after that, they will decide to treat themselves in the holiday place and have some good time. Therefore this is the model of Do-feel-learn. This may contrast a bit with the CBDP model where the holiday consumer will have to recognize the need for the holiday first, they then go on an information search about the best or appropriate place they would want to go to for a holiday, they would then evaluate and analyze the various alternatives they just found from the search to decide on the best and appropriate holiday purchase, they then make the decision to make the appropriate purchase which is making the decision to visit the place of choice, and finally have a post-purchase evaluation on whether the holiday place of choice was the best or failed to meet the expectations (Schiffman, Kanuk, & Hansen.H, 2008). The consumers who use the CBDP model therefore seem to be those consumers who are keen about what they purchase before they do the purchase. They most of the time work on a budget and would choose what will fit in their budget. This therefore is a more appropriate way to do a holiday purchase than to just carry out a blind purchase on something you have no idea about. Consumers normally carry out information search for all the products before they make the purchases. The information search on these

Factors Affecting Blood Glucose Levels

Factors Affecting Blood Glucose Levels This essay discusses the factors affecting the blood glucose levels to fluctuate, the natural mechanism of the body to control it, the inability of the body to control it and the disease it causes. The Human body is perfection in its own way. The controlled balance of factors keeping the internal environment of the body constant is a vital process that keeps one healthy. Any slight changes in these factors disrupt the internal environment causing disequilibrium. This maintenance of internal environment of the body between limits is called homeostasis and the parameters being controlled include: body temperature, blood pH, carbon dioxide concentration, blood glucose concentration and water balance. When the control of the blood glucose level does not work effectively the concentration can fall or rise beyond normal limits. This condition is called diabetes mellitus or simply diabetes. Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by high blood sugar (glucose) levels that result from defects in insulin secretion, or action, or both. Diabetes mellitus was first identified as a disease associated with sweet urine, and excessive muscle loss in the ancient world. Elevated levels of blood glucose (hyperglycemia) lead to spillage of glucose into the urine, hence the term sweet urine. Diabetes is a chronic medical condition, meaning that although it can be controlled, it lasts a lifetime. Blood glucose level is controlled by a hormone (insulin) produced by the beta cells of the Islets of Langerhans in the endocrine gland pancreas. After a heavy carbohydrate enriched meal the blood rise exponentially and thus have to be brought down within the normal limits. The high concentration is detected by receptors which then activate the beta cells in the pancreas to produce insulin which converts glucose into a polysaccharide form glucagon and store it in the liver thus removing glucose from the blood. The history of diabetes indicates that it was present as early as the First Century B.C. when it received its name from a Greek physician, Aretaeus of Cappadocia, after the word dia-bainein which means to siphon. This was related to the patients passing excessive amounts of urine. Several centuries after that in 1921 Frederick Banting and Charles Best discovered insulin as a diabetes medication and won a Nobel Prize for their discovery. Insulin is the hormone that controls that lowers the blood glucose concentration and its deficiency or insensitivity by target cells causes diabetes. Later after a few years of discovering insulin in 1936 Sir Harold Percival Himsworth distinguished diabetes type 1 and 2. There are three main types of diabetes: Type 1 Diabetes: also known as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus is caused by the destruction of insulin beta cells. The onset of this type is usually during childhood (hence the name juvenile diabetes) and as the beta cells produce insufficient insulin, insulin injections are used to control the glucose levels (hence the name insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus). Diet cannot control this type of diabetes as it does not increase or decrease the amount of insulin produced by the beta cells. The classical symptoms of type 1 diabetics are frequent urination, increased thirst, increased hunger, nausea, vomiting, and fatigue and weight loss in spite of increased appetite. These symptoms may be explained by the fact that due to the uncontrolled high levels of glucose the osmotic pressure of the blood changes owing to the increased solute concentration (glucose) in the blood and the body gets rid of all the extra glucose from the body through the urine as it cannot st ore it efficiently. Eventually this leads to the other symptoms. High amounts of glucose in the urine can cause increased urine output and lead to dehydration. Dehydration thus causes increased thirst and water consumption. Apart from these acute effects of high blood glucose level other chronic effects of diabetes include eye complications, kidney damage and nerve damage. Moreover Diabetes accelerates hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) of the larger blood vessels, leading to coronary heart disease (angina or heart attack), strokes, and pain in the lower extremities because of lack of blood supply (claudication). So far the researchers have concluded that a combination of genetic susceptibility, diabetogenic trigger and exposure to a driving antigen are the leading causes of inducing the Type 1 diabetes however other risk factors have also been identified. These include: environmental factors, triggering beta cells damage due to a virus, diet and other chemicals and drugs. Type 2 Diabetes: also known as adult-onset diabetes or non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and is far more common than type 1 as it is the most common and frequent type of diabetes. It usually occurs in late stages of life, but younger youth are being diagnosed with this disease more frequently. The pancreas organ produces less insulin to keep blood sugar levels in the normal range, often because the target cells are no more sensitive to the insulin. Similar to the symptoms of type 1 diabetes, type 2 symptoms are frequent urination, increased thirst, increased hunger, fatigue, increased appetite and in some cases, blurred vision. Insulin injections are not usually needed to control this type of diabetes (hence the name non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus) and more stress is laid on controlling the patients diet by limiting it to low carbohydrate foods, exercising and if the condition worsens medication is often prescribed. Similar to type 1, genetics (family history) is thought to be a leading cause in inducing Type 2 diabetes in combination with a few other risk factors such as lifestyle, eating habits, age over 45 years, gestational diabetes giving birth to a baby who weighs more than 9 pounds, heart disease, high blood cholesterol level, obesity, not getting enough exercise, polycystic ovary disease (in women), previous impaired glucose tolerance and some ethnic groups (particularly African Americans, Native Americans, Asians, Pacific Islanders, and Hispanic Americans). Gestational diabetes: is when high blood sugar levels develop at any time during pregnancy in a woman who does not have any form of diabetes. Women who have gestational diabetes are at a much higher risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in the future. The risk factors of this kind of diabetes are similar to the risk factors of type 2 diabetes as gestational diabetes lead to type 2 diabetes. In general, no cure has been found for diabetes. Treatment for diabetes can involve various medicines, a balanced diet, and frequent exercise to control blood glucose levels and minimize symptoms with a long term aim to prevent the chronic complications of diabetes and to prolong patients life and reduce symptoms. Apart from achieving this through the use of insulin injections, diet control and exercise, blood pressure and cholesterol levels control, careful control of blood glucose levels and an educational background and awareness about diabetes play a vital role in treating and diagnosing diabetes. Testing for diabetes is easy and very handy nowadays. Testing of the urine may be used to look for glucose and ketones from the breakdown of fat. However, a urine test alone does not diagnose one with diabetes. This is because the presence of glucose in not necessarily due to the patient being a diabetic and could have been caused by the damage of the basement membrane in the kidney or the malfunction of the kidney. For diabetes diagnosis the following blood tests may be Fasting blood glucose level diabetes is diagnosed if higher than 126 mg/dL on two occasions Hemoglobin A1c test Normal: Less than 5.7% Pre-diabetes: Between 5.7% 6.4% Diabetes: 6.5% or higher Oral sugar tolerance test diabetes is diagnosed if sugar level is higher than 200 mg/dL after 2 hours. This test is also used more for type 2 diabetes. Random (non-fasting) blood glucose level diabetes is suspected if higher than 200 mg/dL Diabetes is a leading disease in many parts of the world causing innumerable deaths each year. Statistics show that diabetes affects 25.8 million people of all ages 8.3 percent of the U.S. population out of which only 18.8 million people are diagnosed while the rest remain oblivious to their medical condition. The severity of this disease goes unnoticed or unacknowledged by several people who label this disease as sugar and confine it to being related and associated with the intake of sweet things only. Very few know that diabetes is a major cause of heart disease and stroke and the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. However, over the years diabetes has emerged as one the leading health threats in third world countries and so a lot of research is being concentrated on curing, managing and preventing this disease. Curing the diseases has positively motivated several scientists to further their stem cell research and using the stem cells of the diabetic patient create a healthy fully developed and functioning pancreas or even healthy Islets of Langerhans that produce insulin. This will not only cure type I diabetes but also eliminate post operation complications like tissue rejection and immune suppressant drug dependence etc. Similarly, gene therapy is also being used to switch on certain genes on the chromosomes that would trigger insulin production. Medicines have been introduced and drugs to increase target cell sensitivity are continuously being invented but they mainly revolve around monitoring the disease not curing it. Portable blood glucose meter, insulin pumps etc are all new inventions aimed at helping diabetics control and follow their blood glucose level thus making their life a lot easier. Lastly as mentioned before, as yet there is no cure for diabetes but as the saying goes prevention before cure, educating the population about the risk factors and dangers of diabetics is at the moment the nest way to prevent the number of people suffering from diabetes and so awareness should be spread. [word count: 1603]

Should The Internet Be Trusted? :: Website Internet Essays

Should The Internet Be Trusted? The Internet has become more and more of a favorite place for students to go when searching for sources to use in research papers. This is mostly because of the wide and relatively simple access that the Internet provides to all kinds of information. Why get up and travel all the way to the library when it is so much easier to open a browser window and head to Google? While the Internet can be a wonderful source, and is definitely a fairly new, unique, and versatile way of sharing information, not everything one finds on the free area of the Internet can be trusted. Literally anyone with an Internet connection can put up a webpage in a matter of minutes that would be capable of fooling the unwary Internet surfer. It is crucial when looking for valid sources on the free Internet to look carefully for the purpose of the page, the author(s) of the page, and the institution that backs or produces the page, if any. One quick way to check the purpose of a webpage is to look for any obvious ads. A webpage that is obviously trying to sell you something is not as likely to be a scholarly webpage. Runway.net has a multitude of ads right on its front page (Cousins homepage). Its purpose is clearly at least partially to sell you something, in this particular case the services of the webmasters in the area of web design. â€Å"Linguistic Diversity on the Internet† simply has functional menus leading to the information being presented (Jones homepage). There are no ads and not even any bright, flashy graphics. This article heads straight for the information in a professional manner, lending it a more scholarly feel. While prominently featured ads on a webpage do not necessarily mean that the webpage is a bad source, it should certainly be a cause for a deeper look into the merits of the page. Another good way to determine if a webpage is a useful source is to investigate the author or authors of the page. If no information at all is listed for the author, the page is useless because its authenticity can not be verified. The authors of Runway.net give no convincing credentials of any kind (Cousins About Us). While they do list their names, contacts, and some information about their background, there is no way to confirm that any of this information is true.

A Summary of Four Articles on Finance from the Internet

This article furnishes its readers with relevant tips for parents who want to successfully send their children to school as they reach for some higher level of scholastic learning. It begins with the basic problematic most countries the world over is beset: government subsidies to defray the expensive cost of education for students (and parents at that) do not seem to cover that much.The case in point, at least specifically for this write-up, addresses how the government has stopped its subsidies for â€Å"student fees† which in turn makes it quite difficult for both parents and students to cope with.The article submits certain proposals to help both parents and students address the mounting task of university education.Among the choices include availing of loan packages such as: Student Loans (managed by Student Finance Direct), which allows a student to borrow money at a modest 9% interest, to be subsequently paid after graduation; Student Grants† – the more â⠂¬Å"generous† type of grant given to financially challenged families, or to single parent students, as even to those whose financial income is below 17,000 per annum.The article ends with alternative proposals that touch on some more means to get this whole university education going. Whichever the readers choose though, the bottom line remains: sending one’s children to school may appear to be an insurmountable task, but it is not impossible nevertheless.1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Top tips for first time buyers[1]The central concern of this write-up is to guide first time homeowners on important issues, which can either make or break their whole experience of buying a house. True enough, the first premise of the article is telling enough to even dismiss or set aside – buying a house is a big commitment and entails having to shoulder a lot of responsibilities in the years to come.First up, it is by right of commonsense that buyers are given this Bible-piece of advice : do not buy what you cannot afford. The initial temptation to procure a property based on the impulse to acquire an ideal house can at times blur the fact that there are some financial considerations that cannot be left out – these include, among others, â€Å"duty, solicitor and/or estate agent fees, a valuation report†. To be sure, this does not even include transfer and renovation costs.The article also gives vital information on the remaining important things that should not be missed. Among others, buyers have to be fully aware of the stipulations of the contract, the mortgage deals that they are agreeing to put up with and payment methods. Still, some other concerns that include insurance policies, procurement of home appliances, the suitability of the house location vis-à  -vis one’s work or children’s school are to be considered.2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Savings and investments for your children[2]â€Å"Children don’t come cheap† is t he statement that commences this short yet very insightful article which deals with an effective and forward-looking ways to invest for one’s children. In this times when managing one’s finances rightly becomes more and more difficult to do, it is certainly with a great sense of love and concern that one is called for to save for his/her children’s future and not compromise their wellbeing in the process.There are a few things that can be noted to help achieve this task. First up, the article proposes that parents should open a â€Å"bank account† for their children. It may seem like it is too early children to actually save. But the whole point of the exercise is to start saving regularly when one finds some time and resources to do it. As in a case of a habit, saving little pennies for one’s children can â€Å"accumulate quickly† without actually being noticed.Another proposal that the article gives is for parents to set aside some tax rel ief that the government provides for parents who raise children. But this can only happen if one is willing to actually avail of the tax allowance in the very first place.As it stands, tax reliefs for parents raising their children is one hefty source of cash, and it defrays the cost of the children’s living expenses in many ways. It may be wise to check on the availability of this type of resources, as the article would implicitly suggest.The article ends by elaborating how a parent can opt to open a trust fund for his/her children. This is a real investment for the children, yet it comes in a variety of choices. One may opt to simply save straightforwardly to a company for the children. Another option is to invest as though one does in stocks or shares. The third can be a combination of both. It really is up to the parents to choose the most viable alternatives to ensure that their children’s needs in the future will be secured and protected.[1] Top tips for first ti me buyers, retrieved 14 May 2008, http://www.financialarticles.info/article_50.html [2] Saving and investments for your children, retrieved 14 May 2008,   http://www.financialarticles.info/article_45.html

Giant Pandas essays

Giant Pandas essays Giant pandas are very rare. Most people have never seen one even in a zoo.They are in danger of disappearing altogther. There may be only around 1,000 giant pandas left in the world. Giant pandas live in western China. They live high in the mountains in thick bamboo forests. Pandas have disappeared because the bamboo forests have vanished. Some were cut down by humans and some have died off on their own. The Chinesepeople love the pandas andhave set aside large areas for the pandas to live on.No one is allowed to cut downthe foresrts on this land. Bamboo is the most important food. Bamboo is actually a kind of grass, but it can grow as tall as trees, Bamboo stays green and tender all year round even in winter. Pandas like the young leaves but they will eat the thick stalks if they have to. pandas have five fingers on each hand. They also have a thumb on each hand. The thumb is actually a wrist bone that helps them hold stalks of bamboo. A pandas teeth are 7 times larger thenhuman teeth that they need to crush the bamboo stalks. Bamboo is the panda's primary food, but pandas will eat meat, including fish and rats. Pandas eat flowers,too. Like other bears pandas are fond of honey. Giant pandas have very few enemys. Young pandas are sometimes eaten by wild dogs and leopards, but most escape because they are hard to find in their natural habitat. Pandas glide silently through the forest, hidden in the thick bamboo. In snowy conditions they blend into the background which makes them hard to see. Giant pandas are very intelligent. Trainers in zoos have been able to teach them to do many tricks. Giant pandas can do somersaults, ride a bicycle, play catch, toss a basketball through a hoop, and even eat with a knife and fork! Most of the pandas that are in zoos are in China, unless you go to China you probably won't be able to see one at all. But last week 2 pandas were delivered to Washing ...

A Science Issue Of Young Children Example

A Science Issue Of Young Children Example A Science Issue Of Young Children – Coursework Example The article, ‘Science in the Air’ by Sherrie Bosse, Gera Jacobs and Tara Lynn Anderson is highly pertinent for developing and enhancing children’s critical thinking prowess and understanding about science. Children have inherent tendency to be curious about things and their ability to ponder over the things that they observe in their daily life needs to be gently prodded for seeking answers. The teachers, family and friends all must collectively take responsibility to ensure that children’s tendency to explore and investigate various aspects of the events that are taking place in their life are explained in fun ways so that learning becomes a much sought after activity. Daily events like day and night, changing of leaves, animal and insects, growing transition period etc. are important issues for children and intrinsic part of science and technology that must be linked together for children so that children’s scientific knowledge is enhanced and they become motivated to explore things in more scientific manner. The authors have diligently explained how various activities of children’s life are important media for developing scientific temperament in children and boosting their power of critical thinking. Early years of children are crucial times that must be exploited by teachers and parents to guide and enrich children’s abilities for greater learning outcome. They should encourage children to discover and learn things through practical experience. This would help them to understand how evolution takes place and how they can contribute to make the world a better place to live. Indeed, this is the right time for them to learn about environment and it helps human beings to live a better life. Moreover, increasing their awareness about science ensures that children become better equipped to address the challenges of contemporary times.(words: 289)ReferenceBosse, Sherrie, Jacobs, Gera & Anderson, Tara Lynn. (November , 2009). Science in the Air. The Journal of NAEYC, 64(6), 10-14. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/40883975/naeyc_youngchildren_200911%20copy.pdf

Maritime bussines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Maritime bussines - Essay Example The international trade remains successful first of all because of the improvement in marine transportation (The Long History of Shipping Company). However, besides the advantages, recent global changes also brought some problems and changes shipping organizations have to solve and adapt to. The given paper will discuss the issue of adaptation in relation to shipping organizations. The main stress will be made on the necessity for such adaptation. These advices on success and adaptation might serve as a model for shipping organizations, which go through difficult times. Notwithstanding that shipping organizations sometimes have problems they are very successful in development and their business is thriving. The typical problems frequently met by the companies are delays in delivery, problems with documents, and problems with communication. Information technologies development made it possible for shipping companies to control the ships and provide the needed level of security. Â  Today the main task of shipping originations is to adapt to the developing of new technologies, especially in creating new systems of controlling and spreading the data. Modern shipping organization needs a modern database to track the information, and thus having correct information is the key element of the successful functioning of the company. The absence of a good database in any shipping organization might even indirectly lead to its closing, and much has already been said about it. Any organization needs the ability to adapt to the changing environment, as it is always influenced by the limited resources and increasing competition. Only a few organizations are able to develop a strong plan of adaptation looking for opportunities of modernizing their techniques and making marketing strategies work effectively. Shipping company should be was mainly concentrated on the issue of information technologies,

Roman Fashion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Roman Fashion - Essay Example The essay "Roman Fashion" discovers the fashion history in Rome. Due to lifestyle developments, individuals and societies have learned to use their clothing, with the aid of other decorations, as a form of nonverbal expression of their personality, occupation, status, and affiliation. Fashion refers to the way of carrying and styling these clothing with accessories, hairstyle, adornment and body art. Fashion does not merely converse individual identity in such a way that it instantly let other people see and understand a person, as it may speak of plain sophistication or even a personal rage, moreover, it demonstrate a social perception. This is greatly evident in the way fat women were once considered beautiful whereas current fashion trend have somehow made a vast promotion of diet, exercise and even surgery with its picture of beauty as being slim. A person can be identified to a certain tribe, organization or field of work by merely looking at his/her wardrobe. Attires may explai n a person’s role, may she be a housewife or a company manager. It can be a mode of displaying once wealth as well as poverty. As Thorstein Veblen, an economist of the book The Theory of the Leisure Class, has wrote â€Å"†¦our apparel is always in evidence and affords an indication of our pecuniary standing to all observers at first glance... â€Å". With its vast influence, stating all its implications would be a tedious job, if not impossible. Fashion has become so powerful that it can imply almost anything related to human. Costume and fashion, collectively, refers to manner and style of clothing. It is considered an art that decodes personality or culture at any particular time. With pictorial arts, costumes and fashion have revealed much of the history. It had managed to explain social transformation from the very remote past to the most current civilization. CHAPTER 1 ROMAN CLASSIC "From the Hellenistic Era to present day, fashion fads and statements evolved from similar backgrounds to make styles that seem new, but are really just "doctored-up" versions that can be traced back to the times of ancient Rome" (R.W.) Roman people have applied their creativity in every aspect of their lives including manner of clothing. Their garments were simple as it were basically made of wool with minimal use of stitch. Variations have eventually existed due to social status. Safety pins and knots give various shapes to their garments and undergarments; hence they have to designate a different name for each particular design. Toga was once the basic Roman garment for both men and women (Figure 1). Eventually women's clothing has to be made distinct. Similar to Greek himation, though much larger and more complicated in its draping. Toga's size and shape indicates social position. It is usually made of white wool and undecorated but had later been elaborated with gold embroidery during the late Empire. Tunica serves as their under garments for both men and women (Fig. 2). It resembles that of the reeks which were sleeveless. It is made of two wide cloths having sewn almost to the top leaving enough space for the armholes and neckline. It is fastened with pins or buttons and then held with a belt. Women's tunica are usual fuller and longer. As a symbol of decency and honor, married women wear stola (Fig. 2). Apart from its rectangular shape, it is a sleeveless tunic that resembles a toga which is a long wide cloth. It is a long garment that drapes around the body covering